Editing Alfred Hitchcock (section)

===Later years: 1966–1980===
====Final films====
Failing health reduced Hitchcock's output during the last two decades of his life. Biographer [[Stephen Rebello]] claimed Universal imposed two films on him, ''[[Torn Curtain]]'' (1966) and ''[[Topaz (1969 film)|Topaz]]'' (1969), the latter of which is based on a [[Leon Uris]] novel, partly set in Cuba.{{Sfn|Rebello|1990|p=188}} Both were spy thrillers with [[Cold War]]-related themes. ''Torn Curtain'', with [[Paul Newman]] and [[Julie Andrews]], precipitated the bitter end of the twelve-year collaboration between Hitchcock and composer [[Bernard Herrmann]].<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2002|pp=272–274}}; {{cite news |last=Stephens |first=Andrew |title=The sound of Hitchcock: How Bernard Herrmann's music brought his films to life |url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/the-sound-of-hitchcock-how-bernard-herrmanns-music-brought-his-films-to-life-20160104-glys29.html |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=9 January 2016|access-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319215055/http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/the-sound-of-hitchcock-how-bernard-herrmanns-music-brought-his-films-to-life-20160104-glys29.html|archive-date=19 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Hitchcock was unhappy with Herrmann's score and replaced him with [[John Addison]], [[Jay Livingston]] and [[Ray Evans]].{{sfn|Smith|2002|pp=273–274}} Upon release, ''Torn Curtain'' was a box office disappointment,{{Sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=328}} and ''Topaz'' was disliked by both critics and the studio.{{Sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=333}}

[[File:Alfred Hitchcock and Karen Black.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Hitchcock with [[Karen Black]] during a press junket for ''[[Family Plot]]'' (1976)]]

Hitchcock returned to Britain to make his penultimate film, ''[[Frenzy]]'' (1972), based on the novel ''[[Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square]]'' (1966). After two espionage films, the plot marked a return to the murder-thriller genre. Richard Blaney ([[Jon Finch]]), a volatile barman with a history of explosive anger, becomes the prime suspect in the investigation into the "Necktie Murders", which are actually committed by his friend Bob Rusk ([[Barry Foster (actor)|Barry Foster]]). This time, Hitchcock makes the victim and villain kindreds, rather than opposites, as in ''Strangers on a Train''.<ref>{{harvnb|Leitch|2002|pp=114–115}}</ref>

In ''Frenzy'', Hitchcock allowed nudity for the first time. Two scenes show naked women, one of whom is being raped and strangled;{{sfn|Evans|2004|p=}} Donald Spoto called the latter "one of the most repellent examples of a detailed murder in the history of film". Both actors, [[Barbara Leigh-Hunt]] and [[Anna Massey]], refused to do the scenes, so models were used instead.{{sfn|Spoto|1999|pp=513–514}} Biographers have noted that Hitchcock had always pushed the limits of film censorship, often managing to fool [[Joseph Breen]], the head of the [[Motion Picture Production Code]]. Hitchcock would add subtle hints of improprieties forbidden by censorship until the mid-1960s. Yet, Patrick McGilligan wrote that Breen and others often realised that Hitchcock was inserting such material and were actually amused, as well as alarmed by Hitchcock's "inescapable inferences".<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=249}}</ref>

''[[Family Plot]]'' (1976) was Hitchcock's last film. It relates the escapades of "Madam" Blanche Tyler, played by [[Barbara Harris (actress)|Barbara Harris]], a fraudulent spiritualist, and her taxi-driver lover [[Bruce Dern]], making a living from her phony powers. While ''Family Plot'' was based on the [[Victor Canning]] novel ''[[The Rainbird Pattern]]'' (1972), the novel's tone is more sinister. Screenwriter [[Ernest Lehman]] originally wrote the film, under the working title ''Deception'', with a dark tone but was pushed to a lighter, more comical tone by Hitchcock where it took the name ''Deceit'', then finally, ''Family Plot''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hollenback|first=Sharon Sue Rountree|title=Analysis Of Processes Involved In Screenwriting As Demonstrated In Screenplays By Ernest Lehman|publisher=Ann Arbor|year=1980|isbn=979-8644965205|location=United States|pages=64}}</ref>

====Knighthood and death====
<!--add American Film Institute Life Achievement Award and speech about his wife-->[[File:Alfred Hitchcock by Jack Mitchell.jpg|thumb|{{circa|1972}} by [[Jack Mitchell (photographer)|Jack Mitchell]]]] Toward the end of his life, Hitchcock was working on the script for a spy thriller, ''[[The Short Night]]'', collaborating with [[James Costigan]], [[Ernest Lehman]] and [[David Freeman (screenwriter)|David Freeman]]. Despite preliminary work, it was never filmed. Hitchcock's health was declining and he was worried about his wife, who had suffered a [[stroke]]. The screenplay was eventually published in Freeman's book ''The Last Days of Alfred Hitchcock'' (1999).<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|pp= 731–734}}; {{harvnb|Freeman|1999}}</ref>

Having refused a [[CBE]] in 1962,<ref>{{cite news |title=Queen's honours: People who have turned them down named |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16736495 |work=BBC News |date=5 August 2015|access-date=21 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161126094501/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16736495|archive-date=26 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Hitchcock was appointed a [[Order of the British Empire|Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire]] (KBE) in the [[1980 New Year Honours]].<ref name=Todd30April1980>{{cite magazine |url=https://variety.com/1980/film/news/alfred-hitchcock-dies-of-natural-causes-at-bel-air-home-1201344342/ |title=Alfred Hitchcock Dies Of Natural Causes at Bel-Air Home |last=McCarthy |first=Todd |date=30 April 1980 |magazine=Variety|access-date=12 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213010210/https://variety.com/1980/film/news/alfred-hitchcock-dies-of-natural-causes-at-bel-air-home-1201344342/|archive-date=13 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=48041 |supp=y |page=6|date=28 December 1979}}</ref> He was too ill to travel to London—he had a [[pacemaker]] and was being given [[cortisone]] injections for his arthritis—so on 3 January 1980 the British consul general presented him with the papers at Universal Studios. Asked by a reporter after the ceremony why it had taken the Queen so long, Hitchcock quipped, "I suppose it was a matter of carelessness." Cary Grant, Janet Leigh and others attended a luncheon afterwards.<ref name="Spoto 1999 553">{{harvnb|Spoto|1999|p=553}}</ref><ref name=Ebert2Jan1980>{{cite web |first=Roger |last=Ebert|author-link=Roger Ebert |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/hitchcock-he-always-did-give-us-knightmares |title=Hitchcock: he always did give us knightmares |work=Chicago Sun-Times |date=2 January 1980|access-date=12 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222085259/http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/hitchcock-he-always-did-give-us-knightmares|archive-date=22 December 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

<!--add something about his estate-->His last public appearance was on 16 March 1980, when he introduced the next year's winner of the American Film Institute award.<ref name="Spoto 1999 553"/> He died of [[kidney failure]] the following month, on 29 April, in his [[Bel Air, Los Angeles|Bel Air]] home.<ref name="Variety obituary">{{cite news |last=McCarthy |first=Todd |url=https://variety.com/1980/film/news/alfred-hitchcock-dies-of-natural-causes-at-bel-air-home-1201344342 |title=Alfred Hitchcock Dies Of Natural Causes at Bel-Air Home |work=Variety |date=7 May 1980|access-date=12 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213010210/https://variety.com/1980/film/news/alfred-hitchcock-dies-of-natural-causes-at-bel-air-home-1201344342/|archive-date=13 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p= 745}}</ref> [[Donald Spoto]], one of Hitchcock's biographers, wrote that Hitchcock had declined to see a priest,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/06/books/and-suddenly-evil-erupts.html |title=NY Times – 'And Suddenly Evil Erupts' biography review 1996 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=6 March 1983 |access-date=16 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716081110/https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/06/books/and-suddenly-evil-erupts.html |archive-date=16 July 2019 |url-status=live|last1=Grenier |first1=Richard }}</ref> but according to Jesuit priest Mark Henninger, he and another priest, Tom Sullivan, celebrated Mass at the filmmaker's home, and Sullivan heard his [[Sacrament of Penance|confession]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Mark |last=Henninger |work=The Wall Street Journal |title=Alfred Hitchcock's Surprise Ending |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323401904578159573738040636 |date=6 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130207190149/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323401904578159573738040636.html |archive-date=7 February 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> Hitchcock was survived by his wife and daughter. His funeral was held at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Beverly Hills on 30 April, after which his body was [[Cremation|cremated]]. His remains were scattered over the [[Pacific Ocean]] on 10 May 1980.<ref>{{cite book | last=Wydra | first=T. | title=Grace: A Biography | publisher=Skyhorse | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-62914-967-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_VfBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT291 | access-date=12 September 2024 | page=291}}</ref><ref name="obit">{{cite news |last=Flint |first=Peter B. |title=Alfred Hitchcock Dies; A Master of Suspense |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/04/30/archives/alfred-hitchcock-dies-a-master-of-suspense-alfred-hitchcock-master.html |date=30 April 1980 |work=The New York Times|access-date=25 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725214925/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/04/30/archives/alfred-hitchcock-dies-a-master-of-suspense-alfred-hitchcock-master.html|archive-date=25 July 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>