ALFRED HITCHCOCK was born Alfred Joseph Hitchcock in Leytonstone part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest
- He was named after his father's brother, Alfred
- he was raised Catholic and was sent to the Jesuit Classic school St Ignatius' College in Stamford Hill, London.
- His mother and paternal grandmother were of Irish extraction. He often described his childhood as being very lonely and sheltered, a situation compounded by his obesity.

- his father, William Hitchcock (1862 - 1914), was a greengrocer,
a poultry salesman and an importer of fruit.
- his mother was Emma Jane WHELAN (1863 - 1942)
- he had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and Eileen Hitchcock(born 1892)
- Alfred was a quiet child. However, at five years old his father arranged to have him locked in a cell at the local police station for five minutes after he misbehaved. He developed a life long fear of police after that
His father died in 1914 when Alfred was 15

It was around 1920 when he joined the film industry, starting off drawing the sets (Since he was a very skilled artist) and he met Alma Reville, though they never really spoke to each other. It was only when the director for "Always tell your wife" fell ill and Hitchcock had to complete the film, that he started off in the directing part of the film world, then Alma Reville and Hitchcock began to talk to each other.

Alfred had his first shot of being the director of a film in 1923 when he was to direct the film "The Number 13", though the production was stopped. Hitchcock didn't give up then. He directed a film called "The Pleasure Garden" in 1925, a British/German production, which was very popular. In 1926, Hitchcock made his first trademark film, "The Lodger". In the same year on the 2nd of December,


MARRIAGE

Alfred married Alma REVILLE
- they had one child, Patricia Hitchcock (born 7th July 1928)
- Patricia appeared in several of his movies, including Psycho
- Alma Reville was born 14 August 1899 in Nottingham England (one day after Alfred was born)
- she died 6 July 1982 aged 82 in Bel Air, Los Angeles
- In 1928, while his wife, Alma, was pregnant with their daughter and only child, Patricia, Alfred Hitchcock purchased a cottage in Shamley Green, a small village about 30 miles outside of London. He soon set about expanding and remodeling the residence, capstoning the project with stone carvings of the letters A and H that had been reclaimed from the recently renovated Houses of Parliament. According to the London Telegraph, the home is now up for sale for the asking price of ?2.5 million. (Hitch had paid ?2,500 -- ?116,000, adjusted for inflation).The man who made a generation of women afraid to bathe in their own showers apparently had a phobia of his own in this regard: none of the bathrooms in the Tudor house have shower heads. Take a slide-show tour of the home.

Although Alfred and his family generally spent only their weekends here, according to The Complete Films of Alfred Hitchcock, "his fondness for Shamley Green was one reason why he did not accept the American offers he constantly received." He spent his off-time there pottering around the garden and entertaining friends. It seems to have been a real retreat for him. According to Donald Spoto, he was visibly more relaxed here than at his weekday flat in London and his happiest hours were passed at this home. Many Hitchcock films allude to a "lost paradise" motif or symbolism; I suspect that, for him, the house at Shamley Green was a return to that paradise-like place, as these stills from their home movies suggest.

- see here for some early photos of him and his family

In 1939 Hitchcock left England with his wife and daughter to settle in Hollywood, California.
Alfred became an American Citizen in 1956


ALFRED's TRADE MARK - CAMEOS

Alfred often had a quick cameo in his films. He eventually began making his appearances in the beginning of his films, because he knew viewers were watching for him and he didn't want to divert their attention away from the story's plot. He made a live cameo appearance in all of his movies beginning with:
* The Lady Vanishes (1938) (man in London Railway Station walking on the station train platform)
* Young and Innocent (1937) (photographer outside courthouse) ... aka The Girl Was Young (USA)
* The 39 Steps (1935) (passerby near the bus)
* Murder! (1930) (man on mtreet)
* Blackmail (1929) (man on subway)
* Easy Virtue (1928) (man with stick near tennis court)
* The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) (extra in newspaper office) ... aka The Case of Jonathan Drew
* excluding Lifeboat (1944), in which he appeared in a newspaper advertisement
* Dial M for Murder (1954), in which he appeared in a class reunion photo
* Rope (1948) in which his "appearance" is as a neon version of his famous caricature on a billboard outside the window in a night scene
* Family Plot (1976) in which his "appearance" is as a silhouette of someone standing on the other side of a frosted glass door.


In late 1979, Hitchcock was knighted, making him Sir Alfred Hitchcock KBE

On the 29th April 1980, 9:17AM, he died peacefully in his sleep due to renal failure. His funeral was held in the Church of Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. Father Thomas Sullivan held the service, 600 people attended the service, among them where Mel Brooks (Director of High Anxeity (1977), a comedy tribute to Hitchcock and his films), Louis Jourdan, Karl Malden, Tippi Hedren, Janet Leigh and Francois Truffaut.



ALFRED's MOVIES


Alfred as TITLE DESIGNER

The Call of Youth (1921)
a 1921 short romance film directed by Hugh Ford. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is now lost.

The Great Day (1921)
a 1921 short drama film directed by Hugh Ford. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is now lost.

Appearances (1921)
a 1921 short drama film directed by Donald Crisp. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is now lost.

The Mystery Road (1921)
a 1921 drama film directed by Paul Powell. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is now lost.

The Princess of New York (1921)
a 1921 crime film directed by Donald Crisp. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is now lost.

Dangerous Lies (1921)
1921 drama film directed by Paul Powell. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is now lost.

the Bonnie Brier Bush (1921)
is a 1921 drama film directed by Donald Crisp. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is now lost.

Love's Boomerang (1922)
(also known as Perpetua) is a 1922 crime film directed by John S. Robertson. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is now lost.


Alfred as ART DIRECTOR

Three Live Ghosts (1922)
A copy of the film reportedly exists at Gosfilmofond, Russia.

Tell Your Children (1922)
It was the first film in which later Carry On actor Charles Hawtrey was to appear ? he was aged eight at the time. The film is now lost.

The Spanish Jade (1922)
is a drama film directed by John S. Robertson. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is now considered a lost film.

The Man From Home (1922)
is a UK drama film directed by George Fitzmaurice. Alfred Hitchcock was credited as a title designer. The film is now considered a lost film.

Woman to Woman (1923)
a 1923 British silent drama film directed by Graham Cutts, with Alfred Hitchcock as the assistant director. It was adapted from the 1921 play Woman to Woman by Michael Morton. As of August 2010, the film is missing from the BFI National Archive, and is listed as one of the British Film Institute's "75 Most Wanted" lost films

The White Shadow (1923)
based on the novel Children of Chance by Michael Morton. Alfred Hitchcock collaborated with Cutts on the film. The film was made in a hurry as it wanted to make use of Betty Compson, who had appeared in their hit Woman to Woman, before she returned to the United States.

The Prude's Fall (1924)
a 1924 British silent drama film directed by Graham Cutts and starring Jane Novak, Julanne Johnston and Warwick Ward

The Passionate Adventure (1924)
Seeking escape from his unfulfilled home life, Adrian takes off to the East End of London where he disguises himself as a shabby itinerant. There he meets a pretty young waif Vicky (Marjorie Daw) and takes on the role of her unofficial protector

The Blackguard (1925)
's German title is Die Prinzessin und der Geiger. Against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution a violinist saves a Princess from execution.



Alfred AS DIRECTOR

BRTISH SILENT FILMS

No. 13* (1922 - Silent)
The film was to star Clare Greet and Ernest Thesiger as husband and wife. Unfortunately, the film's budget fell apart, and it was pulled from production after only a handful of scenes were shot.
Wardour & F. unfinished; believed lost

Always Tell Your Wife* (1923 - Silent)
Seymour Hicks - The Husband
Gertrude McCoy - The Wife
A short comedy film. Only one of the two reels are known to survive It was a remake of the 1914 film of the same name.

The Pleasure Garden (1923 - Silent)
Many misfortunes befell the cast and crew. This included a serious depletion of their budget when Gaetano Ventimiglia, the film's cinematographer, tried to hide the film from Italian customs officials. The trick failed, and they had to pay fines, and buy new film.
Although the film was shot in 1925, and was shown to the British press in March 1926, the film was not officially released in the UK until after The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog became a massive hit, in 1927.

The Mountain Eagle aka Fear of God(1926 - Silent)
- This is the only feature film directed by Hitchcock that is considered a lost film, which means that no prints of the film are known to exist. Although it was Hitchcock's second completed film, due to the runaway success of The Lodger, it was released three months after it.

The Lodger (1926 - Silent)
Starring: Ivor Novello and Marie Ault
Taut thriller of a lodger accused of murder by a jealous detective.

The Ring (1927 - Silent)
Starring: Carl Brisson and Ian Hunter
Jealous lovers and an angry prizefighter combine in this suspenseful film. While widely considered a minor work, features photography tricks Hitchcock would use again years later in films like The Man Who Knew Too Much, most notably during the climactic boxing sequences.

Downhill (1927 - Silent)
(released in the U.S. as When Boys Leave Home)
Roddy Berwick (Ivor Novello), born into a rich family, he is the School Captain, and head of the "Old Boys" Rugby team. He makes a "pact" of loyalty with his best friend Tim Wakeley (Robin Irvine). Roddy begins a downhill spiral after being falsely accused of impregnating a waitress (Daisy Johnson), who turns vindictive after Roddy spurns her amorous advances

Easy Virtue (1927 - Silent)
Starring: Isabel Jeans and Ian Hunter
Drama of a woman torn between her alcoholic husband and suicidal lover.

Champagne (1928 - Silent)
Starring: Betty Balfour and Gordon Harker
Gorgeous cinematography and classic story of a rich father trying to teach his daughter an important lesson make this a must-see for many Hitchcock fans.

The Farmer's Wife (1928 - Silent)
Starring: Jameson Thomas and Lillian Hall-Davies
In this silent comedy, a lonely widower enlists the aid of his housekeeper to choose a new wife, then fruitlessly woos and outrages local women until he realizes the ideal "farmer's wife" has been right under his nose.

Manxman (1929)
Starring: Carl Brisson and Anny Ondra
Timeless story of love and betrayal on the Isle of Man.


BRITISH FILMS with SOUND

Blackmail (1929)
Starring: Anny Ondra and John Longden
First British sound picture features tale of a blackmailed Scotland Yard inspector.
Silent version actually released several months after "talkie" version for theatres unequipped for sound reproduction
This version not available on home video

Juno and the Paycock (1930)
Starring: Sara Allgood and Edward Chapman
Adaptation of Sean O'Casey's seriocomic play of life in Dublin slums.

Murder! (1930)
Starring: Herbert Marshall and Nora Baring
When a lone juror believes the defendant in a murder trial is innocent, he's determined to find the real killer himself.

Elstree Calling (1930)
Starring: Teddy Brown, Helen Burnell, Donald Calthrop
The film, referred to as "A Cine-Radio Revue" in its original publicity, is a lavish musical film revue and was Britain's answer to the Hollywood revues which has been produced by the major studios in the United States, such as Paramount on Parade (1930) and Hollywood Review of 1929. The revue has a slim storyline about it being a television broadcast. The film consists of 19 comedy and music vignettes linked by running jokes of an aspiring Shakespearean actor and technical problems with a viewer's TV set.

The Skin Game (1931)
Starring: Edmund Gwenn and Jill Esmond
Two families - one wealthy, one poor - battle over land in this saga.

Rich and Strange (1932)
Starring: Henry Kendall and Joan Barry
A leisurely trip around the world for a wealthy couple is interrupted by a shipwreck.

Number 17 (1932)
Starring: Leon M. Lion and Anne Grey
This comic thriller follows the escapades of a luckless hobo who happens on a thief's hidden fortune.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Starring: Leslie Banks and Edna Best
Political adventure-thriller of an American couple caught in an assassination plot later remade by Hitchcock himself.

Waltzes from Vienna (1934)
Starring: Esmond Knight, Jessie Matthews, Edmund Gwenn, Fay Compton, Frank Vosper
Hitchcock told Fran?ois Truffaut that this film was the lowest ebb of his career. He only agreed to make it because he had no other film projects that year, and wanted to stay working. He never again made a musical film.

The 39 Steps (1935)
Starring: Madeleine Carroll and Robert Donat
Spies, murder and mistaken identity combine in this espionage thriller.

Secret Agent (1936)
Starring: Madeleine Carroll and John Gielgud
Tension-filled thriller explores spies in Switzerland.

Sabotage (1936)
Starring: Sylvia Sidney and Oscar Homolka
This comic thriller features a theater cashier who suspects her husband is a terrorist.

Young and Innocent (1937)
Starring: Derrick DeMarney and Nova Pilbeam
A man accused of an actress' murder is aided by a young woman in clearing his name.

The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Starring: Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave
A woman is drawn into a web of intrigue when her companion on a train disappears.

Jamaica Inn (1939)
Starring: Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara
Suspenseful melodrama focuses on daring orphan who uncovers smugglers' ring.


HOLLYWOOD FILMS

Rebecca (1940)
Starring: Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine
Adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's famous novel of a couple tormented by the presence of the husband's dead wife.

Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Starring: Joel McCrea and Laraine Day
An unsuspecting crime reporter gets swept up in an international espionage conspiracy in this fast-paced adventure.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)
Starring: Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery
Hilarious screwball comedy about the merry mishaps that befall a couple after they discover they weren't legally married.

Suspicion (1941)
Starring: Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine
Subtle suspense and fine-drawn tension in this mystery of a wealthy woman who suspects her playboy husband wants to murder her.

Saboteur (1942)
Starring: Priscilla Lane and Robert Cummings
False accusations of murder and sabotage leads to some surprising consequences in this chilling film.

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Starring: Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright
Woman suspects her loving uncle of murder. Hitchcock's own personal favorite.
- Alfred's personal favourite movie

Bon Voyage ( short (26 minutes) and generally only of interest to Hitchcock completists) & Aventure Malgache (1944)
Starring: John Blythe (French language propaganda )
Directed by Hitchcock for the war effort in Britain during WWII, this pair of short films details a British pilot behind enemy lines.

Lifeboat (1944)
Starring: Tallulah Bankhead and William Bendix
Psychological thriller about survivors trapped on a lifeboat with limited supplies. Features nail biting suspense and fine performances.

Spellbound (1945)
Starring: Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck
An amnesiac impersonating a famous psychologist. The doctor who wants to save him-- even if he is guilty of murder.

Notorious (1946)
Starring: Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman
A classic tale of love and betrayal-- an FBI agent must send the woman he
loves to seduce a Nazi conspirator.

The Paradine Case (1947)
Starring: Gregory Peck and Alida Valli
Courtroom melodrama about a lawyer who falls for his client.

Rope (1948)
Starring: James Stewart and Farley Granger
Compelling tale of murder between friends, famed for its basis on Leopold & Loeb case and experimental cinematography.

Under Capricorn (1949)
Starring: Ingrid Bergman and Joseph Cotten
Period drama details saga of an English lady who falls in love with her cousin.

Stage Fright (1950)
Starring: Jane Wyman and Marlene Dietrich
A young man whom a drama student admired accused of murder must battle to prove his own innocence.

Strangers on a Train (1951)
Starring: Farley Granger and Ruth Roman
A must-see classic, this tale of strangers who take on each other's murders builds to a nail-biting climax.

I Confess (1953)
Starring: Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter
Thoughtful character study of a priest who hears a murderer's confession-- only to fall under suspicion himself.

Dial M for Murder (1954)
Starring: Ray Milland and Grace Kelly
An heiress and her husband's oh-so-perfect plot to kill her make up this taut thriller.

Rear Window (1954)
Starring: James Stewart and Grace Kelly
One of the Master's finest-- a photographer laid up with a broken leg finds himself caught up in his neighbors' lives-- and one of their murders.

To Catch a Thief (1955)
Starring: Grace Kelly and Cary Grant
Romance and intrigue combine in a seaside resort when a reformed jewel thief is suspected of a rash of burglaries.

The Trouble with Harry (1955)
Starring: Edmund Gwenn and John Forsythe
In this black comedy, a small town has a big problem-- a body that won't stay put.

The Wrong Man (1956)
Starring: Henry Fonda and Vera Miles
It's noir ? la Hitchcock in this stark, gritty tale of a wrongly-accused jazz musician.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Starring: James Stewart and Doris Day
Hitchcock's edge-of-your-seat remake of his own 1934 movie involves Americans caught up in an assassination plot.

Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock (1958)
Starring: James Stewart and Kim Novak
Considered Hitchcock's masterpiece-- caught in a never-ending spiral of deception and obsession, a private detective must discover the truth behind the death of the woman he loved.

North by Northwest (1959)
Starring: Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint
Heart-stopping suspense abound in this tale of an innocent man mistaken for a notorious spy.
... BLOOPERS for North by Northwest

Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock (1960)
Starring: Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh
The seminal horror film of a young man tormented by his past-- and his mother.
. . . BLOOPERS for Psycho

The Birds (1963)
Starring: Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren
Terror strikes out of nowhere when birds begin mysteriously attacking anyone and anything in their way.
. . . BLOOPERS for The Birds

Marnie (1964)
Starring: Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren
A beautiful kleptomaniac and the man who loves her clash in this psychological thriller.

Torn Curtain (1966)
Starring: Paul Newman and Julie Andrews
Bewildering his wife, friends, and colleagues, an American physicist defects-- or does he?
. . . BLOOPERS[/URL[ for Torn Curtain

Topaz (1969)
Starring: John Forsythe and Frederick Stafford
Danger and intrigue abound in this complex espionage thriller.


Alfred RETURNS to BRITAIN

Frenzy (1972)
Starring: Jon Finch and Barry Foster
The Master at his most shocking in this black comedy about a series of strangulations.
- During the making of Frenzy (1972), Hitchcock's wife Alma suffered a paralyzing stroke which made her unable to walk very well


HIS FINAL FILM

Family Plot (1976)
Starring: Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, Karen Black, William Devane
The story involves a fake psychic, Blanche Tyler (Barbara Harris), and her con artist taxi driver boyfriend, George Lumley (Bruce Dern), who attempt to locate the nephew of a wealthy and guiltridden old woman, Julia Rainbird (Cathleen Nesbitt). Julia, one of Blanche's clients, was responsible for her now-deceased sister giving up a boy for adoption years earlier and now wants to make him her heir. She will pay $10,000 if he is found.


Alfred's movie BLOOPERS

- NORTH by NORTHWEST (1959)

- PSYCHO (1960)

- The BIRDS (1963)

- TORN CURTAIN (1966)



sources:
Alfred Hitchcock
Shamley Green House