Advertisement
Advertisement
People named Alfred Hitchcock
Below are 6 people with the first name Alfred and the last name Hitchcock. Try the Hitchcock Family page if you can't find a particular Collaborative Biography in your family tree.
ADVERTISEMENT
BY ANCESTRY.COM
Find records of Alfred Hitchcock
Explore what's going on in the
AncientFaces Community
AncientFaces Community
6 Alfred Hitchcock Biographies
Sort:
Updated


Alfred Hitchcock of Hardin, Big Horn County, MT was born on June 13, 1916, and died at age 77 years old on March 19, 1994.


Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in London on Aug. 13, 1899, to a poultry dealer, greengrocer and fruit importer and the former Emma Whelan. He graduated from St. Ignatius College, a Jesuit school in London, where he studied engineering, and took art courses at the University of London.
In childhood incidents, he developed a lifelong fear of the police and punishment, major influences on his movies. At about the age of 5, he was sent by his father with a note to a local police chief, who locked him in a cell for five minutes. In releasing him, the officer said, "That's what we do to naughty boys." Mr. Hitchcock later said he could never forget "the sound and the solidity of that closing cell door and the bolt."
Mr. Hitchcock attributed his fear of punishment to ritual beatings of the hands with a hard rubber strop, administered for infractions at St. Ignatius, that he recalled "was like going to the gallows."
Became a Draftsman
He worked briefly as a technical calculator for a cable company, but soon abandoned technology for art, becoming an advertising layout draftsman for a London department store.
In his teens, he was determined to break into film making, and by brashness and ability he won a job in 1920 writing and illustrating title cards for silent pictures. He rose quickly, to script writer, art director and assistant director.
By 1925, Mr. Hitchcock had become a director, making a melodrama called "The Pleasure Garden" on a shoestring budget in Munich, West Germany. He began shaping his genre with "The Lodger," about Jack the Ripper. Early influences, he said, were German Expressionistic and American films.
In 1926, he married Alma Reville, his assistant, who collaborated on many of his movies as a writer, adviser and general assistant. Their daughter, Patricia, acted in a number of his movies and television thrillers.
The pictorial and technical innovations of Mr. Hitchcock's early melodramas garnered him increasing praise. In 1929, he directed "Blackmail," Britain's first widely successful talking feature. In the 30's, he won international acclaim for his pacesetting spy thrillers, including "The Man Who Knew Too Much"; "The 39 Steps"; "Secret Agent"; "Sabotage," called "The Woman Alone" in the United States, and "The Lady Vanishes."
Lured to Hollywood
David O. Selznick lured Mr. Hitchcock to Hollywood, with its incomparable technical facilities, and he stayed, becoming an American citizen. His first American production, the adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's Gothic novel "Rebecca," with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, began a long string of successes.
In the film maker's early years in Hollywood, he created a stir when he quipped that "all actors are children" and "should be treated like cattle." He later showed particular disdain for Method school actors. But he never raised his voice on a set and never argued with a performer in front of the crew. A number of stars later described him as a vividly persuasive man who knew exactly what he wanted in a picture--and got it.
Despite his recent illness, the director was reportedly at work at Universal Studios on a new film, a spy story to be called "The Short Night." With him at his death were his wife, Alma; his daughter, Patricia, and his three grandchildren. In the last year of his life, Mr. Hitchcock, although a United States citizen, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of his native Britain.
In contrast with the disordered Hitchcockian cinema world, the moviemaker's personal life was routinized, stable and serene. Unless he was shooting a film or out promoting one, he rarely ventured away from his home or office, according to Richard Schickel, who interviewed him for a public-television series, "The Men Who Made the Movies," in 1975.
The director had a measured, courtly manner and wore dark suits, white shirts and conservative narrow ties. He was a gourmet and wine connoisseur, and, with a 5-foot-8-inch frame, his weight once soared to 290 pounds, though he tried to keep it down by dieting to about 220 pounds. He avoided exercise and fiction, and voraciously read contemporary biographies, travel books and true- crime accounts. He increased his fame and fortune by lending his name to, and supervising for decades, popular suspense anthologies and magazines with tales by many writers.
Mr. Hitchcock was a noted practical joker whose favorite prank was telling a tantalizing story in a loud voice to a companion in an elevator, perfectly timing his exit just before the punch line and then bowing politely to the intrigued but frustrated passengers.

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899 in Leytonstone, Greater London County, England United Kingdom. He was married to Alma Lucy Hitchcock on December 2, 1926, and they were together until Alfred's death on April 29, 1980 in Bel Air, Los Angeles County, California United States. He had a child Patricia Alma O'Donnell. Alfred Hitchcock was buried on May 3, 1980 at Hollywood Forever in Los Angeles. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Alfred Joseph Hitchcock.

Alfred Hitchcock was born on March 21, 1934, and died at age 36 years old in April 1970. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Alfred Hitchcock.

Alfred Hitchcock was born on June 17, 1908, and died at age 57 years old in January 1966. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Alfred Hitchcock.
ADVERTISEMENT
BY ANCESTRY.COM
Find records of Alfred Hitchcock
Advertisement
Similar Hitchcock names
Hitchcock biographies alphabetically beginning with Alexina and ending with Amelia Hitchcock.
Alexina Hitchcock (May 12, 1920 - Jun 22, 1998)
Alfred Hitchcock
Alice Hitchcock
Alida Hitchcock (Nov 21, 1887 - Feb 1976)
Aline Hitchcock (Jan 17, 1896 - May 1987)
Alison Hitchcock (Feb 7, 1893 - Nov 1969)
Allan Hitchcock
Allen Hitchcock
Allene Hitchcock (Oct 9, 1914 - Nov 1988)
Allie Hitchcock
Allison Hitchcock (Aug 12, 1879 - Apr 1964)
Alma Hitchcock
Alonzo Hitchcock (Aug 11, 1885 - Apr 1963)
Alpha Hitchcock (Nov 3, 1896 - Dec 1984)
Alta Hitchcock
Althea Hitchcock (Dec 5, 1904 - Feb 1987)
Alton Hitchcock
Alva Hitchcock (May 4, 1897 - Dec 1986)
Alvan Hitchcock (Dec 18, 1896 - Jun 1971)
Alvia Hitchcock (Jul 7, 1908 - Nov 14, 2006)
Alvie Hitchcock (Feb 14, 1915 - Feb 5, 1996)
Alvin Hitchcock
Alvina Hitchcock (Apr 4, 1912 - Oct 31, 2005)
Alys Hitchcock (Feb 25, 1906 - Oct 1980)
Amanda Hitchcock
Amelia Hitchcock (Sep 17, 1916 - Jan 1979)
More people with the last name Hitchcock
Aaron - Alexander
< Prev
Next >
Ammon - Arleigh