Alfred Hitchcock: The Master of Suspense Who Made Fear an Art

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The Master of Suspense who made fear an art — the most influential director in the history of cinema, who never once won a competitive Oscar.

Alfred Hitchcock was an English filmmaker, widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades he directed more than 50 feature films, including Rebecca, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest and Psycho — and he was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Director without ever winning it.

At a Glance

  • Born: Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, 13 August 1899, Leytonstone, Essex, England; died 29 April 1980, Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California, aged 80
  • Years active: 1920–1976
  • Breakthrough: The Lodger (1927); The 39 Steps (1935); Rebecca (1940)
  • Genre/era: Suspense, psychological thriller — silent film to colour, British and Hollywood
  • Signature films: Rebecca, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, The 39 Steps, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, Dial M for Murder

The Biography

Leytonstone and the silent era

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on 13 August 1899 at the flat above his parents’ leased greengrocer’s shop at 517 High Road, Leytonstone, Essex, the youngest of three children of William Hitchcock, a greengrocer and poultry salesman, and Emma Jane Hitchcock. He began working in the British film industry during the silent era, and established his distinctive approach with The Lodger (1927), The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). In 1926 he married the filmmaker and editor Alma Reville, beginning a marriage and creative partnership that lasted until his death; they had one daughter, Patricia, who appeared in several of his films, including Strangers on a Train and Psycho.

Hollywood

Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939. His first American film, Rebecca (1940), won the Academy Award for Best Picture — the only one of his films to do so — and brought him his first Best Director nomination. He followed with Foreign Correspondent (1940), Suspicion (1941), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945) and Notorious (1946). His films garnered 46 Academy Award nominations, including six wins, although he never won the award for Best Director, despite five nominations — for Rebecca (1940), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), Rear Window (1954) and Psycho (1960) — plus a Best Picture nomination as producer of Suspicion (1941).

The masterpieces

In the second half of the 1950s Hitchcock created four extraordinary masterpieces in quick succession: Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959) and Psycho (1960). Psycho became his best-known film and the most profitable of his career. He also directed Rope (1948), Strangers on a Train (1951), Dial M for Murder (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), The Trouble with Harry (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), The Birds (1963), Marnie (1964) and Frenzy (1972). He appeared in a brief cameo in most of his films, and hosted the television anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1965), directing 18 of its 361 episodes. His final film was Family Plot (1976).

The honours he never won — and the ones he did

Hitchcock won two Golden Globes, eight Laurel Awards and five lifetime achievement awards, including the first BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award in 1971 and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1979. The Academy awarded him the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1967 (presented at the 1968 ceremony). In 2012 his psychological thriller Vertigo displaced Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane as the British Film Institute’s greatest film ever made, in its worldwide poll of film critics. Nine of his films have been selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry. He became an American citizen, and on 3 January 1980 he was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire — an honorary knighthood, as he had long since become an American citizen, so he was entitled to use the postnominal KBE but not to be known as “Sir Alfred”. He died on 29 April 1980, aged 80.

Oldies Music Timeline

Alfred Hitchcock, 1956
Alfred Hitchcock, 1956. Photo by Fred Palumbo.

Image credit: Fred Palumbo, 1956 — Public domain (New York World-Telegram and Sun collection, Library of Congress; no known copyright restrictions), via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alfred_Hitchcock_NYWTS.jpg

  • 13 August 1899 — Born Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, Leytonstone, Essex.
  • 1926 — Marries Alma Reville.
  • 1927 — The Lodger.
  • 1935 — The 39 Steps.
  • 1938 — The Lady Vanishes.
  • 1939 — Moves to Hollywood.
  • 1940 — Rebecca; wins the Academy Award for Best Picture.
  • 1943 — Shadow of a Doubt.
  • 1946 — Notorious.
  • 1954 — Rear Window; Dial M for Murder.
  • 1955 — Alfred Hitchcock Presents begins on television.
  • 1958 — Vertigo.
  • 1959 — North by Northwest.
  • 1960 — Psycho.
  • 1963 — The Birds.
  • 1967 — Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.
  • 1971 — First BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award.
  • 1972 — Frenzy.
  • 1976 — Family Plot; his final film.
  • 1979 — AFI Life Achievement Award.
  • 3 January 1980 — Created Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (honorary).
  • 29 April 1980 — Dies in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, aged 80.
  • 2012 — Vertigo named the greatest film ever made in the BFI’s Sight and Sound poll.

Signature Films

  • The 39 Steps (1935)
  • Rebecca (1940)
  • Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
  • Notorious (1946)
  • Strangers on a Train (1951)
  • Dial M for Murder (1954)
  • Rear Window (1954)
  • Vertigo (1958)
  • North by Northwest (1959)
  • Psycho (1960)

Why They Matter

  • The Master of Suspense: widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in the history of cinema; the pioneer of the suspense and psychological thriller genres.
  • Five Best Director nominations — Rebecca, Lifeboat, Spellbound, Rear Window, Psycho — and never a competitive win, the most famous Oscar omission in film history.
  • Rebecca (1940): his only film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
  • Vertigo (1958): named the greatest film ever made in the BFI’s 2012 Sight and Sound poll, displacing Citizen Kane.
  • Nine of his films are preserved in the US National Film Registry; honours include the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (1967), the first BAFTA Fellowship (1971) and the AFI Life Achievement Award (1979).

Sources

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