Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899 in Leytonstone, England, and died in April 1980 in Los Angeles. He produced films that were laden with memorable scenes. He made inventive and artistic blends of intelligent plots, humour, witty dialogue, well orchestrated suspense and polite manners, and added a bit of entertaining mystery and murder.

Delicate thought was roused

Hitchcock had a habit of falling asleep at parties. One evening he was roused at a gathering by his wife. She had allowed him to sleep for several hours, and now suggested that it was time to go.

"But it's only one o'clock," Hitchcock replied, glancing at his watch. "They'll think we aren't enjoying ourselves."

Breaking a Taboo

In 1960 Alfred Hitchcock released a horror film that broke a long-standing Hollywood taboo: Psycho was the first film in history to show a toilet being flushed.

The scene showed Janet Leigh flushing a bunch of paper.

Producer

At a French airport one day, the customs official looked suspiciously at Alfred Hitchcock's passport; his occupation was listed simply as "Producer."

"What do you produce?" he asked.

"Gooseflesh," Hitchcock answered.

"I can hear them scream"

Alfred Hitchcock never watched his films in a real theatre setting. Once he was asked whether he missed the thrill of hearing audience members scream.

"No," replied Hitchcock. "I can hear them scream when I'm making the picture."

Gooseflesh-producer?

One day when Alfred Hitchcock was still a churchgoing Catholic, he was driving through a Swiss city when he suddenly pointed out of the car window and said, "That is the most frightening sight I have ever seen."

His companion was surprised to see nothing more alarming than a priest in conversation with a little boy, his hand on the child's shoulder.

"Run, little boy," cried Hitchcock, leaning out of the car. "Run for your life!"

Clarification

Sir Alfred once tried to clarify something, "I didn't say actors are cattle. What I said was, actors should be treated like cattle."