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Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Director · 1899 – 1980 · Leytonstone, London, England, UK

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in cinema history. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 feature films, many of which are still widely watched and studied today. Known as the "Master of Suspense", Hitchcock became as well known as any of his actors thanks to his many interviews, cameo appearances in most of his films, and hosting and producing the television anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–65). His films garnered 46 Academy Award nominations, including six wins. However, despite five nominations, he never won the  Best Director award. Hitchcock initially trained as a technical clerk and copywriter before entering the film industry in 1919 as a title card designer. The British–German silent film The Pleasure Garden (1925) was his directorial debut. His first successful film, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), helped to shape the thriller genre, and Blackmail (1929) was the first British "talkie". His thrillers The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938) are ranked among the greatest British films of the 20th century. By 1939, he had international recognition and producer David O. Selznick persuaded him to move to Hollywood. A string of successful films followed, including Rebecca(1940), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Suspicion (1941), Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and Notorious (1946). Rebecca won the Academy Award for Best Picture, with Hitchcock nominated as Best Director. He also received Oscar nominations for Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), Rear Window (1954) and Psycho (1960). Hitchcock's other notable films include Rope (1948), Strangers on a Train (1951), Dial M for Murder (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), The Trouble with Harry (1955), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), The Birds (1963), Marnie (1964) and Frenzy (1972), all of which were also financially successful and are highly regarded by film historians. Hitchcock made several films with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, including four with Cary Grant, four with James Stewart, three with Ingrid Bergman and three consecutively with Grace Kelly. Hitchcock became an American citizen in 1955. In 2012, Hitchcock's psychological thriller Vertigo, starring Stewart, displaced Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) as the British Film Institute's greatest film ever made based on its worldwide poll of hundreds of film critics. As of 2021, nine of his films had been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, including his favourite, Shadow of a Doubt (1943). He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 1971, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1979, and was knighted in December of that year, four months before his death on 29 April 1980.

Movies24

  • Movie8.4

    Psycho

    1960 · 11K votes

  • Movie8.3

    Rear Window

    1954 · 7.4K votes

  • Movie8.1

    Vertigo

    1958 · 6.5K votes

  • Movie8.0

    North by Northwest

    1959 · 4.6K votes

  • Movie7.5

    The Birds

    1963 · 4.6K votes

  • Movie7.7

    Strangers on a Train

    1951 · 1.9K votes

  • Movie8.0

    Dial M for Murder

    1954 · 2.9K votes

  • Movie7.9

    Rebecca

    1940 · 2K votes

  • Movie7.9

    Rope

    1948 · 3.1K votes

  • Movie7.3

    To Catch a Thief

    1955 · 1.7K votes

  • Movie7.4

    The Man Who Knew Too Much

    1956 · 1.6K votes

  • Movie7.5

    Shadow of a Doubt

    1943 · 1.2K votes

  • Movie7.5
  • Movie7.3

    The 39 Steps

    1935 · 1.1K votes

  • Movie7.7

    Notorious

    1946 · 1.8K votes

  • Movie7.4

    Spellbound

    1945 · 1K votes

  • Movie7.1

    I Confess

    1953 · 499 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Stage Fright

    1950 · 377 votes

  • Movie7.1

    Marnie

    1964 · 1.3K votes

  • Movie6.2

    Innocent Blood

    1992 · 259 votes

  • Movie7.1

    The Wrong Man

    1956 · 629 votes

  • Movie7.1

    Frenzy

    1972 · 1.1K votes

  • Movie6.0

    Topaz

    1969 · 433 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Foreign Correspondent

    1940 · 463 votes

Series17

  • TV7.0

    What's My Line?

    1950 · 29 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Merv Griffin Show

    1962 · 12 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Dick Cavett Show

    1968 · 22 votes

  • TV7.9
  • TV7.4

    The Red Skelton Show

    1951 · 19 votes

  • TV7.2
  • TV7.8

    Alfred Hitchcock Presents

    1955 · 265 votes

  • TV7.0

    The Oscars

    1953 · 84 votes

  • TV8.0

    Tales from the Crypt

    1989 · 1K votes

  • TV9.5

    Spécial cinéma

    1974 · 2 votes

  • TV6.0

    Midi trente

    1972 · 1 votes

  • TV6.0

    Samedi soir

    1971 · 1 votes

  • TV8.7

    Cinépanorama

    1956 · 3 votes

  • TV6.7

    Lux Video Theatre

    1950 · 7 votes

  • TV8.0

    V.I.P. Schaukel

    1971 · 3 votes

  • TV5.0

    Reflets de Cannes

    1954 · 2 votes

  • TV6.2

    Talking Pictures

    2013 · 6 votes