Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock was born on 13th August 1899 in Leytonstone and died 29th April 1980. He was a British filmaker and producerwho pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thrillers. After a successful career in the Untited Kingdom, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1956 becoming an American citizen whilst retaining his British citizenship.

Alfred Hitchcock's life was very disciplined. On numerous occasions, Hitchcock said he was once sent by his father to the local police station with a note asking the officer to lock him away for ten minutes as punishment for behaving badly. Hitchcock's mother would often make him address her while standing at the foot of her bed, especially if he behaved badly, forcing him to stand there for hours. These experiences would later be used for the portrayal of the character of Norman Bates in his movie Psycho.

Hitchcock directed in total 52 amazing films and 2 of the films have been lost. Hitchcock's last collaboration with Graham Cutts led him to Germany in 1924. The film Die Prinzessin und der Geiger (UK title The Blackguard, 1925), directed by Cutts and co-written by Hitchcock, was produced in the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin. Alfred Hitchcock also worked as an art director on the set of F. W. Murnau's film Der letzte Mann (1924).

Hitchcock always liked a challenge in the technical side of film making. For example: in the film Rear Window, all the action takes place in one single apartment. The film Lifeboat, shows all the action from a boat and yet, Hitchcock was still able to keep the cinematography from repeating throughout the movie, like for instance in the more modern movie Phonebooth.

Alfred Hitchcock's last film work was never made. This was due to his health. Instead his last script was published in a book on Hitchcock's life. Hitchcock appeared briefly in many of his own films, for example, seen struggling to get a double bass on to a train.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Hitchcock the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, in 1967. His other Oscar nominations were:

> Best Director in 1960 for Psycho.

> Best Director for Rebecca (1940), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), and Rear Window(1954).

> Producer for Best Picture: Suspicion (1941).

Alfre Hitchcock was best recognised by his silloette.