Hitchcock Factoids

- Was married to wife Alma from December 2, 1926 up until his death in April of 1980.

- Alfred and Alma were parents to one child, a daughter named Patricia who was born in 1928.  She later appeared in a few of her father's films including "Psycho", "Stage Fright" and "Strangers on a Train"

- He preferred casting blondes in the lead female roles, and thus the term "Hitchcock Blonde" was born. The most famous "Hitchcock Blondes" were Anny Ondra, Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak, Vera Miles, Janet Leigh and Tippi Hedren.

- Once dressed up in drag for a party he threw. Footage of this was in his office, but his office was cleaned out after his death, and it is not known if the footage still exists.

- According to Alfred himself, he was required to stand at the foot of his mothers bed, and tell her what happened to him each day. This explains Anthony Perkins in Psycho standing at the foot of his mother's bed.

- Born only one day before his wife, Alma.

- Hitch's suggestion for his tombstone inscription was "This is what we do to bad little boys." (It finally read "I'm in on a plot.")

- Was a close friend of Albert R. Broccoli, well known as the producer of the James Bond franchise. Hitchcock's North by Northwest was the influence for the helicopter scene in From Russia with Love.

- He appears on a 32 cent U.S. postage stamp, in the legends of Hollywood series, that debuted August 3, 1998 in Los Angeles, California.

- On April 29, 1974, the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York sponsored a gala homage to Alfred Hitchcock and his contributions to the cinema. Three hours of film excerpts were shown that night. François Truffaut who had published a book of interviews with Hitchcock a few years earlier, was there that night to present "two brilliant sequences: the clash of the symbols in the second version of 'The Man Who Knew Too Much', and the plane attack on Cary Grant in 'North by Northwest.'" After the gala, Truffaut reflected again on what made Hitchcock unique and concluded: "It was impossible not to see that the love scenes were filmed like murder scenes, and the murder scenes like love scenes...It occurred to me that in Hitchcock's cinema...to make love and to die are one and the same."

- Hitchcock never won a best director Oscar in competition, although he was awarded the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award at the 1967 Oscars.  His acceptance speech was exactly two words long: "Thank you." -- the shortest Oscar acceptance speech in the award's history.

- Hitchcock made cameo appearance in all of his films starting with The Lodger in 1927.  Hitchcock usually made his appearances in the beginning of the films, because he knew viewers were watching for him and he didn't want to deviate their attention away from the story's plot.

- In the New Year's Honour's list of 1980 (only a few months before his death), he was named an Honorary (as he was a U.S. citizen) Knight Commander of the British Empire.

- Hitchcock first visited Hollywood in 1940, but was turned down by virtually all major motion picture studios because they thought he could not make a "Hollywood" picture. He was finally offered a seven-year directing contract by producer David O. Selznick. His first project was supposed to be a film about the Titanic, but Selznick scrapped the project because he "couldn't find a boat to sink." Selznick assigned Hitch to direct Rebecca (1940) instead.

- The famous Hitchcock profile sketch, most often associated with "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", was actually from a Christmas card Hitchcock designed himself while still living in England.

- When finishing a cup of tea while on the set, he would often non-discriminatingly toss the cup and saucer over his shoulder, letting it fall (or break) wherever it may.

- When he won his Lifetime Achievement award in 1979, he joked with friends that he must be about to die soon. He died a year later.

- Was voted the Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.