Happy Birthday, Alfred Hitchcock! Born today in 1899 as Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, this English screenwriter, producer and film director is one of the most influential and extensively studied filmmakers in the history of cinema.
Known as "the Master of Suspense", Hitchcock directed over fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades, becoming as well-known as any of his actors thanks to his many interviews, his cameo roles in most of his films.
He also hosted and produced the half-hour American black and white television anthology drama series Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1965). The program had aired on CBS and NBC, and featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
Among these episodes, two of them were featured on TV Guide's® 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time list.
The first was featured on the list for June 22, 1997. This was Man from the South (S05E25). It had aired on January 3, 1960, and ranked in at #41. The episode had starred Steve McQueen and Peter Lorre.
The episode had been based on the titular 1948 fictional short story by British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter pilot Roald Dahl.
The second was featured on the revised list for June 28, 2009 list. This was Lamb to the Slaughter (S03E28). It had aired on April 13. 1958, and ranked in at #59.
The episode had been based on the titular 1953 fictional short story by Dahl, of whom also wrote the teleplay.
For his contribution to film, Hitchcock received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960. It is located on 6506 Hollywood Blvd.
Throughout his career, Hitchcock's films had garnered a total of forty-six Oscar nominations and six wins.
Hitchcock received the BAFTA Fellowship in 1971, the American Film Institute's (AFI) Lifetime Achievement Award in 1979 and was knighted in December that same year. This was four months before Hitchcock died from kidney failure.
Also known as Hitch, he passed away on April 29, 1980 in Bel Air, California. Hitchcock was 80.
In 1989, 'Vertigo' was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In 1991, 'Shadow of a Doubt' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film was also Hitchcock's favorite out of all of his features.
In 1992, the Library of Congress deemed 'Psycho' "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
On AFI's 100 Years... 100 Quotes list, "A boy's best friend is his mother." ranked in at #56.
In 1995, 'North by Northwest' was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In 1997, 'Rear Window' was added to the United States National Film Registry in the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
On August 12, 2003, a Google Doodle was created in honor of Hitchcock's 104th birthday.
In 2006, 'Notorious' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In 2012, 'Vertigo' replaced Orson Welles 1941 American black and white drama/mystery film ' 'Citizen Kane' as the British Film Institute's (BFI) greatest film ever made based on its world-wide poll of hundreds of film critics.
In 2016, 'The Birds' was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry.
In 2018, 'Rebecca' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
The "Hitchcockian" style includes the use of camera movement to mimic a person's gaze, thereby turning viewers into voyeurs, and framing shots to maximize anxiety and fear.
English film critic and educator Robert Paul Wood – known as Robin Wood – wrote that the meaning of a Hitchcock film "is there in the method, in the progression from shot to shot. A Hitchcock film is an organism, with the whole implied in every detail and every detail related to the whole."
Hitchcock was the most well-known director to the general public, by virtue of both his many thrillers and his appearances on television in his own series from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s.
Probably more than any other filmmaker, his name evokes instant expectations on the part of audiences: at least two or three great chills (and a few more good ones), some striking black comedy, and an eccentric characterization or two in every one of the director's films.
Hitchcock had been active from 1919–1980.
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