Alfred Hitchcock

**Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock**  (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was a British movie director who later became an American citizen, but still kept his British citizenship. He mostly made mystery and suspense movies. Despite having a successful career, Hitchcock never won an Academy Award.

## Career
Hitchcock started his career in England, starting with silent movies in the 1920s. In the 1930s, he made some successful movies like *The Man Who Knew Too Much* (1934), *The 39 Steps* (1935), and *The Lady Vanishes* (1938). He then moved to the United States, to work in Hollywood. His first American movie was *Rebecca* (1940), which won an Academy Award. 

Some of his best known movies from the 1940s are *Spellbound* (1945) and *Notorious* (1946), which were inspired by psychoanalysis. His first movie in color was the experimental *Rope* (1948). *Strangers on a Train* (1951) was based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith. In the 1950s, he made three popular movies with Grace Kelly: *Dial M for Murder* (1954), *Rear Window* (1954), and *To Catch a Thief* (1955). In 1956, he made a new version of *The Man Who Knew Too Much*, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. He returned to black-and-white, briefly, with *The Wrong Man* (1957). Then came *Vertigo* (1958), which some consider his best suspense movie. It was followed by three more successful movies: *North by Northwest* (1959), *Psycho* (1960), and *The Birds* (1963). After that, he only made 5 more movies: *Marnie* (1964), *Torn Curtain* (1966), *Topaz* (1969), *Frenzy* (1972), and *Family Plot* (1976).  In 1971, he became the very first winner of the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award.  This is an award for lifetime achievement.

In 1945 Hitchcock made a documentary about the Holocaust. It will be shown on British television in 2015.

Hitchcock appeared very quickly in small roles in most of his movies.

He also hosted a TV show, *Alfred Hitchcock Presents*.

## Personal life
Hithcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex. He was a Roman Catholic. He was married to Alma Reville, who helped write some of his movies. They had a daughter, Patricia. He died in Bel Air, Los Angeles.

## Filmmaking style 
Alfred Hitchcock, a famous filmmaker, used several unique elements in his movies. These included the MacGuffin, suspense, cameos, music, blonde leading ladies, close-ups, macabre themes, twist endings, specific locations, and unreliable narrators. These elements contributed to his enduring legacy in the world of cinema.

## Films 
**Silent films**

* *Number 13* (1922) (unfinished and lost)
* *Always Tell Your Wife* (short) (1923) (partially lost)
* *The Pleasure Garden* (1925)
* *The Mountain Eagle* (1926) (lost)
* *The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog* (1927)
* *The Ring* (1927)
* *Downhill* (1927)
* ''The Farmer's Wife* (1928)
* *Easy Virtue* (1928)
* *Champagne* (1928)
* *The Manxman* (1929)

**Sound films**

* *Blackmail* (1929)
* *An Elastic Affair* (short) (1930) (lost)
* *Juno and the Paycock* (1930)
* *Murder!* (1930)
* *Elstree Calling* (1930)
* *The Skin Game* (1931)
* *Mary* (1931)
* *Rich and Strange* (1931)
* *Number Seventeen* (1932)
* *Waltzes from Vienna* (1934)
* *The Man Who Knew Too Much* (1934)
* *The 39 Steps* (1935)
* *Secret Agent* (1936)
* *Sabotage* (1936)
* *Young and Innocent* (1937)
* *The Lady Vanishes* (1938)
* *Jamaica Inn* (1939)
* *Rebecca* (1940)
* *Foreign Correspondent* (1940)
* *Mr. & Mrs. Smith* (1941)
* *Suspicion* (1941)
* *Saboteur* (1942)
* *Shadow of a Doubt* (1943)
* *Lifeboat* (1944)
* *Spellbound* (1945)
* *Notorious* (1946)
* *The Paradine Case* (1947)
* *Rope* (1948)
* *Under Capricorn* (1949)
* *Stage Fright* (1950)
* *Strangers on a Train* (1951)
* *I Confess* (1953)
* *Dial M for Murder* (1954)
* *Rear Window* (1954)
* *To Catch a Thief* (1955)
* *The Trouble with Harry* (1955)
* *The Man Who Knew Too Much* (1956)
* *The Wrong Man* (1956)
* *Vertigo* (1958)
* *North by Northwest* (1959)
* *Psycho* (1960)
* *The Birds* (1963)
* *Marnie* (1964)
* *Torn Curtain* (1966)
* *Topaz* (1969)
* *Frenzy* (1972)
* *Family Plot'' (1976) (final film)

## References