Tuesday (August 13) marks 125 years since British movie director Alfred Hitchcock was born.
He was known as “the master of suspense” and brought us some of the big screen’s most gripping moments, from a murder in a shower to horror bird attacks.
James Moore marks the anniversary by revealing the secrets behind his famous films…
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Psycho
With its creepy twist Hitchcock’s most famous movie starred Anthony Perkins as crazed motel owner Norman Bates.
Inspired by a real-life serial killer Ed Gein, the 1960 flick is best known for its iconic shower murder scene starring Janet Leigh as Marion Crane. It took a week to film and involved over 70 shots.
(Image: Bettmann Archive)
The flesh stabbing sound effects were made by plunging a knife into a melon, while chocolate syrup was used for the blood. It’s said Leigh only ever took baths after making the flick.
Weirdly, Psycho was also the first US movie to feature a flushing toilet.
The Birds
Based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier, the 1963 thriller tells the story of chilling unexplained deadly bird attacks on people in California, with 3,200 trained for the action.
(Image: Getty Images)
Tippi Hedren, who played blonde socialite Melanie Daniels, had a nightmare making the movie – glass shattered in her face during a telephone booth scene.
Another, where she’s attacked by seagulls in an attic, left her with real injuries as one of the birds ripped a hole in her eyelid.
Tippi later claimed Hitchcock sexually harassed her during filming.
Rod Taylor, who played Mitch, was plagued by real attacks on set by a raven called Archie.
Vertigo
The 1958 movie starred Jimmy Stewart as ex-cop Scottie with an extreme fear of heights.
(Image: Getty Images)
He was hired as a private investigator to investigate the odd behaviour of a pal’s wife.
Madeleine, played by Kim Novak, then became his love interest, leading to another classic Hitchcock twist.
When Hitchcock came to use his preferred location for the famous bell tower scenes, he found the tower had been demolished so had to recreate it with trick photography.
A flop at the time, the movie became a cult hit.
Unlike Tippi, Kim described Hitchcock as “a joy” to work with.
North By Northwest
British-born Cary Grant starred as Roger Thornhill caught up in a spy plot thanks to a case of mistaken identity in the 1959 movie.
(Image: Getty Images)
He enjoyed a romance with Eva Marie Saint’s character, Eve, along the way.
The climax involved a chase scene over Mount Rushmore, famous for its rock sculptures of presidents.
Hitchcock originally wanted it to involve Grant crawling into Abraham Lincoln’s nose and having a sneezing fit, but the authorities wouldn’t allow it and much of the action was actually filmed on a mock up.
Rear Window
Hollywood beauty Grace Kelly starred as Lisa, the girlfriend of Jimmy Stewart’s photographer character Jeff, who witnessed a murder from his flat while recovering from a broken leg.
(Image: Getty Images)
The plot of the 1954 flick was partly inspired by two real-life British murder cases, where Dr Hawley Crippen and Patrick Mahon both murdered their partners.
Hitchcock had the entire set built – including 31 apartments – for over half a million pounds in today’s money, which was a quarter of the overall budget.
Jimmy claimed Grace climbed a fire escape in high heels herself and didn’t use a stunt double.
The 39 Steps
One of Hitchcock’s early movies was this 1935 spy thriller based on the novel by John Buchan.
Its most famous scenes see stars Robert Donat as Hannay and Madeleine Carroll as Pamela handcuffed together.
(Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
The cheeky director locked them together during a run through and left them that way for hours w- pretending to have lost the key – to get them used to the idea.
After her sister was killed in the Blitz during World War Two Madeleine later largely gave up on her movie career to nurse people wounded in the conflict.
Star burst: Did you know that Hitchcock made cameo appearances in 39 of his own movies?
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
