Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock was a famous film director and producer. Born on August 13, 1899,  he was born in Leytonstone, England and was the youngest of three children. In the 1910s and the 1920s, Hitchcock worked for the British film industry. He started out as a title designer for the London branch of what later became known as Paramount Pictures. He worked in several positions for many films for producer Michael Balcon and and director Graham Cutts. Those films include Woman to Woman (1923), The White Shadow (1924),  The Passionate Adventure (1924), The Blackguard (1925), and The Prude's Fall (1925). He was the assistant director for The Blackguard, a co-production between Gainsborough studios and Universum Film AG. While working at UFA, Hitchcock was influenced by the German Expressionist filmmakers, in particular F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang. Alfred Hitchcock's first American film was Rebecca in 1940. It was set in Hollywood's version of England's West Country. The film was based on a novel by English author Daphne du Maurier. The film starred Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. The 1950s and 60s saw the release of many of Hitchcock's well known films. These films include Dial M for Murder (1954), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), and The Birds (1963). Hitchcock is known for making brief appearances in his films. Hitchcock died at 80 years old in Bel Air California on April 29, 1980.