On the occasion of what would have been Alfred Hitchcock’s 100th birthday in 1999, I wrote this vignette about the great director’s cameo appearances in his films. This is a reprinting of my Crum on Film column that ran in The Kansas City Kansan newspaper on Aug. 20, 1999. Hitch died April 29, 1980 at 80.
By Steve Crum
How appropriate that the great late director Alfred Hitchcock’s 100th birthday fell on Friday the 13th last week. The “Master of Suspense” must have had a hand—or at least his silhouette—in the planning. It is just too coincidental otherwise. After all, the genius behind Psycho and The Birds was meticulous about every detail in filming, including the publicity angles.
Hitch was also the most well known and recognizable of any film director in history. Thanks to his decade-running TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, wherein he memorably introduced and closed each episode, Hitchcock became one of the world’s premier personalities.
Beginning with The Lodger in 1926, in which he subbed for an extra, Hitchcock was both flattered and increasingly bothered that fans looked for his brief appearance in virtually every film thereafter. Rightfully concerned that audiences might be distracted from the movie itself, Hitchcock tried to include his seconds long bit early in the movie. Hitchcock fans, of course, love his movies. That includes trying to spot his cameos. Selected Alfred Hitchcock movie appearances follow, so look fast.
•THE LODGER (1926)—Hitch appears twice: at a newsroom desk and later as a crowd member who is watching an arrest.
•THE 39 STEPS (1935)—Seven minutes into the film, look for him throwing away some trash as Robert Donat and Lucie Mannheim run from the theater.
•THE LADY VANISHES (1938)—Near the end of the movie, in Victoria Station, he wears a black coat as he smokes a cigarette.
•MR AND MRS. SMITH (1941)—He passes Robert Montgomery in front of his building.
•SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943)—Hitchcock plays cards on the train to Santa Rosa.
•LIFEBOAT (1942)—A tricky appearance, since the entire film takes place in lifeboat on the Atlantic Ocean. William Bendix looks at a newspaper that shows Hitchcock in a “before” and “after” weight loss ad for the Reduco Obesity Slayer.
•STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)—As Farley Granger gets off the train, guess who boards the train, carrying a double bass fiddle?
•DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954)—Thirteen minutes into the film, zero in on the left side of the class reunion photo.
•REAR WINDOW (1954)—Hitch winds the clock in the songwriter’s apartment that Jimmy Stewart is observing through his binoculars. That happens about 30 minutes into the movie.
•TO CATCH A THIEF (1955)—He sits to Cary Grant’s left (10 minutes in).
•THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955)—Twenty minutes into the flick, Hitch walks past the parked limo of an old man who looks at paintings.
•THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956)—Just before the murder in the Moroccan marketplace, he watches acrobats—his back to the camera.
•THE WRONG MAN (1956)—He narrates the prologue.
•VERTIGO (1958)—Eleven minutes in, he walks the street in a gray suit.
•NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)—He misses a bus during the opening credits.
•PSYCHO (1960)—Look for him four minutes into the film, through Janet Leigh’s window when she returns to her office. Hitch wears a cowboy hat.
•THE BIRDS (1963)—As Tippi Hedren enters a pet shop, he leaves with two white terriers on his leash.
•MARNIE (1964)—He enters from the left of the hotel corridor, five minutes into the flick, as Hedren passes by.
•FAMILY PLOT (1976)—Hitchcock’s last movie and last movie appearance: he is in silhouette through the door of the Registrar of Births and Deaths (41 minutes in).
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Just an added trivia goodie: Hitchcock’s only cameo appearance in one of his Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV shows is in “A Dip in the Pool.” His photo is on the cover of a magazine someone is reading. It aired June 1, 1958.