List of Alfred Hitchcock cameo appearances
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

English film director
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
made
cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...
s in 40 of his 54 surviving major films (his second film, ''
The Mountain Eagle ''The Mountain Eagle'' is a 1926 silent drama film, and Alfred Hitchcock's second as director, following '' The Pleasure Garden''. The film, a romantic melodrama set in Kentucky, is about a widower (Bernhard Goetzke) who jealously competes wi ...
'', is
lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
). For the films in which he appeared, he would be seen for a brief moment in a non-speaking part as an extra, such as boarding a bus, crossing in front of a building, standing in an apartment across the courtyard, or even appearing in a newspaper photograph (as seen in the film ''
Lifeboat Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen ...
'', which otherwise provided no other opportunity for him to appear). During the filming of '' The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog'', Hitchcock later said his cameo came about at the last minute because the actor who was supposed to play the bit part of a telephone operator failed to show up, so Hitchcock filled in for him. This playful gesture became one of Hitchcock's trademark signatures; and fans would make a sport of trying to spot his cameos. As a recurring theme, he would carry a musical instrument– especially memorable was the
double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
case that he wrestles onto the train at the beginning of '' Strangers on a Train''. In his earliest appearances, he filled in as an obscure extra in crowds or walking through scenes in long camera shots. His later appearances became more prominent, such as when he turns to see Jane Wyman's disguise as she passes him in ''
Stage Fright Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, real or imagined, whether actually or potentially (for example, when perf ...
'', and in stark silhouette in his final film '' Family Plot''. His appearances became so popular that he began to make them earlier in his films so as not to distract the audience from the plot. Hitchcock confirms this in extended interviews with François Truffaut, and indeed the majority of his appearances occur within the first half-hour of his films, with over half in the first 15 minutes. Hitchcock's longest cameo appearances are in his British films '' Blackmail'' and ''
Young and Innocent ''Young and Innocent'', released in the US as ''The Girl Was Young'', is a 1937 British crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Nova Pilbeam and Derrick De Marney. Based on the 1936 novel '' A Shilling for Candles'' by Jos ...
''.Walker, Michael (2006
Hitchcock's motifs
Amsterdam University Press
He appears in all 30 features from '' Rebecca'' (his first American film) onward; before his move to Hollywood, he only occasionally performed cameos.


Cameo appearances in Hitchcock films

This is an alphabetical list of Hitchcock's cameo appearances in films that he directed.


Other cameo appearances

*Hitchcock appeared only once in any installment of his ''
Alfred Hitchcock Presents ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, aired on CBS and NBC between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers and mysteries. Between 1962 and 1965 it was ren ...
'' television show (aside from his personal introductions and closings): in the 1958 episode of the third season ("Dip in the Pool") at 5 minutes 15 seconds Hitchcock appears on the cover of a magazine one of the characters is reading. * In the 1966 film ''
How to Steal a Million ''How to Steal a Million'' is a 1966 American heist comedy film directed by William Wyler and starring Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole, Eli Wallach, Hugh Griffith, and Charles Boyer. The film is set and was filmed in Paris, though the character ...
'', Nicole Bonnet ( Audrey Hepburn) lies in bed reading a magazine with "Hitchcock" on the cover and his face on the back cover. * Hitchcock's image shows up in
Alain Resnais Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included ...
's ''
Last Year at Marienbad ''Last Year at Marienbad'' (french: L'Année dernière à Marienbad; released in the United Kingdom as ''Last Year in Marienbad'') is a 1961 Left Bank film directed by Alain Resnais from a screenplay by Alain Robbe-Grillet. Set in a palace in a p ...
'', as an homage to Hitchcock's cameo appearances. * In ''
Parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...
'', Bong Joon-Ho features a picture of Hitchcock prominently. * Director Richard Franklin incorporates a Hitchcock cameo into '' Psycho II'' (1983), even though Hitchcock was by then dead. When Mary Samuels and Norman Bates pay an early nighttime visit to Mother's bedroom, Hitchcock's familiar silhouette can be seen in shadow on the far right wall just after they enter the room. * In Gus Van Sant's 1998 shot-for-shot remake of '' Psycho'', Van Sant can be seen standing next to a Hitchcock look-alike at the same point in the film as in the original.


References


External links


Cameo picture gallery from Filmsite.com

A list of the cameos at Empire magazines website

A montage of Hitchcock cameos
(" supercut")
The Hitchcock Cameos
on the ''Alfred Hitchcock Wiki'' (includes screen shots of all cameos) {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Hitchcock Cameo Appearances
Cameo Appearances A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...
Hitchcock, Alfred
Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
Hitchcock Cameo Appearances