With over 50 films to his credit, Alfred Hitchcock was a ubiquitous presence in cinema. From the silent movies of the 1920s to the color films of the 1960s, his list of indelible Hollywood moments goes on and on…Ingrid Bergman with co-stars Cary Grant and Gregory Peck, Grace Kelly and co-stars Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart, Kim Novak falling from the tower, Eva Marie Saint climbing on Mount Rushmore, Tippi Hedren smothered by birds, and Janet Leigh in the shower. What do they all have in common? Scene-stealing actresses. These memorable women were an essential element of his legacy. Hitchcock’s Blondes (The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director’s Dark Obsession), written by Laurence Leamer, attempts to finally put the women in the center of the story.
Each actress is given a chapter summarizing her life and relationship with Hitchcock. Leamer adds two actresses to the six above, starting his narrative with the 1927 silent film, The Lodger: The Story of the London Fog, starring June Howard-Tripp. The next blonde under Hitchcock’s control was Madeleine Carroll in what many consider his first great movie, 1935’s 39 Steps. He was instantly captivated and obsessed by the luminous Bergman. She throws herself into Notorious and Spellbound as Hitchcock teaches her to fake emotions when she can’t feel it. Then Kelly luckily enters his world with her “irresistibly appealing aura.” She “was the fully realized model of Hitchcock’s fantasy woman” and lit up the screens in Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief. He was dumbfounded when she left Hollywood to marry a prince. Novak had the look but limited acting experience. Hitchcock belittles his Vertigo co-star: “She doesn’t ruin the story. She was hopelessly inept when I started with her.” Saint endured much the same (“I gave the drab, mousy little girl vitality and sparkle”) but didn’t let it get to her on the set of North by Northwest. In addition to playing Marion Crane in Psycho for the domineering director, Leigh was enduring a volatile relationship with Tony Curtis. The shower scene is detailed from the numerous takes, to the body double, and those piercing violins from composer Bernard Hermann. Hedren’s experience in The Birds tops them all. The filming of her character Melanie being attacked by 1,500 birds (a mixture of mechanical and real) was grueling, terrifying, and exhausting. Despite this torture, she signed on to play the lead in his next movie, Marnie. Later on in life, she would accuse Hitchcock of sexual harassment. Her confounding actions exemplify the overwhelming hold Hitchcock had on “his blondes.”
I’ve seen 20 Hitchcock films, including all the ones mentioned here. With its behind-the-scenes snippets, the book is an enjoyable quick read for Hitchcock fans. It’s light and superficial examination of the women’s experiences raises a question. Are the women really at the center of the story? By downplaying Hitchcock’s despicable behavior, the women’s lives get short changed. In a conspicuous double standard, too much focus is spent on the women’s sexual liaisons (Bergman’s numerous trysts get a lot of attention). Hitchcock groomed his actresses to fit his vision. They played morally corrupt characters. “He purifies these women in his films by making them suffer until he redeemed them.” Leamer is not oblivious to Hitchcock’s manipulating direction of his blondes but glosses over its cruel nature. That’s for another book.
(Note: Laurence Leamer also wrote Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era, the source material for the recent FX/Hulu limited series Feud: Capote Vs. the Swans. I didn’t read the book, but the series was delectable with a fantastic cast of women and an award-worthy performance by Tom Hollander as Truman Capote. (The first Feud series was 2017’s outstanding Bette and Joan with Susan Sarandon playing Davis and Jessica Lange, Crawford, as they tussled during the filming of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)
D² Rating: ◼◼◼☐☐
Trivia: True or False? Alfred Hitchcock never won the Academy Award for Directing.
What is the only Hitchcock-directed film to win Best Picture?
Who is the only performer to ever win an Acting Oscar in a Hitchcock movie?
Answers: True (He was nominated 5 times – Rebecca, Lifeboat, Spellbound, Rear Window, and Psycho), Best Picture Rebecca (1940), and Best Actress Joan Fontaine (Suspicion, 1941)