Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899. His father, William, was a greengrocer in London's notoriously tough East End. The family was Catholic; young Alfred endured the rigors of a Jesuit education before breaking into the film business as a title designer. He soon rose to the head of his department in the London Branch of Hollywood's Famous Players-Lasky Studio (which would eventually become Paramount Pictures.) He worked closely with screenwriters, and was soon directing second unit scenes. When a British company took over Famous Players, the young Hitchcock was retained as an assistant director. Before long he was also working as a screenwriter and art director. His credits from this era include Woman to Woman (1923), The White Shadow (1923), The Passionate Adventure (1924), The Blackguard (1925), and The Prude's Fall (1925).

In 1925, Hitchcock was officially promoted to director. He had, however, already directed an unfinished two-reeler — Number Thirteen, in 1922 — and a portion of the 1922 Always Tell Your Wife. Hitchcock and producer Seymour Hicks (an actor and occasional director who would one day be knighted) completed the film when the original director fell ill. In 1926, Hitchcock married Alma Reville, a script girl and editor who would later collaborate as screenwriter on many of his films. Alma and Alfred had one daughter, Patricia, who appeared in several of her father's movies. In 1929, Hitchcock directed Blackmail, the first English film with synchronized sound. The director's so-called "British Period" lasted through the distinctly second-rate (by Hitchcock's standards) Jamaica Inn. Jamaica was released in 1939; after its completion Hitchcock eagerly headed for Hollywood. His first American film was the 1940 Rebecca, which won the Best Picture Oscar.

Hitchcock's career had its ups and downs, but the director always managed to right himself. He moved from a relatively lackluster period in the late `40s to a string of spectacular achievements in the `50s. Late in his career he also produced, hosted, and (occasionally) directed two television anthology mystery series — "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," both of which increased his already considerable mass appeal. Hitchcock was a meticulous technician and stylist; his films were scrupulously storyboarded, and he rarely deviated from his carefully structured vision once the cameras began to roll. He made cameo appearances (sometimes more than one) in each of his films after and including The Lodger (1926).

Hitchcock's final film was the 1976 Family Plot. He died in Los Angeles in 1980. At the time of his death he was working with a collaborator on a script to be called The Short Night.

Hitchcock's Complete Filmography

The Pleasure Garden (1925)
The Mountain Eagle/Fear o'God (1926)
The Lodger/The Case of Jonathan Drew (1926)
Downhill/When Boys Leave Home (1927)
Easy Virtue (1927)
The Ring (1927)
The Farmer's Wife (1928)
Champagne (1928)
Harmony Heaven (1929)
The Manxman (1929)
Blackmail (1929)
Elstree Calling (1930)
Juno and the Paycock (1930)
Murder (1930)
The Skin Game (1931)
Rich and Strange/East of Shanghai (1932)
Number Seventeen (1932)
Waltzes from Vienna/Strauss' Great Waltz (1933)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
The 39 Steps (1935)
The Secret Agent (1936)
Sabotage/The Woman Alone (1936)
Young and Innocent/The Girl Was Young (1937)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Jamaica Inn (1939)
Rebecca (1940)
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)
Suspicion (1941)
Saboteur (1942)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Lifeboat (1944)
Spellbound (1945)
Notorious (1946)
The Paradine Case (1948)
Rope (1948)
Under Capricorn (1949)
Stage Fright (1950)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
I Confess (1953)
Dial M for Murder (1954)
Rear Window (1954)
To Catch a Thief (1955)
The Trouble With Harry (1955)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
The Wrong Man (1957)
Vertigo (1958)
North by Northwest (1959)
Psycho (1960)
The Birds (1963)
Marnie (1964)
Torn Curtain (1966)
Topaz (1969)
Frenzy (1972)
Family Plot (1976)