The Paper's reporter Cheng Xiaojun
Patricia Hitchcock
According to US media reports, Patricia Hitchcock, the daughter of a generation of film giants Alfred Hitchcock, died at the age of 93 at her home in California on August 9 local time.
Patricia, the only child of Hitchcock and his wife, Alma Reville, also made many cameos in her father's works as a young man, but more often as Hitchcock's daughter, appeared in various Hollywood documentaries, laboring to protect her father's film legacy.
On July 7, 1928, the Hitchcocks, who had been married for nearly two years, welcomed their first and only child, Patricia. Because of her childhood, Patricia had a dream of becoming an actress very early. In 1939, Hitchcock was invited to Hollywood to shoot the movie "Butterfly Dream", and his 11-year-old daughter moved to Los Angeles with her parents. Three years later, on her father's recommendation, fourteen-year-old Patricia took to Broadway to play the lead role in the stage play Solitaire.
Young Patricia with father Hitchcock
In 1947, Patricia graduated from high school and was successfully accepted into the Royal Academy of Drama (RADA) in London, returning to her homeland after a gap of eight years.
In 1949, at the age of 21, she debuted on the screen as her father's thriller Stage Fright. She starred in the film as an alumnus of the Royal Academy of Drama played by Jane Wyman, and her role was not much, but it can be said that she starred in her true colors. Two years later, Patricia graduated from the Royal Academy of Drama and went on to make cameo appearances in her father's new film, Strangers on a Train, as the sister of the heroine ruth Roman.
Patricia in Hitchcock's Train Freak
In the mid-1950s, Hitchcock was invited to write the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which lasted for ten seasons at a time, and Patricia starred in at least ten episodes. "Every time someone was needed to play the role of a maid with a British accent, it was my turn." In a 1984 interview with The Washington Post, Patricia quipped.
In Hitchcock's 1960 classic Psycho, Patricia also appeared as an office colleague of the heroine Janet Leigh, all with just a few lines.
Of course, in addition to her father's work, Patricia occasionally makes a slight appearance in films by other directors, including the classic epic film "The Ten Commandments" released in 1956.
Overall, Patricia's acting career is not a success at all. Years later, in an interview with the BBC, she said with regret, "Unfortunately, my father was not willing to engage in nepotism, otherwise I could have worked with him on more films." He's only willing to pick actors who are really a good fit for the role. I used to say hello to his assistants, but I never got it; I asked them to mention my name in front of him, but my father always liked to say, 'She's not a good fit for this role.'" That's it, there's no room for negotiation. ”
The young Patricia was with her parents
Of course, the reason why Patricia's film and television path is not very bright is also related to her preference for spending time on her family. In 1952, at the age of 24, she married Joseph E. O'Connell, Jr., an Irish-American businessman, in New York, and the next year her eldest daughter, Mary Alma Stone, fell to the ground, and a year later she was born with her second daughter, Teresa Carrubba, leaving her with no time to look around.
Of patricia's three daughters, Kathleen Fiala, born in 1959, is still working in the family's film and television industry as an executive under the famous director Spielberg's Amperelin Films. Of Patricia's six grandchildren and granddaughters, none seem to be in the film industry anymore.
Emma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind the Man
In April 1980, Alfred Hitchcock died of kidney failure at the age of 82. Two years later, his wife, Emma Revere, also passed away at the age of 82. Patricia's husband, Joseph, died of a heart attack in 1994. In 2003, Patricia published Alma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind the Man, a reminder not to forget her mother's important role as an editor and story writer in Hitchcock's film projects. In addition, in Hitchcock's biographical works such as "It's Just a Movie", Patricia is often involved as an important interviewee.
Editor-in-charge: Cheng Yu
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang