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Pat Hitchcock

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Patricia Hitchcock
Hitchcock in 1996
Born
Patricia Alma Hitchcock

(1928-07-07)7 July 1928
London, England
Died9 August 2021(2021-08-09) (aged 93)
Thousand Oaks, California, US
Occupation(s)Actress, producer
Years active1950–2008
Spouse
Joseph E. O'Connell Jr.
​
​
(m. 1952; died 1994)​
Children3
Parents
RelativesJoseph E. O'Connell (father-in-law)

Patricia Alma Hitchcock O'Connell (7 July 1928 – 9 August 2021) was an English-American actress and producer. She was the only child of English director Alfred Hitchcock and film editor Alma Reville, and had small roles in several of her father's films, with her most substantial appearance being in Strangers on a Train (1951).[1]

Early life

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Hitchcock was born on 7 July 1928 in London,[2] the only child of film director Alfred Hitchcock and film editor Alma Reville. The family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1939.[3]

As a child, Hitchcock knew she wanted to be an actress, and made her first onscreen appearance as an uncredited extra alongside her mother in Sabotage (1936).[4] In the early 1940s, she began acting on the stage and doing summer stock. Her father helped her gain a role in the Broadway production of Solitaire (1942).[5] She also played the title role in the Broadway play Violet (1944).[6]

After graduating from Marymount High School in Los Angeles in 1947, she attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and also appeared on the London stage.[2]

Career

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In early 1949, her parents arrived in London to make Stage Fright, Hitchcock's first British-made feature film since emigrating to Hollywood. Pat did not know she would have a walk-on part in the film until her parents arrived. Because she bore a resemblance to the star, Jane Wyman, her father asked if she would mind also doubling for Wyman in the scenes that required "danger driving".[citation needed]

She had supporting roles in three of her father's films.[1] In Stage Fright (1950), she played a jolly acting student named Chubby Bannister, one of Wyman's school chums; Strangers on a Train (1951), playing Barbara Morton, sister of Anne Morton (Ruth Roman), the lover of Guy Haines (Farley Granger); and Caroline in Psycho (1960). In this role, she offers to share her tranquilizers with Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), having received them from her mother prior to her wedding night. Hitchcock was an extra in her father's film Sabotage (1936). She and her mother, Alma Reville, are in the crowd waiting for, then watching, the Lord Mayor's Show parade.

Hitchcock also worked for Jean Negulesco on The Mudlark (1950), which starred Irene Dunne and Alec Guinness, playing a palace maid, and again was cast as a maid in the first episode of the 1953 television series Life with Father.[7] She had a bit-part in DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956).

As well as appearing in ten episodes of her father's half-hour television programme, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Hitchcock worked on a few others, including Playhouse 90, which was live, directed by John Frankenheimer. Acting for her father, however, remained the high point of her acting career, which she interrupted to bring up her children.[8] (Hitchcock has a small joke with her first appearance on his show – after saying good night and exiting the screen, he sticks his head back into the picture and remarks: "I thought the little leading lady was rather good, didn't you?")

She also served as executive producer of the documentary The Man on Lincoln's Nose (2000), which is about Robert F. Boyle and his contribution to films.

For several years, she was the family representative on the staff of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. She supplied family photos and wrote the foreword of the book Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco (2002) by Jeff Kraft and Aaron Leventhal. A biography of her mother, Alma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind the Man, was co-written with Laurent Bouzereau, and published in 2003.[4][1]

Personal life

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Back row, L–R: Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell holding daughter Terry O'Connell, husband Joseph O'Connell. Front row, L–R: Alfred Hitchcock, Mary Alma O'Connell, and Alma Reville Hitchcock

Hitchcock married Joseph E. O'Connell, Jr., son of Boston businessman Joseph E. O'Connell, on 17 January 1952, at Our Lady Chapel in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York.[9] The couple had three daughters, Mary Alma Stone, Teresa "Terry" Carrubba, and Kathleen "Katie" Fiala. O'Connell died in 1994.[2]

Hitchcock died of natural causes in her sleep at her home in Thousand Oaks, California, on 9 August 2021, one month after her 93rd birthday.[10] Her daughter Teresa made the following statement: "She was always really good at protecting the legacy of my grandparents and making sure they were always remembered. ... It's sort of an end of an era now that they're all gone."[11]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Film Role Notes
1936 Sabotage Crowd extra Uncredited
1950 Stage Fright Chubby Banister
The Mudlark Servant (Bit Part) Uncredited
1951 Strangers on a Train Barbara Morton
1956 The Ten Commandments Court Lady Uncredited
1960 Psycho Caroline Credited as Pat Hitchcock
1978 Skateboard Mrs. Harris Credited as Pat Hitchcock

Television

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Year TV series Role Notes
1953 Life with Father Nora Season 1, premiere episode (22 November 1953) Credited as Pat Hitchcock[7][12]
1955 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Diana Winthrop Season 1 Episode 5: "Into Thin Air" aka "The Vanishing Lady" (30 October 1955) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
1956 Margaret Season 1 Episode 17: "The Older Sister" (22 January 1956) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
Ellie Marsh Season 1 Episode 33: "The Belfry" (13 May 1956) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
1957 Polly Stephens Season 2 Episode 25: "I Killed the Count", Part 1 (17 March 1957) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
Saleslady Season 3 Episode 1: "The Glass Eye" (6 October 1957) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
Nancy Mason Season 3 Episode 5: "Silent Witness" (3 November 1957) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
1958 Aileen Season 3 Episode 34: "The Crocodile Case" (25 May 1958) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
1959 Pat Season 4 Episode 19: "The Morning of the Bride" (15 February 1959) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
1960 Dorothy Season 5 Episode 27: "The Cuckoo Clock" (17 April 1960) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
Rose Season 5 Episode 35: "The Schartz-Metterklume Method" (12 June 1960) Credited as Pat Hitchcock

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Patricia Hitchcock, actress who featured in her father Alfred's films Stage Fright and Strangers on a Train – obituary". The Telegraph. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Mackenzie, Suzie (28 August 1999). "The woman who knew too much". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  3. ^ Tapp, Tom (11 August 2021). "Pat Hitchcock Dies: Daughter Of Alfred Hitchcock And Actress In 'Strangers On A Train,' 'Psycho,' Was 93". Deadline. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Alma Reville: The Power Behind Hitchcock's Throne". Brenton Film. 14 August 2019.
  5. ^ Adair, Gene (2002). Alfred Hitchcock: Filming Our Fears. Oxford University Press. p. 76. ISBN 0-19-511967-3
  6. ^ "Internet Broadway Database". Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  7. ^ a b "'Life With Father' Making Bow". The Baltimore Sun. 15 November 1953. p. 90. Retrieved 11 October 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Peary, Gerald (7 October 1984). "At Home with Hitchcock". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  9. ^ "O'Connell to Wed Miss Hitchcock in N. Y. Cathedral". The Boston Daily Globe. 10 January 1952.
  10. ^ Barnes, Mike (10 August 2021). "Pat Hitchcock, 'Strangers on a Train' Actress and Daughter of Alfred Hitchcock, Dies at 93". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  11. ^ Italie, Hillel (11 August 2021). "Pat Hitchcock, daughter of Alfred Hitchcock, dead at 93". AP News. Associated Press. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  12. ^ Ames, Walter (22 November 1953). "CBS Remodels Back to 1880s on Scenes For Life With Father". The Los Angeles Times. p. 111. Retrieved 11 October 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
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