Pat Hitchcock

Patricia Alma O'Connell (née Hitchcock; born July 7, 1928), commonly known as Pat Hitchcock, is an English-born American actress and producer. She is the only child of English director Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville, and had small roles in several of his films, starting with Stage Fright (1950).

Pat Hitchcock
Hitchcock in 1996
Born
Patricia Alma Hitchcock

(1928-07-07) July 7, 1928
London, England
OccupationActress, producer
Years active1950–present
Spouse(s)
Joseph E. O'Connell Jr.
(m. 1952; died 1994)
[1]
Children3
Parent(s)Alfred Hitchcock
Alma Reville

Early life

Hitchcock was born in London in 1928, the only child of film director Alfred Hitchcock and film editor Alma Reville. The family moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1939. Once there, Hitchcock's father soon made his mark in Hollywood.

As a child, Hitchcock knew she wanted to be an actress. 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).[2] She also played the title role in the Broadway play Violet (1944).[3]

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.

Career

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".

She had small roles in three of her father's films: Stage Fright (1950), in which 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), Guy Haines's (Farley Granger) lover; and Psycho (1960), playing Janet Leigh's character's plain-Jane office mate, Caroline, who generously offers to share tranquilizers that her mother gave her for her wedding night.

Hitchcock had a small uncredited role as an extra in her father's 1936 Sabotage. 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 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. (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.

Personal life

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

She married Joseph E. O'Connell, Jr., 17 January 1952, at Our Lady Chapel in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. They decided to have their wedding there because Hitchcock had many friends on the East Coast and O'Connell had relatives in Boston. They had three daughters, Mary Alma Stone (born 17 April 1953), Teresa "Tere" Carrubba (born 2 July 1954), and Kathleen "Katie" Fiala (born 27 February 1959). Joe died in 1994.[1] She currently lives in Solvang, California.

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 by Jeff Kraft and Aaron Leventhal, which was published in 2002. In 2003, she published Alma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind the Man, co-written with Laurent Bouzereau.

Filmography

Film

Year Film Role Notes
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

Year TV Series Role Notes
1955 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Diana Winthrop Season 1, "Into Thin Air" (30 October 1955) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
1956 Margaret Season 1, "The Older Sister" (22 January 1956) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
Ellie Marsh Season 1, "The Belfry" (13 May 1956) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
1957 Polly Stephens Season 3, "I Killed the Count", Part 1 (17 March 1957) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
Saleslady Season 3, "The Glass Eye" (6 October 1957) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
Nancy Mason Season 3, "Silent Witness" (3 November 1957) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
1958 Aileen Season 3, "The Crocodile Case" (25 May 1958) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
1959 Pat Season 4, "The Morning of the Bride" (15 February 1959) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
1960 Dorothy Season 5, "The Cuckoo Clock" (17 April 1960) Credited as Pat Hitchcock
Rose Season 5, "The Schartz-Metterklume Method" (12 June 1960) Credited as Pat Hitchcock

References

  1. "The woman who knew too much". The Guardian. 28 August 1999. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  2. Adair, Gene (2002). Alfred Hitchcock: Filming Our Fears. Oxford University Press. p. 76. ISBN 0-19-511967-3
  3. "Internet Broadway Database". Retrieved 11 July 2015.
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