The Perfect English Couple...
As privately as Hitch and Alma lived together, they were often seen in public as a devoted couple. They frequently traveled, to ski resorts in St. Moritz and to the Lake Cuomo region of Italy, where they spent their honeymoon in 1926. They were regulars at the famous restaurant Chasens, where they even had their own table.
It is often said that an artist is only truly married to his art, and that it takes an extraordinary woman to support such a man. In the Hitchcocks' case, it's safe to say that cinema was their shared passion, so that rather than being a hindrance, marriage for both the Hitchcocks was a decided asset.
Besides providing the tranquility and emotional support, Alma was with Hitchcock from the very beginning of his cinematic career, at the Lasky-Players Studio in London. She was an accomplished screenwriter, adaptor, story editor and even a film editor. She earned screen credit on no less than sixteen of Hitchcock's films under her maiden name Alma Reville.
As quietly as Alma stayed in the background of her husband's accomplishments, there is mounting evidence that she was in fact his most important collaborator, often suggesting literary works that eventually became Hitchcock films.
There is no doubt that Hitchcock depended heavily on Alma's constant presense. As two expatriates living abroad, they emmersed themselves in cinema and family life. That their only daughter Patricia, chose to enter the family business as an actress, spoke volumes of how important cinema was to this couple.
Although Hitchcock was the one who became a legend, he was always quick to credit Alma as being a major driving force behind his art. George Bernard Shaw once autographed an original play manuscript given to the director, by dedicating it: "To Alma Reville's husband." Now Patricia O'Connell is planning a biography on her mother, so that the world can fully know Alma's great contribution to the Hitchcock legacy.
Theirs was the story Hitchcock never told you about.
A reading sample from Hitch&Alma:
An interview with author of Hitch&Alma, Robert Schoen
Did Hitch have a secret collection of Outtakes? Some Photos and Posters:
Alma, the woman behind a very large man:
Hitchcock's Other Leading Ladies:
The Mother in Hitchcock's films:
Hitch & Herrmann, artists with the same obsessive vision:
Reader’s and Web Site Visitor’s Comments:
Book description and how to order a copy of Hitch&Alma:
1999, Events Celebrating the Hitchcock centennial:
Links to other Great Hitchcock Web Sites:
