- The Trouble with Hitchcock: did his onscreen mistreatment of women extend to real life?
- His iconic films had femmes fatale and icy blondes, constantly thrown in danger’s path
- Not just Tippi Hedren: many others recount tales of sexual assault and cruelty
- Now #MeToo movement’s unblinking spotlight gazes into the director’s past
- Like his best movie characters, the Master finds himself a man accused
- But is he innocent or guilty? Hearing the case for and against
Note: this is part of an ongoing series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles; any dead links are to those not yet published. Subscribe to the email list to be notified when new ones appear.
Contents
Outlining the case
- The Women Who Knew Too Much: Hitchcock and Feminist Theory (1988/2005/2016) – Tania Modleski
Hitch continues to be rediscovered, reinvented and made relevant for each new generation, but latterly it hasn’t always been for the right reasons. Now he’s been pushed into the limelight by the long, long overdue #MeToo movement. An appropriate battle cry for it would be the much-paraphrased Victor Hugo quote, “No army can withstand the force of an idea whose time has come.” Nor it seems, can the reputation of perhaps the greatest director of all time. Or can it?
While Hitch was an extremely talented and hardworking man, fully deserving of the innumerable accolades afforded him, he has also been repeatedly accused of being a deeply flawed individual. His alleged harassment and abuse of Tippi Hedren, star of The Birds and Marnie, is truly shocking and only serves to reiterate the sad truth that in Hollywood, as everywhere else, there really is nothing new under the sun. The latter film co-starred Sean Connery who, of course, is a self-confessed, unrepentant misogynist and physical abuser of women. Diane Cilento, Connery’s ex-wife, detailed some of the abuse she unquestionably suffered in her candid memoir My Nine Lives (2006). Be warned: it makes for harrowing reading.
I saw the bruises Sean Connery left on his wife’s face – Michael Thornton, Jessie Matthews’ biographer
It’s all too easy to knock past art and social mores when looking down the other end of the telescope of history. However, it’s been said on many occasions that as brilliant as he was, Hitch was often extremely limited in his depictions of the opposite sex, or as one observer writing in The Guardian put it:
“There’s the vamp, the tramp, the snitch, the witch, the slink, the double-crosser and, best of all, the demon mommy. Don’t worry, they all get punished in the end.” – Bidisha
Which was balanced by a partial rebuttal from another Guardian writer, taking as its cue Hitch’s most famously female-subjugating masterpiece:
Vertigo is not the last word in misogyny, but a feminist deconstruction of it – Anne Billson
Renowned cultural theorist and lifelong Hitch fan Camille Paglia made a strong case against over-simplified analysis of insalubrious aspects of his reputation in her 2012 essay, Women & Magic in Hitchcock. It was featured in two collections and most recently referenced in the foreword for her reprinted monograph on The Birds:
“I wrote: ‘Misogyny is a hopelessly reductive and simplistic term for the passionately conflicted attitude of major male artists towards women.’ What Hitchcock records in his films is ‘the agonized complexity of men’s relationship to women.’ There is a psychological turbulence going on in sexuality that cannot be fully understood by political paradigms.”
- The Birds (1998/2020) – Camille Paglia
- 39 Steps to the Genius of Hitchcock (2012) – ed. James Bell | info
- Provocations: Collected Essays on Art, Feminism, Politics, Sex, and Education (2019) – Paglia
Of course, none of the above necessarily translates to Hitch being a real life abuser, though one wonders at the self-confessed discretion he exercised on numerous occasions to make his female characters such one-dimensional, recurrent victims. It’s especially perplexing when you consider that throughout his career he adapted various female-penned books and plays, as well as working with many talented female scriptwriters, including his own wife, Alma Reville, and Joan Harrison.
In their many other works those same women writers created sympathetic, multi-faceted and, most of all, realistic female roles. On the other hand, many advocates point out how the majority of Hitch’s films did, nonetheless, feature female characters who were central to the storyline. This was against the trend of many successful films both then and now, with their male-led, action-orientated plots. It’s his female-centric tendency, along with him largely focusing on populist thrillers, that many hold up as the main reasons for Hitch being consistently overlooked by the Academy for the Best Director Oscar.
Sir Alfred Hitchcock: Giant with a taste for bondage – Jonathan Coe, The Times
Was Alfred Hitchcock a misogynist? – John Russell Taylor, The Times
There are countless writings concerning Hitch’s attitude towards women using his films themselves as primary evidence. But they all fall short by being based on a reading of only a limited number of said works. A compelling case can easily be made for or against by using a select few examples. I hope one day someone will tackle Hitch’s entire oeuvre in this context on a case-by-case basis, to form an overarching perspective. Of course, it would require commencing with his first, The Pleasure Garden, continuing on with all his British films, in their original or best-possible versions, before going on to the widely available American films. Cherry picking from Hitch’s catalogue to establish any and every theory concerning his modus operandi is incredibly commonplace. Ultimately it’s just more lazy scholarship, many past examples of which I’ve highlighted throughout this series of articles.
Hedren speaks
Interviews: RTÉ | BBC | BFI/trlr | HuffPost | profil | Larry King | Studio 10 | Sky | BBC/alt | BBC Arts & Ideas
Hedren first revealed her allegations publicly to author Donald Spoto, who published them in his controversial 1983 biography, The Dark Side of Genius; a complete volte-face from his affectionate first book, The Art of Alfred Hitchcock (1976). She claimed he first tried to grope her in a taxi, as they pulling up outside a hotel. “And there were about three more of those incidents, and I said, ‘I want to get out of the contract.'” Ever since, she’s reiterated them in numerous interviews and her 2016 autobiography.
“I’ve never gone into detail on this, and I never will, I’ll simply say that he suddenly grabbed me and put his hands on me. It was sexual, it was perverse, and it was ugly, and I couldn’t have been more shocked and repulsed. The harder I fought him, the more aggressive he became. Then he started adding threats, as if he could do anything to me that was worse than what he was trying to do at that moment.”
Hedren said she fought him off and told him she’d never make another film with him again, at which he swore, “I’ll ruin your career.” Hitch had her signed to a seven-year contract and despite the fact she’d just starred in two consecutive hit films, throughout the remainder of its term he kept her on the payroll whilst essentially doing nothing. During the next three years, Hedren’s only onscreen appearances were one-off guest spots in a couple of 1965 TV programmes and it eventually took the leverage of Charlie Chaplin to secure her a support spot in his 1967 film, A Countess from Hong Kong. But that was it; she didn’t begin acting regularly again in (low budget) films and on TV until 1970 when her contract expired. She claims to have later found out that various other directors, apparently including François Truffaut (but refuted by his daughter and others), approached Hitch in the interim for permission to cast her but he turned them all down – or so she says.
- The Art of Alfred Hitchcock (1976)/The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of AH (1983) – Donald Spoto
But this version of events is hotly disputed by others. For instance, actor-film historian Brian Hannan claims in Hitchcock’s Hollywood Hell, his book about the director’s career-long travails stateside, that Hitch sold Hedren’s contract to Universal just a year after Marnie, resulting in said 1965 TV appearances. They were “The Trains of Silence“, an episode of Kraft Suspense Theatre, which also coincidentally aired the pilot of TV series Run for Your Life featuring her in its third episode, “Someone Who Makes Me Feel Beautiful“. Various sources further claim Hedren didn’t work much after that as, for whatever reason, there simply wasn’t enough industry interest.
- Hitchcock’s Hollywood Hell (2013) – Brian Hannan
At least one particularly disturbing Hitchcock myth is long overdue for dispelling: “After The Birds was completed, Hitchcock sent Hedren’s five-year-old daughter, Melanie Griffith, a miniature doll of her mother dressed as her movie character in a tiny coffin.” This oft-repeated anecdote has even been recycled by Griffith’s daughter, Dakota Johnson, yet it was definitively dismissed by Hedren herself when speaking onstage at a 50th anniversary screening of The Birds at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood:
“My daughter was presented with a box when Hitchcock took us to lunch, and it was a wooden box and Melanie opened it and it was an incredible doll of me in the green suit that I wore in The Birds. The face was so perfect that it scared her to the point where she kind of freaked out. Everybody made it sound like it was Hitchcock playing a dirty trick or doing something really nasty to Melanie and that wasn’t it. It was supposed be a very, very beautiful gift and it just went awry. She was so affected by it that it was put away somewhere and I unfortunately don’t even know what happened to it.”
The Revenge of Alfred Hitchcock’s Muse – New York Times, 5.10.12
- Roar: The Most Dangerous Movie Ever Made (2017) | Animal Planet
- The Cats of Shambala (1986) – Tippi Hedren
- Tippi: A Memoir (2016) – Hedren | extract: On Filming The Birds
- Golden Years: Hedren talks to Dakota Johnson for Vogue (2016)
The biggest irony in the Hedren story, as pointed out by Joel Gunz, “is that his alleged abuses pale in comparison to the treatment meted out when she became a producer.” This occurred when Hedren and her then husband, producer Noel Marshall, embarked on a 10-year vanity project to make Roar (1981), later campily but accurately described as “The Most Dangerous Movie Ever Made”. Carelessly using hundreds of big cats and other exotic wild animals, they subjected their children, friends, neighbours, cast and crew – a figure running into triple figures – to risk of literal life and limb. Unsurprisingly, dozens of near fatal injuries occurred in the process, and the resulting artistic and financial flop is today only notable for the circumstances of its grisly inception.
- Prime Video HD
- US: Olive BD and DVD (2015)
- Germany: Platinum Cult/DigiDreams BD/CD, BD and DVD (2014, reissued 2015) | Prime Video HD
- France: Rimini Editions BD/DVD (2018)
- Sweden: Studio S BD and DVD (2016)
- Finland: Future Film BD and DVD (2016)
- Japan: Prime Video HD
- LP/MP3 Roar: Original Soundtrack (1981) National Philharmonic Orchestra cond. Terence P. Minogue
Bootlegs: Italy (Quadrifoglio), Spain (Creative/3on1, Mon Inter Comerz BD-R).
Clip | trailer and clips, more | TFH
In the case of one “pet” lion though, “Neil”, his rotten and pulled teeth and claws clearly be seen. Hedren spoke most recently in Tippi Hedren and the Wild Animals (2021), a 52-minute documentary focusing on her experiences with Hitch. It also highlights Shambala, the charitable preserve she founded on the property she’d made her home since 1972, to house all the animals she’d bought and bred but could no longer afford to look after, owing to divorce and the film’s failure. Originally in German, the documentary is also available in English and French, and officially uploaded to YouTube with dozens of auto-translate subtitles.
— Tippi Hedren (@Tippi_Hedren) October 11, 2017
Most recently Hedren’s version of events was adapted as a 2024 play, Double Feature, by renowned Hollywood screenwriter John Logan. One argument often set against Hedren is why did she wait so long (the early 1980s, soon after Hitch’s death) to go on the record with her claims? Please. Quite apart from professional pressure, the power dynamics between abusers and their victims are often complex and varied, as are the very good reasons for the latter’s belated reporting of abuse. If this puzzles you, I strongly suggest doing some (open-minded) research into the common phenomenon and remember: if you don’t understand the problem, you’re part of the problem. Whatever your own viewpoint, in this particular instance the arguments continue to rage both for and against.
Distinctly on the flip side, many experts, friends and colleagues of Hitch have rallied to his defence, especially via author Tony Lee Moral’s Save Hitchcock blog. It’s an impressive collection of well-researched articles and personal testimonies that are, in their own way, also quite compelling.
The Girl (2012)
Trailer #2, teaser | clip, italiano | NPR | scene comparisons: other films and Hitchcock
Which Hitch? – Christopher Goodwin
Hedren acted as consultant on The Girl, a highly acclaimed Anglo-American production spotlighting the complicated dynamic between the director and his star during the making of The Birds. The title refers to the way Hitch addressed Hedren after she refused to continue working for him, though naturally again many contest its version of events. It’s not to be confused with the near-simultaneously released Hitchcock (2012), which gives an acknowledged fanciful account of the making of Psycho. The Girl was based on Spellbound by Beauty, a further book by Spoto, and drew much criticism for sloppy attention to detail and directly contradicting many first-hand accounts. However, despite giving the final word to Hedren, the film does ultimately portray Hitch quite sympathetically. It received widespread international TV and theatrical distribution but I’ve only found evidence of one foreign dub and home video options are few:
- Spellbound by Beauty: AH and His Leading Ladies (2008) Spanish
- US: HBO DVD, Prime Video HD, Max
- UK: BBC DVD, Prime Video HD, iPlayer
HD | interviews: Hedren, CTV | Miller, OC/full, AP, GD, ODE | Jones, BBC, ODE | all | Hughes/Jarrold, Hughes
More accusers
Another argument commonly levelled against Hedren’s allegations is that no one else who ever worked with Hitch reported similar experiences or corroborated her version of events. Wrong: numerous cast and crew members who worked on both of her films have done so including Rod Taylor, her co-star in The Birds; and Diane Baker, third-billed in Marnie and also propositioned by Hitch. Like Hedren, Baker is still with us and has spoken very emotionally but articulately about the issue on several occasions.
Hitch was also alleged to have employed the exact same modus operandi as he did on Hedren by Brigitte Auber, who played Danielle Foussard in To Catch a Thief. While being interviewed for Patrick McGilligan’s 2003 biography, she said they were in her car when she gave him a lift to his hotel and “He jumped me” then tried to kiss her on the mouth. Auber was only able to dissuade Hitch by claiming she had a boyfriend to whom she wished to remain faithful but their friendship was spoiled and she could never look at him the same way again.

Brigitte Auber and Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief
McGilligan also reported that Hitch was prone to getting drunk at parties and pawing at women, and “a favourite trick was to thrust his tongue down their throats when he went to kiss them hello or goodbye.” During the making of Family Plot, he is said to have tried to give one of his ‘playful’ French kisses to its star Karen Black, who was less than half the age of Hitch, then 76, but ‘She put it down to his “exuberant spirit”.’
- AH: A Life in Darkness and Light (2003) – Patrick McGilligan
- Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock (2020) – Christina Lane
It’s quite telling that Hedren alleged Hitch assaulted her in a taxi, Brigitte Auber said she was “jumped” by him in her car and Hitch himself later invokes a similar scenario. In a 1969 interview for Look magazine, itself with the sexist title A Girl to Bring Home to Mother (If You Can Trust Father), the then 70-year-old director describes 21-year-old Claude Jade, star of his upcoming film Topaz, in way entirely unconnected to her role:
Rumor had it that Hitchcock picked Claude because of a resemblance to an earlier discovery, Grace Kelly. In fact, she actually reminds him of Catherine Deneuve. “I don’t like sex hanging around women’s necks like jewelry,” Hitchcock declares. “It’s more interesting to see the sex emerge than to see it right away. Claude Jade is a rather quiet young lady, but I wouldn’t guarantee [that] about her behavior in a taxi.”
Going back years earlier, Hitch’s long-time collaborator Joan Harrison was frequently the butt of his sense of ‘humour’. In her recent biography of the pioneering screenwriter and producer, Christina Lane writes of an occasion the director sought to embarrass his employee: “The director picked up a copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses, which he kept handy on his desk for just this occasion, and turned to an earmarked section—the vulgar toilet scene.” As he recited the passage matter-of-factly, Joan couldn’t help but lose her composure, even though she must have known she was playing into his hands… His orchestration served no apparent purpose but to provoke a one-sided emotional striptease, intended for his erotic gratification.” Simple high jinks or a boss abusing his power over an underling?
It seems he was both: Ronald Neame, a similarly lauded British filmmaker, recalled Hitch’s famed reputation as a “practical joker” but said he was often deliberately “sadistic” and “cruel.” Neame, who certainly had no axe to grind, expanded on their brief working relationship on Blackmail and subsequent lifelong friendship in his autobiography.
- Straight from the Horse’s Mouth (1958) – Ronald Neame
Madeleine Carroll, star of The 39 Steps and Secret Agent, also spoke disparagingly of Hitch’s working methods to film historian Brian McFarlane. For one scene, most likely this one, in order to provoke the requisite look of disgust, Hitch turned his back on her with the camera rolling then, suddenly turning around again, “exposed himself” to her. This lends a somewhat sinister edge to a notorious Hitch statement recounted in Spoto’s The Dark Side of Genius (when asked in 1939 about his enthusiasm for directing David O. Selznick’s planned Titanic film): “Oh, yes,” he told a New York reporter, “I’ve had experience with icebergs. Don’t forget, I directed Madeleine Carroll!”
Hitch’s mild tormenting of Anny Ondra, star of Blackmail, during a sound test is rightly hilarious but was he going too far when during filming and on camera, he tried to “tickle” her and “peek under her skirt“? It would appear to be sheer wish fulfilment; after all, Charles Bennett, Hitch’s good friend and screenwriter of his six British talkies from Blackmail to Young and Innocent, and then of Foreign Correspondent, spoke candidly of how much both men “wanted her.” Then there’s Hitch’s unquestionably harsh way of dealing Bill Mumy, a child actor who starred in three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents/Hour and the pilot episode of the 1980s remake. Mumy detailed his experiences in his 2022 autobiography (signed) and various interviews.
The verdict
Of course, Hitch’s bawdy sense of humour is legendary and, when appropriate, is part of what makes him so endlessly appealing. But many of his well documented so-called pranks so take on an entirely different complexion when one remembers they were inflicted on people who were working for a very powerful boss, and who depended on him for their livelihoods. Sound familiar? Also, as is so often the case, Hitch’s staunchest defenders are all too willing to somehow conflate talent with moral virtue. The two are clearly completely unconnected but it’s often hard to accept that anything we love, especially great art, can be irrefutably tainted with the stain of being created by a flawed human being.
Perhaps the subject elicits so many surprisingly vehement responses because it’s also subconsciously seen as a personal attack on one’s own good taste and sense of propriety. The best we can hope for is that in future, all predatory behaviour and toxic masculinity in general are not excused, enabled or rewarded; the least result of that being we can enjoy great art in perpetuity and completely free of guilt, whether subconscious or not.
Did Hitch actually behave with impropriety towards Hedren and other female actors he worked with? The alleged events happened a long time ago and unless new, incontrovertible evidence comes to light, the jury looks like remaining permanently out. In an ironic twist, in the final act Hitch himself seems destined to be forever relegated to playing his own most enduring role: that of a wronged man accused of a heinous crime and unable to prove his innocence. Or otherwise.
Related articles
This is part of a unique, in-depth series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles.

Illustration by Daniel Mitchell, 2013
Did Hitch abuse his leading ladies? Well of all the actresses that worked with Hitchcock, only Tippi accused him. Others even defended him, if I’m not wrong, including Kim Novak, Doris Day and Eva Marie Saint. Plus others like Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman continued to be friends with Hitchcock until his death.
Women of that era were really unrealistic , uninformed , and really fearful in their view of sexual harassment and sexist treatment in Hollywood . Some felt that it must be tolerated because it was a man’s world and that it came with the territory especially in filmmaking. I just read that Jamie Lee Curtis said that her own mother, Janet Leigh, would not understand women bringing such treatment out in the public eye and having their accusers arrested and tried for it. It’s very sad that women were afraid to say anything because they didn’t want their career ruined… Read more »