Born on August 13, 1899, in Leytonstone, East London, Alfred Hitchcock entered the film industry in 1919 as a title card designer and worked his way through every department — art direction, editing, screenwriting — before landing behind the director’s chair. That ground-level apprenticeship showed in everything he made. By the time producer David O. Selznick lured him to Hollywood in 1939, he had already directed 23 films in Britain and was the most sophisticated thriller filmmaker working anywhere.
Hollywood gave him resources, technology and the biggest stars of the era — Cary Grant, James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman — and he used all of it with a control that made lesser directors look like they were guessing.
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