Alfred Hitchcock
Master of suspense
Most quoted
"The audience is like a giant organ that you and I are playing. At one moment we play this note and get this reaction, and then we play that chord and they react that way. And someday we won't even have to make a movie — there'll be electrodes implanted in their brains, and we'll just press different buttons and they'll go 'ooooh' and 'aaahh' and we'll frighten them, and make them laugh. Won't that be wonderful?"
— from Interview with François Truffaut, 1966
"I'm scared of eggs, worse than frightened, they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes... have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I've never tasted it."
— from Interview
"Fear isn't so difficult to understand. After all, weren't we all frightened as children? Nothing has changed since Little Red Riding Hood faced the big bad wolf. What frightens us today is exactly the same sort of thing that frightened us yesterday. It's just a different wolf."
— from Interview
All quotes by Alfred Hitchcock (313)
I never said all actors are cattle. What I said was, all actors should be treated like cattle.
I am a great believer in the power of suggestion.
I have a perfect understanding of the human mind. I know what makes people tick.
The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.
I am a man of few words, but many pictures.
I don't believe in the supernatural. I believe in the natural, and that's scary enough.
I like to put the audience in a position where they are complicit in the crime.
I am an agnostic, but I am not an atheist. I don't know what I am.
I am a visual person. I think in pictures.
I don't care about the message. I care about the suspense.
I am a storyteller. That's what I do.
I like to surprise the audience. I like to shock them.
I am a perfectionist. I like everything to be just so.
I like to make films that are like a roller coaster ride.
I am a very shy person. I don't like to be in front of the camera.
I like to make films that are timeless.
I am a very methodical person. I plan everything out.
I like to make films that are entertaining.
I am a very private person. I don't like to talk about my personal life.
I like to make films that are thought-provoking.
Contemporaries of Alfred Hitchcock
Other Film & Theaters born within 50 years of Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980).