Hitchcock’s Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director’s Dark Obsession
This week’s book was a fun romp through one of Hollywood’s legends, Alfred Hitchcock, and the book is Hitchcock’s Blondes: The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director’s Dark Obsession by Laurence Leamer.
First off, this book is not and was not intended to be a biography of Hitchcock himself. It IS a series of short biographies on the women who starred in his most famous films, how he came to work with them, and why he overwhelmingly chose to work with blondes.
But it does start and end with the great man himself, Alfred Hitchcock, who was born August 13, 1899 to William Edgar and Emma Jane Hitchcock. He had two older siblings and the family was Irish catholic, and had a disciplinarian mindset. The family was solidly middle class, but apparently Hitchcock’s proclivities towards disciplinarian, authoritative mothers was definitely born at home, where his own mom would make him stand at the end of her bed and recite the days goings on.
As he reached young adulthood, he traveled to Germany during the heyday of the Weimar Republic, which…how can I describe Weimar Germany. There’s a reason Cabaret is set during the Weimar Republic, and Cabaret is actually quite tame for what was possible. I have a book called Voluptuous Panic which addresses the atmosphere of the Weimar Republic…and you know, now that I think about it, like….I get the panicked belief of a possible rise of another fascist regime. Because it was EXACTLY the loose, completely amoral, sexual degeneracy that we see today with the extreme debauchery and lack of responsibility, that ultimately opened the door for Hitler to walk onto the public stage.
Huh…I for real didn’t think about that while reading the book, but coming up with my review drew the connection. When the world stands by and cheers while a man beats a woman and calls it sportsmanlike…we’ve seriously gone astray. When no longer means no in the name of sexual equality, you can see the gods have walked away.
Anyway, anything and everything you could ever want to see, observe, or experience, in the sexual arena was available for quite cheap in the inflation driven economy of the Weimar Republic. And here Hitchcock experienced voyeurism. There does not seem to be any indication that he partook of any of the vices he witnessed, beyond prurient interest in watching. And that need to watch would set up and become the driving force behind his creativity.
Now, he was I believe engaged to his future and lifetime spouse Alma when he went to Germany, and it’s entirely possible that the Catholicism in which he was raised helped rein him in. But it was also in Germany, the heart of Scandinavia, where he developed his obsession with blondes, and came to see them as the height of feminine beauty.
And this actually becomes tricky, since blondes are actually a recessive mutation, which he couldn’t know because the research didn’t exist back then for that, but only about 2% of the world population are natural blondes. This didn’t actually bother him, he didn’t care if they wore wigs or dyed their hair, as long as they were blond on screen.
Additionally, he liked his women to be a little seedy, to have some sin they needed to redeem themselves from, in order to give them a strong character arch. The mother/whore dichotomy was strong with his films. Good girl gone bad, who redeems herself back to sainthood. And this is explored in detail in each of the mini-biographies presented next.
It is interesting to note that Leamer did have research or interviews with Dr. Heath King, who is a psychoanalyst, who says “It is clear to me Hitchcock had Asperger’s syndrome, now included in autism spectrum disorder.” It is worth noting that Dr. King taught a course on masterpieces of American film at Yale, and Hitchcock was undoubtedly a master.
Leamer also includes quotes from Camille Paglia which are also illuminating, since garden variety misogyny is, well, too simplistic to describe his relationship with these women. As Leamer quotes Paglia “misogyny is a hopelessly simplistic and reductive term for the passionately conflicted attitude of major male artists toward women.” Leamer concludes “as these actresses made memorable films with Hitchcock, he projected his complicated, tortured attitude toward women onto the screen. He recorded what Paglia calls “the agonized complexity of men’s relationship to women—a roiling mass of admiration, longing, neediness, and desperation.”
So, with that information in mind, we jump into how he came to work with his stars, and how he helped shape and mold them into what he needed for his creative genius to bear fruit.
To that end, the first star Leamer looks a is June Howard-Tripp, who is probably not as well known on this side of the pond, given that the role she starred in for Hitchcock was one of the last silent movies and was filmed in England…American’s tend to be provincial and unless it’s Harry Potter, ignore movies filmed by anyone not American. So the film in question is The Lodger, and it opens with a body being found on the Thames river embankment. The book The Lodger was based on was based basically on the Jack the Ripper murders, which had ended as inexplicably as they began 40 years prior. Leading lady June was not a natural blond but I think is the only Hitchcock lady to not be a blonde: She wore a wig for this production. She was a Shakespearean actress and was available for this movie because she had experienced an emergency appendectomy and was not available for the rigorous schedule of live theater. She maybe should have made herself available for theater, since filming for Hitchcock, with his drive to get a shot exactly right, ultimately resulted in her rupturing her appendectomy scar and being sick for longer. Interestingly, she had no complaint about this. In fact, most of the actresses who worked with Hitch had no complaint about the demands made upon them. Most of them. We’ll come back to that in a bit. But most of the actresses acknowledged that under his guidance, they became better at their craft and were able to deliver precisely what was asked of them.
The Lodger was gratifying to audiences as throughout it looked like the leading hero of British stage, Ivor Novello, was the murderer, which created anxiety in it’s own way for theater goers, and by the end of the film, he’s shown to be innocent. This created Hitchcock’s first truly commercial success. This I believe is Howard-Tripp’s only collaboration with Hitchcock, but as his first leading lady, she merits mention here. The book wraps up with Howard-Tripp was married to John Alan Burns, the 4th Baron Inverclyde, who was abusive to June, resulting in the couples divorce in 1933. She married and divorced twice Edward Hillman Jr, and they were married when Hillman died in 1966. June ultimately passed away January 14, 1985, having been retired for more than 20 years.
The next young actress to captivate Hitchcock was Madeleine Carroll, who would star in his English move, The 39 Steps. He slowly starts to push what is socially acceptable, as this movie features Carroll being handcuffed to her co-star, Robert Donat, for most of the time she is on screen, at one point the couple even spends the night together, and to get ready for bed, Carroll has to roll her stockings off her leg, while handcuffed. This was highly erotic for the 1930s. Carroll took all this in stride and never broke under the conditions to which Hitchcock treated her, conditions that were bad enough even Donat was appalled and commented on it. Her moxy impressed him enough that he cast her again in Secret Agent, which was not as successful, given that it basically was a remake of The 39 Steps, and audiences wanted something new. As Hitler moved across Europe, Carroll opted to step up and rescue children from France, and she would ultimately broadcast for the United States Information Service after Victory in Europe was declared. She married several times, before retiring to Marbella, Spain in 1965, where she lived until she died on October 2, 1987.
Hitchcock’s preferred leading lady, and the one he would have cast throughout his career had it been possible, was the stunningly beautiful and eminently talented Ingrid Bergman, who would star in his films Spellbound, Notorious, and Under Capricorn. Hitchcock ADORED Bergman, and she glowed under his tutelage, she would even give a speech at his lifetime achievement award ceremony in 1979, while she herself was very ill with Cancer. The two worked astonishingly well together, creating suspenseful art of the sort that earned academy award nominations and awards. However, Bergman’s personal life led to the rift in professional collaboration as she had many lovers, which was not a problem, until she ran off and married one of them, Roberto Rosellini. This marriage couldn’t happen until she divorced her existing husband, which happened after she dramatically abandoned him and their daughter Pia. This was too much bad behavior for even Hollywood of the 1940’s to overlook, and resulted in Hitchcock searching for a new star to elevate to the heavens. Bergman would continue to be a powerhouse of an actress, and would die on her birthday, August 29, 1982, when she was 67 years old.
Next Hitchcock found Grace Patricia Kelly. Now, based on what Leamer provides about Kelly…you kind of end up feeling sorry for her. Which sounds weird, right? She grows up to be Princess Grace of Monaco, and how do you end up feeling sorry for a princess. Here’s the brief rundown. The Kelly clan was highly athletic and placed a premium on sports and athletic ability. Which Grace was not. She was the artistic one of the clan, and because she was NOT an athlete, was very much the black sheep of the family. And while she would bring several boyfriends home, the only one to ever win approval was Prince Rainier III from Monaco. And the couple had only met once, passed several letters back and forth, and Prince Rainier was motivated to marry and have kids, since if he failed to produce an heir, the territory of Monaco would revert back to French control and cease to be a monarchy at all. So this may have been less of a love match, and more politically expedient, to which Kelly fell into it because with this match, she finally won her fathers approval. But before any of that happened, she would work with Hitchcock on Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief. Hitchcock adored Kelly and was furious when she married Rainier and vanished into Monaco. Leamer hints at a belief that this was not love, but expedience, and that Kelly would have very much enjoyed acting in another Hitchcock film or two. But it was very much not to be, once she was crowned princess, and she would live the rest of her days in Monaco, giving birth to three children before dying as a result of a car accident on September 14, 1982.
Kim Novak was born Marilyn Pauline Novak—the name was changed due to the popularity another blonde actress at the time, Marilyn Monroe. So when Novak was discovered by talent scout Max Arnow, who spotted her star quality immediately, and pushed for a studio contract for her, despite Harry Cohn’s belief that she was nothing but a pretender. She was not. But she was grossly inexperienced, and the first of the Hitchcock ladies to be basically studio created. The studio created the image of her they wanted projected. She did star in several movies before Hitchcock needed a new leading lady following the defection of Grace Kelly to Monaco. Novak was basically pushed at him, and he took her in and tried to work with her, but I think that despite her incredible beauty, he was ultimately unimpressed, as he only used Novak for one film: Vertigo. Arguably one of his most impressive pieces, but part of his displeasure with Novak is she would push back on what the character would wear or speak or walk like. Hitchcock knew what he wanted. And he knew the character’s he was creating. So when Novak told him she would not wear a grey suit, Hitchcock listened to her, then dressed her in the damn grey suit, because this is what the story needed her to be wearing. Some actresses could provide feedback and he would listen. Novak was not one of them. And despite her powerhouse double performance as both Madeline Elster and Judy Barton in Vertigo, Hitchcock did not work with her again. Part of that is the scandal that followed her when she would become involved with Sammy Davis Jr….this is scandalous for 1950’s America, where mixed race relations were…let u say frowned upon. The couple would split when Hollywood would send a literal goon squad after Davis Jr threatening him with violence if he didn’t leave Novak alone. Novak is still alive, I think she’s 91 now, she would ultimately leave Hollywood, be diagnosed I think it was bipolar, but would ultimately find happiness when she married a veterinarian and still lives in her home in Oregon. She is one of two actresses Leamer was able to interview for this book, and was apparently very gracious with her time. The other actress was Eva Marie Saint, who would become the next leading lady, who also only starred in one film.
North by Northwest is a spy thriller, and Eva Marie Saint is unique among Hitchcock’s ladies not because she only starred in one film for him…several of these ladies only worked with him once. But it seems like the only once was her choice, not his. Saint, prior to becoming a Hollywood actress, was happily married and had two children when she was tapped to work with Hitch. And she was a consummate professional, she took direction well, took guidance well, got on with all members of the cast. But her family and home life was more important to her than commercial success. So she only worked on one film per year, traveled in the summer with her husband and children, and had a successful 65 year marriage that only ended when her husband died in 2016. She still sees her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids, and just passed 100 years of age on July 4, 2024. Still alive, I googled it.
The next lady had probably the shortest role and work time with Hitchcock, and is so iconic she almost needs to introduction: Janet Leigh. I think the book says she’s on film for like 37 minutes…in a movie that’s only 94 minutes, that’s only 1/3 the length of the film. This was also a highly graphic depiction of murder, so masterfully done, creating such a mythos around it, that spin off series have been created around Norman Bates and the Bates Motel. And it was shocking for another reason: Leigh at this point was a star in her own right before working with Hitchcock. Not the first: Bergman and Kelly were certainly stars coming onto the set, but Leigh was intrigued enough by the role that she worked for 1/3 her usual fee. Leigh’s life is one that seems a little fairytale-ish, she was stunningly beautiful and married to Tony Curtis, but she had had two prior marriages, which she was worried the scandal from this would ruin her name. The marriage to Curtis would ultimately fail as the two were just a mismatch, not helped along by his lack of empathy when Leigh’s father would overdose on pills. Leigh would also attempt to end it all via overdose, although this attempt would fail. Leigh remarried shortly after the couple divorced, and died at home on October 3, 2004.
The final actress is Tippi Hedren. Hedren was NOT an actress. She was a model. She was paid to stand there and be beautiful, and she did this exceedingly well. But her modeling career was coming to an end when she was 31 and cast by Hitchcock in The Birds. And she was picked because he saw her in a commercial, and she reminded him viscerally of Grace Kelly. So he had his team reach out to her and offer her a seven year contract. And then spent a frustrating two years trying to get her to emote anything. Which was virtually impossible, because models get paid NOT to emote, they’re paid to be blank slates. He damn near tortured her on the set of The Birds and later Marnie, which are the only two movies she made that reached any level of commercial success, which she later blamed Hitchcock for her failure as an actress, claiming that he made inappropriate passes at her, sexual harassment. It’s worth noting here that only one of the other actresses ever claimed he was inappropriate, I’m sorry I don’t recall which one, and I think she even said she may have misinterpreted the situation. ALL of the actresses commented on his dirty sense of humor, which was down right juvenile, he definitely enjoyed toilet humor. And also, the same psychoanalyst that said Hitchcock had Aspergers, also said that Hedren “was a calculating narcissist.” Does this mean no such attempts happened? No. The only two people to know for sure are Hitchcock and Hedren. And as Dr. King says, it’s telling that Hedren waited to lobby her accusations until after Hitchcock had died, and was unable to defend himself. Hedren is still alive, she runs an animal sanctuary in California for like large predator cats. She did not agree to be interviewed for this book.
Hitchcock himself died on April 29, 1980. He basically decided that he was not going to be able to make any more movies, shut down his studio at Universal, and stopped eating, drinking only water until he finally passed away.
This book was fun. It was dark, I covered the biographical elements of the book in my review here, but it covers quite a bit of his psychology and how he came to make the art he made, and the impact that art has had on cinema even well into the 21st century. I very much enjoyed this one, and if you have any interest in one of cinemas dark masters, I would highly recommend Hitchcock’s Blondes by Laurence Leamer.
