Hitchcock's Blondes
The Unforgettable Women Behind the Legendary Director's Dark Obsession
(Sprache: Englisch)
Bestselling author of Capote s Women Laurence Leamer shares an engrossing account of the enigmatic director Alfred Hitchcock that finally puts the dazzling actresses he cast in his legendary movies at the center of the story.
Alfred Hitchcock was...
Alfred Hitchcock was...
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Bestselling author of Capote s Women Laurence Leamer shares an engrossing account of the enigmatic director Alfred Hitchcock that finally puts the dazzling actresses he cast in his legendary movies at the center of the story.Alfred Hitchcock was fixated not just on the dark, twisty stories that became his hallmark, but also by the blond actresses who starred in many of his iconic movies. The director of North by Northwest, Rear Window, and other classic films didn t much care if they wore wigs, got their hair coloring out of a bottle, or were the rarest human specimen a natural blonde as long as they shone with a golden veneer on camera. The lengths he went to in order to showcase (and often manipulate) these women would become the stuff of movie legend. But the women themselves have rarely been at the center of the story, until now.
In Hitchcock s Blondes, bestselling biographer Laurence Leamer offers an intimate journey into the lives of eight legendary actresses whose stories helped chart the course of the troubled, talented director s career from his early days in the British film industry, to his triumphant American debut, to his Hollywood heyday and beyond. Through the stories of June Howard-Tripp, Madeleine Carroll, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Janet Leigh, Kim Novak, Eva Marie Saint, and Tippi Hedren who starred in fourteen of Hitchcock s most notable films and who bore the brunt of his fondness and sometimes fixation we can finally start to see the enigmatic man himself. After all, his blondes (as he thought of them) knew the truths of his art, his obsessions and desires, as well as anyone.
From the acclaimed author of Capote s Women comes an intimate, revealing, and thoroughly modern look at both the enduring art created by a man obsessed and the private toll that fixation took on the women in his orbit.
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Chapter 1A Fairy Tale
Tippi Hedren was not afraid of birds. In her dressing room, the thirty-two-year-old actress had a raven named Buddy. Hedren was costarring in The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock's film set in the Northern California seaside town of Bodega Bay, whose avian population was slowly, strangely turning on the residents and attacking them.
Buddy was not like those birds. He pranced around, messing with Hedren's makeup, amusing her endlessly. Buddy was her one true friend on the set, so much so that she put a sign on her dressing room door saying "Buddy and Tippi."
As far as Hedren was concerned, her Hollywood story had begun as a fairy tale. One morning Hitchcock saw the blond model in an ad for a diet drink on television; the renowned director was so enraptured that he signed her to play the female lead in his next film. At her age, Hedren's days as a top model were over. She knew how lucky she was that Hitchcock had come forward. Hedren knew almost nothing about acting, but Hitchcock took her and molded her into the image he desired.
That was all wonderful, but strange things started happening once The Birds began shooting. Hitchcock warned the other men involved in the production to stay away from Hedren. She was often alone on set and increasingly isolated. A single mother, Hedren was lonely and missing her child during the long shooting days. One day, she said Hitchcock tried to embrace her in the chauffeur-driven car in which they were traveling.
As Hedren waited to be called to the set, the assistant director, James H. Brown, entered her dressing room. He appeared worried.
"What's the matter with you?" Hedren asked.
"We can't use the mechanical birds," he said, the words barely audible.
"Uh, well, what are we going to use?" Hedren asked, though the answer should have been obvious.
"The mechanical birds don't work, and we have to use real ones."
This startled Hedren, and it took her a while to compose
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herself.
Hedren had already suffered through the birds attacking her and various schoolchildren as they ran down the street in Bodega Bay. But that was nothing like the scores of birds set to go after Hedren this morning as she opened the attic door.
In Hitchcock's four decades of filmmaking, there had never been a scene like this-two minutes so dangerous and, in the director's mind, so pleasurable to an audience seeking vicarious thrills. Hedren knew the scene had to be shot. As apprehensive as she was, what choice did she have but to leave her dressing room and walk out on the set?
Hedren saw that the crew had built a cage attached to the attic door. The trainers inside wore long, thick leather gloves to protect themselves. Beside them sat four good-sized boxes full of ravens and gulls.
As Hedren stood before the closed door, Hitchcock yelled, "Action!" She opened the door, and the handlers started hurling live birds at her. The flapping of feathers, the screams, the squawks-it was terrifying for everyone on set. If this had gone on for a few takes, that would have been one thing. But Hitchcock insisted on continuing until he got every shot he believed he needed.
Days passed.
On the fifth straight day of shooting this scene, to get the most intimate perspectives of the attacking birds, the crew attached elastic bands to Hedren and tied the feet of several birds to the bands.
"Action," Hitchcock shouted. The birds had been trained to claw at a person, and they did their job well. Hedren already had bruises over much of her body from days of working with the creatures, but this was a whole new level of hurt. The assault continued until the middle of the afternoon, when one of the birds pecked near Hedren's eyes. An inch or two closer, and she might have lost her sight.
Hedren could take no more. "I'm finished," she said. The handlers untied the birds and put them
Hedren had already suffered through the birds attacking her and various schoolchildren as they ran down the street in Bodega Bay. But that was nothing like the scores of birds set to go after Hedren this morning as she opened the attic door.
In Hitchcock's four decades of filmmaking, there had never been a scene like this-two minutes so dangerous and, in the director's mind, so pleasurable to an audience seeking vicarious thrills. Hedren knew the scene had to be shot. As apprehensive as she was, what choice did she have but to leave her dressing room and walk out on the set?
Hedren saw that the crew had built a cage attached to the attic door. The trainers inside wore long, thick leather gloves to protect themselves. Beside them sat four good-sized boxes full of ravens and gulls.
As Hedren stood before the closed door, Hitchcock yelled, "Action!" She opened the door, and the handlers started hurling live birds at her. The flapping of feathers, the screams, the squawks-it was terrifying for everyone on set. If this had gone on for a few takes, that would have been one thing. But Hitchcock insisted on continuing until he got every shot he believed he needed.
Days passed.
On the fifth straight day of shooting this scene, to get the most intimate perspectives of the attacking birds, the crew attached elastic bands to Hedren and tied the feet of several birds to the bands.
"Action," Hitchcock shouted. The birds had been trained to claw at a person, and they did their job well. Hedren already had bruises over much of her body from days of working with the creatures, but this was a whole new level of hurt. The assault continued until the middle of the afternoon, when one of the birds pecked near Hedren's eyes. An inch or two closer, and she might have lost her sight.
Hedren could take no more. "I'm finished," she said. The handlers untied the birds and put them
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Autoren-Porträt von Laurence Leamer
New York Times bestselling author Laurence Leamer is a leading biographer of the rich and powerful, including Capote s Women, Madness Under the Royal Palms and The Kennedy Women, among many other books. He lives in Washington, D.C., and Palm Beach, Florida.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Laurence Leamer
- 2023, 336 Seiten, Masse: 15,7 x 23,5 cm, Gebunden, Englisch
- Verlag: Penguin US
- ISBN-10: 0593542975
- ISBN-13: 9780593542972
- Erscheinungsdatum: 05.10.2023
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
One of Entertainment Weekly s 41 New Fall Books We re Most Excited to Read One of CrimeReads Most Anticipated Crime Reads of Fall 2023
One of PureWow s 9 Books We Can t Wait to Read in October
An important and enthralling story that will change not only the way we experience Hitch s movies but the way we view ourselves. It is a tale more disturbing than any Hitchcock film. Read it with all the lights on. Sam Kashner, coauthor of The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee
Fascinating and comprehensive. Boston Herald
Through their work and place as the prism for Hitchcock's obsessions and desires, we come to understand the inner workings of his mind and how these women were key to constructing a legend of his own devising Entertainment Weekly
"Laurence Leamer subverts the cliche of the "Hitchcock blonde" who was putty in the hands of a sado-masochistic director. His impressive book reveals a garden of polychromatic blondes, who are human beings as well as fine actresses, and whose disparate backstories and complicated relationships with Hitchcock, on and off the set, made for some of his greatest films." Patrick McGilligan, author of Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light
"In Hitchcock's Blondes, Laurence Leamer brings to life the remarkable golden goddesses of Hitchcock's films and shows how they often paid a price for his inability to charm and captivate them in real life. A guilty pleasure." Jon Krampner, author of Ernest Lehman: The Sweet Smell of Success
Prolific author Leamer provides ample biographical background regarding each actor to buttress his revelations concerning Hitchcock s Machiavellian modus operandi and enhances his premise with just enough titillating behind-the-scenes details to entice devoted movie buffs. Booklist
Leamer excels at dissecting Hitchcock s filmic genius and odd proclivities. Kirkus Reviews
"Leamer serves up a breezy and gossip-filled
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group biography of Alfred Hitchcock's blonde leading ladies...[F]ilm buffs will come away from this page-turner with a better understanding of Hitchcock and the stars that populate his films." Publishers Weekly
Vaunted best-selling nonfiction and biography author Laurence Leamer has penned a gem with Hitchcock s Blondes If you love movies, Hitchcock s Blondes is essential reading. BookTrib
A readable and fascinating examination of Hitchcock s secret life Leamer subtly shows Hitchcock s genius and his shadowy psyche, his ability to push emotions away, using irony as his shield. Book Reporter
From the author of Capote s Women comes a book about Hitchcock s longtime fixation on a highly specific interpretation of womanhood and femininity. Essential reading for anyone interested in the great director and how his tastes were instrumental in creating the dense thriller and noir aesthetic we see today. CrimeReads
"Laurence Leamer peels away the glamour of Hollywood to detail the director s troubling relationships with eight high-profile blonds who starred in his movies. Readers unfamiliar with Alfred Hitchcock s methods will learn about his obsession with these women and, explicitly, how he controlled every aspect of their lives. Washington City Paper
The bestselling author of Capote s Women turns his focus to Alfred Hitchcock in his latest In Hitchcock s Blondes, Leamer offers an intimate look into the lives of eight legendary actresses including Ingrid Bergman and Tippi Hedren whose stories helped propel the troubled, talented director s career forward, from Janet Leigh s first marriage (when she was 14 years old) to forcing The 39 Steps star Madeline Carroll to rehearse while handcuffed and soaking wet. PureWow
Leamer is the first biographer to shift the focus from Hitchcock in the foreground to zoom in on the women with whom the director achieved some of his greatest works. The Orange County Register
Through Laurence Leamer's expertly crafted, multi-layered prose, we powerfully understand just how challenging it was to be a Hitchcock leading lady, how spirited Hitchcock's heroines were, and how inspiring their stories continue to be today, especially when viewed in tandem through a single lens. A riveting read. Christina Lane, author of Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Woman Behind Hitchcock
"As riveting as any thriller by The Master of Suspense, Hitchcock's Blondes illuminates how the director's fascination with his extraordinary assemblage of leading ladies often bordered on obsession. The iconic stars who captivated Hitchcock and audiences alike are brought vividly to life by Laurence Leamer. If you thought the high drama and intrigue that Hitch's golden-haired girls encountered on screen was something, wait till you discover what went on behind the scenes." Mark Griffin, author of All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson
Vaunted best-selling nonfiction and biography author Laurence Leamer has penned a gem with Hitchcock s Blondes If you love movies, Hitchcock s Blondes is essential reading. BookTrib
A readable and fascinating examination of Hitchcock s secret life Leamer subtly shows Hitchcock s genius and his shadowy psyche, his ability to push emotions away, using irony as his shield. Book Reporter
From the author of Capote s Women comes a book about Hitchcock s longtime fixation on a highly specific interpretation of womanhood and femininity. Essential reading for anyone interested in the great director and how his tastes were instrumental in creating the dense thriller and noir aesthetic we see today. CrimeReads
"Laurence Leamer peels away the glamour of Hollywood to detail the director s troubling relationships with eight high-profile blonds who starred in his movies. Readers unfamiliar with Alfred Hitchcock s methods will learn about his obsession with these women and, explicitly, how he controlled every aspect of their lives. Washington City Paper
The bestselling author of Capote s Women turns his focus to Alfred Hitchcock in his latest In Hitchcock s Blondes, Leamer offers an intimate look into the lives of eight legendary actresses including Ingrid Bergman and Tippi Hedren whose stories helped propel the troubled, talented director s career forward, from Janet Leigh s first marriage (when she was 14 years old) to forcing The 39 Steps star Madeline Carroll to rehearse while handcuffed and soaking wet. PureWow
Leamer is the first biographer to shift the focus from Hitchcock in the foreground to zoom in on the women with whom the director achieved some of his greatest works. The Orange County Register
Through Laurence Leamer's expertly crafted, multi-layered prose, we powerfully understand just how challenging it was to be a Hitchcock leading lady, how spirited Hitchcock's heroines were, and how inspiring their stories continue to be today, especially when viewed in tandem through a single lens. A riveting read. Christina Lane, author of Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Woman Behind Hitchcock
"As riveting as any thriller by The Master of Suspense, Hitchcock's Blondes illuminates how the director's fascination with his extraordinary assemblage of leading ladies often bordered on obsession. The iconic stars who captivated Hitchcock and audiences alike are brought vividly to life by Laurence Leamer. If you thought the high drama and intrigue that Hitch's golden-haired girls encountered on screen was something, wait till you discover what went on behind the scenes." Mark Griffin, author of All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson
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