Elyria Chronicle-Telegram (26/May/1936) - Engineer Wins Fame as Film Director
Details
- article: Engineer Wins Fame as Film Director
- author(s): Talbot Lake
- newspaper: Elyria Chronicle-Telegram (26/May/1936)
- keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Alma Reville, Blackmail (1929), Joseph Conrad, London, England, Madeleine Carroll, Robert Donat, Sabotage (1936), Secret Agent (1936), Sylvia Sidney, The 39 Steps (1935), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Notes
- This is one of the earliest profiles of Hitchcock to appear in a local US newspaper.
Article
Profiles For Today
Engineer Wins Fame As Film Director
By TALBOT LAKE
Alfred Hitchcock, who directed "The 39 Steps" and "The Man Who Knew Too Much" has recently won honorable mention as one of the best directors of 1935.
He is only thirty-five years old and is not only the most celebrated director in England at the present time, but also a striking personality. Ruddy-complexioned apparently grave and Quiet, he is a tremendous man with a multitude of chins and a keen sense of humor.
He is married to Alma Reville, a well-known scenario writer. They live on the top floor of a six-story apartment house in London. Hitchcock has chosen this place because it has no elevator. He hones the stairs will reduce his girth. So far, his hopes have not been fulfilled.
He did not start out in the theater. but was trained in engineering. Son of a London shopkeeper. Hitchcock was first sent to a Jesuit school, and then to an engineering school. He got a job as an advertising agency and supplemented his meager earnings by writing captions for the old silent films
This was the way he got into the movies. He directed the first really successful British talkie, "Blackmail." "The 39 Steps," with Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll, brought him fame.
His latest picture is "Secret Agent," from the story by Somerset-Maughan. His next picture will be "The Hidden Power," co-starring Sylvia Sydney and Robert Donat. This is a film version of the Joseph Conrad novel.
