Synopses & Reviews
Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light is the definitive biography of the Master of Suspense and the most widely recognized film director of all time.
In a career that spanned six decades and produced more than 60 films - including The 39 Steps, Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds - Alfred Hitchcock set new standards for cinematic invention and storytelling. Acclaimed biographer Patrick McGilligan re-examines his life and extraordinary work, challenging perceptions of Hitchcock as the “macabre Englishman” and sexual obsessive, and reveals instead the ingenious craftsman, trickster, provocateur, and romantic.
With insights into his relationships with Hollywood legends - such as Cary Grant, James Stewart, Ingrid Bergman, and Grace Kelly - as well as his 54-year marriage to Alma Reville and his inspirations in the thriller genre, the book is full of the same dark humor, cliffhanger suspense, and revelations that are synonymous with one of the most famous and misunderstood figures in cinema.
Review
“Enthralling, scholarly, and candid.” & #151;Publishers Weekly
Review
“Staggering. . . . Illuminating. . . . The Master of Suspense finally gets an authoritative life.” & #151;Kirkus Reviews (starred)
Synopsis
In a career that spanned six decades and more than sixty films, Alfred Hitchcock became the most widely recognized director who ever lived. His films -- including The 39 Steps, Notorious, Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds -- set new standards for cinematic invention and storytelling Élan. Since his death, Hitchcock has become crystallized in the public imagination as the macabre Englishman, the sexual obsessive, the Master of Suspense. But this remarkable biography draws on prodigious new research to restore Hitchcock the man -- the ingenious craftsman, the avid collaborator, the constant trickster, provocateur, and romantic. Like Hitchcock's best films, Patrick McGilligan's life of Hitchcock is a drama full of revelation, graced by a central love story, dark humor, and cliff-hanging suspense: a definitive portrait of the most creative, and least understood, figure in film history.
About the Author
Patrick McGilligan is the author of acclaimed biographies including Oscar Micheaux: The Great and Only, a New York Times Book to Remember; Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award; and Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast and George Cukor: A Double Life, both New York Times Notable Books, as well as biographies of Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Robert Altman, and James Cagney. He is also the coauthor of the oral history Tender Comrades: A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist and created the highly regarded, five-volume Backstory series of interviews with Hollywood screenwriters. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.