Born on 13th of August 1899 in Leytonstone, England, Alfred Hitchcock initially worked as copywriter and advertising designer before entering the film industry in 1920 as a title card designer for silent motion pictures. Due to the success of his early films such as “The Lodger”, “The 39 steps” or “The Lady Vanishes”, his work gained recognition among international film connoisseurs.

On the invitation of producer David O. Selznick, Hitchcock came to Hollywood in 1939 to make Rebecca, a masterwork which won the Oscar for Best Picture. He was nominated for Best Director for the same movie, but failed to win the award, as will occur four more times in his career.

He stayed in the US and became an American citizen in 1955. This same year Hitchcock expanded his reach into television, producing and hosting the anthology series"Alfred Hitchcock Presents".

Apart from being a master filmmaker, Hitchcock was also a master of self-promotion: with his specific sense of humour, he became a real showman.

Hitchcock has gained a huge reputation growth among American critics thanks to mid-50s young French critics especially Truffaut who promoted him as a veritable auteur - a complete filmmaker, controlling every phase of the production from the choice of plot to the marketing of the finished film.

He was known to favour the visual over dialogues. His style included the use of POV camera movement to reveal a voyeuristic experience, and framing shots to amplify anxiety and fear in order to generate a strong emotional response by the audience.

During a career lasting for six decades, he made more than 50 feature films. In 1979, Hitchcock was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award, and knighted, making him Sir Alfred Hitchcock. He died in Los Angeles, on April 29, 1980.