The Times (30/Apr/1980) - Sir Alfred Hitchcock dies at age of 80
The Times (30/Apr/1980)
- keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Dial M for Murder (1954), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Leytonstone, London, North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), Rear Window (1954), Rebecca (1940), Spellbound (1945), The 39 Steps (1935), The Birds (1963), The Lady Vanishes (1938), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The Paradine Case (1947), The Short Night, Vertigo (1958)
Sir Alfred Hitchcock dies at age of 80
Los Angeles, April 29. Sir Alfred Hitchcock, whose films thrilled and terrified audiences for more than half a century, died today at the age of 80. The cause of his death was not disclosed.
Sir Alfred recently spent several days at a medical centre in Hollywood for tests.
The director, who was born in Leytonstone, Essex, had a heart pacemaker and had suffered painful bouts of arthritis in recent years, causing him to use a wheelchair or crutches.
When he died, Sir Alfred was working on a film dealing with George Blake, the British spy, to be called The Short Night.
A naturalized citizen of the United States, Sir Alfred received his knighthood in a ceremony on a Hollywood studio set in January.
Told by the British Consul General that he was "Sir Alfred from now on", he said, with a typical touch of Hitchcock humour: "I'm sorry I didn't have my army with me today".
He entered the film industry in 1929 as a writer. Among the films he directed were : Rebecca, Psycho, Spellbound, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, The Thirty-Nine Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Foreign Correspondent, The Paradine Case, Dial M for Murder, North by Northwest, Rear Window and The Birds.
He specialized in mystery-films and said of himself: "I am a visual storyteller"
