11 Sir Hitch

Chapter 10 Sir Hitch In 1965 Alfred Hitchcock Presents ended its run on television. Around this same time, Hitchcock's movie production also slowed down. It was becoming more and more difficult to find projects that interested him. In 1972 the premier of his film Frenzy surprised and impressed many people. Critics consider it to be his last masterpiece. It was about a seemingly friendly man who likes to strangle women. For Hitch, then seventy-three, the scariest thing in the shooting of Frenzy wasn't the murderer but the stroke that Alma had during production. Terrified that Alma wouldn't recover, Hitch almost couldn't complete the movie. Frenzy's London opening was a huge event.

Hitch saw many old friends there, including Michael Balcon. Alma was well enough to attend. Many people wondered if Hitchcock was now ready to retire. "I cannot retire," he said. "I will just have to see where the next body will turn up." On April 29, 1974, Hitch was honored in New York by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Many of the great Hitchcock stars were

there, even Grace Kelly, who had gone on to become Princess Grace of Monaco. The highlight of the evening was the great director's thank-you speech, which, naturally, was all about murder. "After all, I'm sure you will agree," he said, "that murder can be so much more charming and enjoyable, even for the

victim, if the surroundings are pleasant and the people involved are ladies and gentlemen like yourselves." In 1976 Hitchcock began filming Family Plot, a thriller-comedy about the search for a missing heir. On his first trip to the set in San Francisco, Hitchcock enjoyed all the fuss when his new pacemaker set off the metal detectors at the airport. Although Hitch didn't know it, Family Plot would be his last film. Over the next few years both he and Alma struggled with their continuing health problems. They spent time with their daughter, Pat, and their grandchildren.

HITCHCOCK FANS LOVE SPOTTING THE DIRECTOR'S BRIEF APPEARANCES IN HIS OWN MOVIES. MANY OF THEM ARE JUST A FEW SHORT SECONDS OF SCREEN TIME! THE LODGER—AT A DESK IN THE NEWSROOM NORTH BY NORTHWEST—OWNER OF THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK TRAVEL AGENCY VERTIGO—WALKING THROUGH THE SHIPYARD WITH A BUGLE CASE THE BIRDS—LEAVING THE PET SHOP WALKING HIS OWN TWO DOGS, GEOFFREY AND STANLEY SPELLBOUND—COMING OUT OF AN ELEVATOR AT THE EMPIRE HOTEL CARRYING A VIOLIN CASE TO CATCH A THIEF—SITTING NEXT TO CARY GRANT ON THE BUS PSYCHO—SEEN THROUGH AN OFFICE WINDOW WEARING A COWBOY HAT

In 1979 Alfred Hitchcock was given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. Fifteen hundred people came to the ceremony. The audience watched a speech Hitch had taped that afternoon. In it, he