9 Twists and Turns

Chapter 8 Twists and Turns Before Hitchcock could start filming Vertigo, in January 1957, he had a medical emergency. The hernia he'd long ignored now needed immediate surgery. Alma assured the press that Hitch would be fine and that he was recuperating with visits from Pat and his grandchildren.

But in March he was rushed back to the hospital to have his gallbladder removed. Once again, filming was delayed. The next year, Alma was diagnosed with cancer. Hitch was terrified at the thought of losing Alma. He shared everything in his life with her, and he didn't know how he could ever live without her.

Alma's operation for her cancer went fine, and she came home to rest. Hitch couldn't concentrate on making movies until she was well. But he was so nervous about her health that he drove Alma crazy. She finally begged him and the studio to get back to the business of making movies. At the end of the 1950s, Hitch made two very different but important movies. The murder mystery Vertigo opened in 1958. It starred Jimmy Stewart as a retired policeman with an extreme fear of heights. Hitch's next film, North by Northwest, starred Cary Grant as a businessman who gets caught up in a case of mistaken identity. This spy thriller was nominated for three Academy Awards in 1960.

For all the tense thrills Hitchcock was known for creating in his films, no one could have predicted the amount of suspense and horror he had planned for his scariest picture yet.

JIMMY STEWART AND CARY GRANT CARY GRANT (1904–1986) AND JAMES "JIMMY" STEWART (1908–1997) WERE TWO OF HITCHCOCK'S MOST POPULAR LEADING MEN. SOME SAID THE ACTORS REPRESENTED THE TWO SIDES OF HITCHCOCK HIMSELF. GRANT'S PERSONALITY WAS THE MAN HITCHCOCK WANTED TO BE: FUNNY, CHARMING, HANDSOME, AND ALWAYS ONE STEP AHEAD OF THE BAD GUYS. STEWART'S CHARACTERS REPRESENTED WHO HITCH REALLY WAS—AN ANXIOUS AND OBSESSED MAN, MORE OF AN OBSERVER OF LIFE THAN AN ACTION STAR.

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