Patricia Hitchcock

Patricia Hitchcock (born July 7, 1928) is an English-born American actress and producer.

Related Topics:
July 7 - 1928 - English - American - Actress - Producer

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She was born in London, England, the only child of Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville. The family moved to Los Angeles, California, in March 1939.

Related Topics:
London - England - Alfred Hitchcock - Alma Reville - Los Angeles, California - 1939

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As a child, Pat knew she wanted to be an actress. In the early 1940s, she began acting on the stage and doing summer stock. She performed in the Broadway productions Solitaire (1942) and Violet (1944).

Related Topics:
1940s - Stage - Summer stock - Broadway - 1942 - 1944

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After graduating from Marymount High School in Los Angeles in 1947, she attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and also appeared on the London stage. In early 1949, her parents arrived to make Hitchcock's first feature motion picture in England since going to Hollywood. Pat did not know she would have a walk-on in the movie until her parents arrived. Because she bore a resemblance to the star, Jane Wyman, her father asked if she would mind also doubling for Wyman in the scenes that required "danger driving."

Related Topics:
1947 - Royal Academy of Dramatic Art - 1949 - Motion picture - Hollywood - Jane Wyman

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She had small roles in three of her father's movies, Stage Fright (1950), playing a jolly acting student named Chubby Bannister, one of Wyman's school chums, Strangers on a Train (1951), playing Barbara Morton, future sister-in-law of Farley Granger, and Psycho (1960), playing Janet Leigh's plain-Jane office-mate, Caroline, who generously offers to share tranquilizers that her mother gave her for her wedding night.

Related Topics:
Stage Fright - 1950 - Strangers on a Train - 1951 - Farley Granger - Psycho - 1960 - Janet Leigh

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Pat also worked for Jean Negulesco on The Mudlark (1950), which starred Irene Dunne and Alec Guinness, playing a palace maid, and she had a bit-part in DeMille's The Ten Commandments.

Related Topics:
Jean Negulesco - The Mudlark - 1950 - Irene Dunne - Alec Guinness - DeMille - The Ten Commandments

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She married Joseph E. O'Connell, Jr., January 17, 1952, at Our Lady Chapel in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. They decided to have their wedding there because Pat had many friends on the East Coast and Joe had relatives in Boston.

Related Topics:
January 17 - 1952 - St. Patrick's Cathedral - New York - East Coast - Boston

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She and Joe O'Connell have three daughters, Mary Alma O'Connell (born April 17, 1953), Teresa "Tere" O'Connell (born July 2, 1954), and Kathleen "Katie" O'Connell (born February 27, 1959).

Related Topics:
April 17 - 1953 - July 2 - 1954 - February 27 - 1959

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As well as appearing in ten episodes of her father's half-hour television program, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Pat worked on a few others, including Playhouse 90, which was live, directed by John Frankenheimer. Acting for her father, however, remained the high point of her acting career, which she interrupted to raise her children.

Related Topics:
Television program - Alfred Hitchcock Presents - Playhouse 90 - John Frankenheimer - Career

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Pat also served as executive producer of the documentary The Man on Lincoln's Nose (2000), which is about Robert F. Boyle and his contribution to motion pictures.

Related Topics:
Producer - Documentary - The Man on Lincoln's Nose - 2000 - Robert F. Boyle

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She supplied family photos and wrote the forward of the book Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco by Jeff Kraft and Aaron Leventhal, which was published in 2002. In 2003, she published Alma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind the Man, co-written with Laurent Bouzereau.

Related Topics:
2002 - 2003

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Patricia and Joseph O'Connell currently live in Solvang, California.

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