Thirty-nine of director Alfred Hitchcock's 52 surviving major films — his second film The Mountain Eagle is lost — contain a cameo appearance by Hitchcock himself. The director would be seen for a brief moment boarding a bus, crossing in front of a building, standing in an apartment across the courtyard, or even appearing in a newspaper photograph (required for the film Lifeboat, which otherwise provided no other opportunity for him to appear).
This playful gesture became one of Hitchcock's signatures and fans would make sport of trying to spot his cameos. As a recurring theme he would carry a musical instrument — especially memorable was the double bass case that he wrestles onto the train at the beginning of Strangers on a Train.
In his earliest appearances he filled in as obscure extras, in a crowd or walking through a scene in a long camera shot. His later appearances became more prominent, such as when he turns to see Jane Wyman's disguise as she passes him in Stage Fright, and in stark silhouette in his final film Family Plot. His appearances became so popular that he began to make them earlier in his films, so as not to distract the audience from the plot.
Hitchcock appears in all 30 features from Rebecca (his first American film) onward; before his move to Hollywood, he only occasionally performed cameos.
Here is a list of Hitchcock's appearances, listed alphabetically by title:
| Title | Year | Hrs:Min | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Birds | 1963 | 0:02 | Leaving the pet shop with two white Sealyham terriers as Tippi Hedren enters. |
| Blackmail | 1929 | 0:11 | Being bothered by a small boy as he reads a book on the Underground. |
| Dial M for Murder | 1954 | 0:13 | On the left side in the class-reunion photo. |
| Easy Virtue | 1928 | 0:15 | Walking past a tennis court carrying a walking stick. |
| Family Plot | 1976 | 0:40 | In silhouette through the door of the Registrar of Births and Deaths. |
| Foreign Correspondent | 1940 | 0:13 | After Joel McCrea leaves his hotel, wearing a coat and hat and reading a newspaper. |
| Frenzy | 1972 | 0:03 | In the center of a crowd, wearing a bowler hat; he is the only one not applauding the speaker. |
| I Confess | 1953 | 0:01 | Crossing the top of a staircase. |
| The Lady Vanishes | 1938 | 1:33 | In Victoria Station, wearing a black coat and smoking a cigarette. |
| Lifeboat | 1944 | 0:25 | In the "before" and "after" pictures in the newspaper ad for "Reduco Obesity Slayer". |
| The Lodger | 1927 | 0:03 | At a desk in the newsroom. |
| The Lodger | 1927 | 1:32 | Cameo in the crowd watching an arrest. |
| The Man Who Knew Too Much | 1934 | 0:33 | Possible cameo walking across the road in a dark trench coat as a bus passes by (unconfirmed). |
| The Man Who Knew Too Much | 1956 | 0:25 | Watching acrobats in the Moroccan marketplace (back to the camera). |
| Marnie | 1964 | 0:05 | Entering from the left of the hotel corridor after Tippi Hedren passes by. |
| Mr. & Mrs. Smith | 1941 | 0:43 | Passing Robert Montgomery in front of his building. |
| Murder! | 1930 | 1:00 | Walking past the house where the murder was committed. |
| North by Northwest | 1959 | 0:02 | Missing a bus, just after his name passes off screen |
| Notorious | 1946 | 1:00 | At the big party in Claude Rains's mansion, drinking champagne and then quickly departing. |
| The Paradine Case | 1947 | 0:36 | Leaving the train at Cumberland Station, carrying a cello. |
| Psycho | 1960 | 0:07 | Through Janet Leigh's window as she returns to her office, wearing a cowboy hat. |
| Rear Window | 1954 | 0:25 | Winding the clock in the songwriter's apartment (Some argue that Hitchcock breaks the fourth wall in this cameo, possibly turning to look at the audience in a "What are you looking at?" sort of manner, although he may merely be looking at Ross Bagdasarian who lives in the apartment). |
| Rebecca | 1940 | 2:01 | Walking near the phone booth just after George Sanders makes a call (only known cameo to occur after the two-hour mark). |
| Rope | 1948 | 0:02 | Walking along a street (holding a newspaper) after the opening credits. |
| Rope | 1948 | 0:55 | His trademark silhouette can be seen on a red neon sign advertising "Reduco" in the view from the apartment window. |
| Saboteur | 1942 | 1:04 | Standing in front of "Cut Rate Drugs" as the saboteur's car stops. |
| Secret Agent | 1936 | 0:08 | Coming down gangplank before hero {speculative}. |
| Shadow of a Doubt | 1943 | 0:17 | On the train to Santa Rosa, playing cards. |
| Spellbound | 1945 | 0:35 | Coming out of an elevator at the Empire Hotel, carrying a violin case and smoking a cigarette. |
| Stage Fright | 1950 | 0:39 | Turning to look back at Jane Wyman in her disguise as Marlene Dietrich's maid. |
| Strangers on a Train | 1951 | 0:10 | Boarding a train with a double bass as Farley Granger gets off in his hometown. |
| Suspicion | 1941 | 0:46 | Mailing a letter at the village postbox (long shot). |
| Suspicion | 1941 | 0:04 | Walking a horse across the screen at the hunt meet. |
| The 39 Steps | 1935 | 0:06 | Tossing some litter while Robert Donat and Lucie Mannheim run from the theatre. |
| To Catch a Thief | 1955 | 0:10 | Sitting to the left of Cary Grant on the bus (Grant, who had previously been directed by Hitchcock in Suspicion and Notorious, gives the director a look as if to say, "Oh, no. Not you again!"). |
| Topaz | 1969 | 0:33 | Being pushed in a wheelchair in the airport. Hitchcock gets up from the chair, shakes hands with a man, and walks off to the right. |
| Torn Curtain | 1966 | 0:08 | Sitting in the Hotel d'Angleterre lobby with a baby on his knee. He shifts the child from one knee to the other. |
| The Trouble with Harry | 1955 | 0:22 | Walking past the parked limousine of an old man who is looking at paintings. |
| Under Capricorn | 1949 | 0:03 | In the town square during a parade, wearing a blue coat and brown hat. |
| Under Capricorn | 1949 | 0:13 | One of three men on the steps of Government House. |
| Vertigo | 1958 | 0:11 | In a grey suit walking in the street. |
| The Wrong Man | 1956 | Seen in silhouette narrating the film's prologue. According to Donald Spoto's biography, Hitchcock chose to make an explicit appearance in this film (rather than a cameo) to emphasize that, unlike his other movies, The Wrong Man was a true story about an actual person. | |
| Young and Innocent | 1937 | 0:15 | Outside the courthouse, holding a camera. |
Hitchcock's image also shows up in Alain Resnais's Last Year at Marienbad, as an homage to Hitchcock's cameo appearances.
Some fans believe Hitchcock made a second cameo appearance in North By Northwest, forty-four minutes into the movie. The character is an old woman in a dress, speaking to the police on a train. Others claim that it is not Hitchcock, saying his ample belly should make more of a bulge than is visible under the woman's dress.
Director Richard Franklin also incorporates a Hitchcock cameo into Psycho II (1983), even though Hitchcock had been dead for three years. When Mary Samuels and Norman Bates pay an early nighttime visit to Mother's bedroom, Hitchcock's famous silhouette can be seen in shadow on the far right wall just after they enter the room and before they turn on the lights.
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