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Alfred Hitchcock

A Brief Life

By Peter Ackroyd

By Peter Ackroyd

By Peter Ackroyd

By Peter Ackroyd

By Peter Ackroyd
Read by Gildart Jackson

By Peter Ackroyd
Read by Gildart Jackson

Best Seller
Paperback $16.95

Sep 19, 2017 | ISBN 9780525434795

Ebook $12.99

Oct 25, 2016 | ISBN 9780385537421

Audiobook Download $22.50

Oct 25, 2016 | 633 Minutes

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    Alfred Hitchcock by Peter Ackroyd
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    Sep 19, 2017 | ISBN 9780525434795

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      Sep 19, 2017 | ISBN 9780525434795

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    About Alfred Hitchcock

    Alfred Hitchcock rigorously controlled his public image, drawing certain carefully selected childhood anecdotes into full focus and blurring out all others. In this gripping short biography, Peter Ackroyd wrests the director’s chair back from the master of control to reveal a lugubriously jolly man fond of practical jokes, who smashed a once-used tea cup every morning to remind himself of the frailty of life. Iconic film stars make cameo appearances throughout Hitchcock’s story, just as the director did in his own films: Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, James Stewart and, perhaps most famously of all, Tippi Hedren, who endures cuts and bruises from a fearsome flock of real birds. Perceptive and intelligent, Alfred Hitchcock is a fascinating look at one of the most revered directors of the twentieth century.

    About Alfred Hitchcock

    Alfred Hitchcock rigorously controlled his public image, drawing certain carefully selected childhood anecdotes into full focus and blurring out all others. In this gripping short biography, Peter Ackroyd wrests the director’s chair back from the master of control to reveal a lugubriously jolly man fond of practical jokes, who smashed a once-used tea cup every morning to remind himself of the frailty of life. Iconic film stars make cameo appearances throughout Hitchcock’s story, just as the director did in his own films: Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, James Stewart and, perhaps most famously of all, Tippi Hedren, who endures cuts and bruises from a fearsome flock of real birds. Perceptive and intelligent, Alfred Hitchcock is a fascinating look at one of the most revered directors of the twentieth century.

    About Alfred Hitchcock

    A gripping short biography of the extraordinary Alfred Hitchock, the master of suspense.

    Alfred Hitchcock was a strange child. Fat, lonely, burning with fear and ambition, his childhood was an isolated one, scented with fish from his father’s shop. Afraid to leave his bedroom, he would plan great voyages, using railway timetables to plot an exact imaginary route across Europe. So how did this fearful figure become the one of the most respected film directors of the twentieth century?
         As an adult, Hitch rigorously controlled the press’s portrait of him, drawing certain carefully selected childhood anecdotes into full focus and blurring all others out. In this quick-witted portrait, Ackroyd reveals something more: a lugubriously jolly man fond of practical jokes, who smashes a once-used tea cup every morning to remind himself of the frailty of life. Iconic film stars make cameo appearances, just as Hitch did in his own films: Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, and James Stewart despair of his detached directing style and, perhaps most famously of all, Tippi Hedren endures cuts and bruises from a real-life fearsome flock of birds.
         Alfred Hitchcock wrests the director’s chair back from the master of control and discovers what lurks just out of sight, in the corner of the shot.

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    See all books by Peter Ackroyd

    Also by Peter Ackroyd

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    See all books by Peter Ackroyd

    About Peter Ackroyd

    Peter Ackroyd is the author of London: The Biography, Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination, Shakespeare: The Biography, and Thames: The Biography. He has written acclaimed biographies of T. S. Eliot, Charles Dickens, William Blake, Sir Thomas More, and… More about Peter Ackroyd

    About Peter Ackroyd

    Peter Ackroyd is the author of London: The Biography, Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination, Shakespeare: The Biography, and Thames: The Biography. He has written acclaimed biographies of T. S. Eliot, Charles Dickens, William Blake, Sir Thomas More, and… More about Peter Ackroyd

    About Peter Ackroyd

    Peter Ackroyd is the author of London: The Biography, Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination, Shakespeare: The Biography, and Thames: The Biography. He has written acclaimed biographies of T. S. Eliot, Charles Dickens, William Blake, Sir Thomas More, and… More about Peter Ackroyd

    Product Details

    Category: Arts & Entertainment Biographies & Memoirs | Film | Performing Arts | Historical Figure Biographies & Memoirs

    Paperback | $16.95
    Published by Anchor
    Sep 19, 2017 | 288 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780525434795

    Category: Arts & Entertainment Biographies & Memoirs | Film | Performing Arts | Historical Figure Biographies & Memoirs

    Ebook | $12.99
    Published by Anchor
    Oct 25, 2016 | 288 Pages | ISBN 9780385537421

    Category: Arts & Entertainment Biographies & Memoirs | Film | Performing Arts | Historical Figure Biographies & Memoirs | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $22.50
    Published by Random House Audio
    Oct 25, 2016 | 633 Minutes | ISBN 9780735285156
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    Praise

    “A smart, fluent overview of the director’s life and art, and the mysterious dynamic between the two.” —The New York Times

    “A masterful book on the Master of Suspense: like all good movies, it’s over too soon.” —The Seattle Times
     
    “Superb, insightful. . . . [A] deft and moving biography.” —The Guardian

    “A character portrait . . . guided by a novelist’s skills of characterization and texture.” —The New York Times Book Review

    “Ackroyd masters the suspense of Alfred Hitchcock.” —Vanity Fair
     
    “Irresistible.” —The Independent (London)
     
    “Immaculate and phenomenally readable.” —The Buffalo News
     
    “As packed with anecdotes as an after-dinner speech. Everyone, it seems, had a story about Hitch, most of them ghoulish.” —Newsweek
     
    “Well written . . . and unusually well attuned to the religious element [of Hitchcock’s movies].” —Financial Times

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