Pat Hitchcock | |
---|---|
Born |
Patricia Alma Hitchcock 7 July 1928 London, England, UK |
Residence | Solvang, California |
Occupation | Actress, producer |
Years active | 1950–present |
Spouse(s) | Joseph E. O'Connell, Jr. (1952–1994; his death) |
Children | 3 |
Parent(s) |
Alfred Hitchcock Alma Reville |
Patricia Alma Hitchcock O'Connell (born 7 July 1928), also known as Pat Hitchcock, is an English actress and producer. She is the only child of English director Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville, and had small roles in several of his films, starting with Stage Fright (1950).
Hitchcock was born in London. She is the only child of film director Alfred Hitchcock and film editor Alma Reville. The family moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1939. Once there, Hitchcock's father soon made his mark in Hollywood.
As a child, Hitchcock knew she wanted to be an actress. In the early 1940s, she began acting on the stage and doing . Her father helped her gain a role in the Broadway production of Solitaire (1942). She also played the title role in the Broadway play Violet (1944).
After graduating from Marymount High School in Los Angeles in 1947, she attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and also appeared on the London stage.
In early 1949, her parents arrived in London to make Stage Fright, Hitchcock's first British-made feature film since emigrating to Hollywood. Pat did not know she would have a walk-on part in the film 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".
She had small roles in three of her father's films: Stage Fright (1950), in which she played a jolly acting student named Chubby Bannister, one of Wyman's school chums; Strangers on a Train (1951), playing Barbara Morton, sister of Anne Morton (Ruth Roman), Guy Haines's (Farley Granger) wife; and Psycho (1960), playing Janet Leigh's character's plain-Jane office mate, Caroline, who generously offers to share tranquilizers that her mother gave her for her wedding night.