Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, airing on CBS and NBC, alternately, between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. Between 1962 and 1965, it was renamed The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Hitchcock himself directed only 18 episodes during its run.
For the revival, see Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985 TV series).Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962–1965)
Alfred Hitchcock
"Funeral March of a Marionette" by Charles Gounod
Stanley Wilson (music supervisor)
United States
English
10
- 268 (Alfred Hitchcock Presents)
- 93 (The Alfred Hitchcock Hour)
- 361 (total)
Edward W. Williams
- 25–26 minutes (Seasons 1–7)
- 50 minutes (Seasons 8–10)
- Revue Studios
- (1955–63)
- Universal Television
- (1963–65)
- Shamley Productions
October 2, 1955 –
May 10, 1965
By the time the show premiered on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades. In the 21st century, Time magazine named Alfred Hitchcock Presents as one of "The 100 Best TV Shows of All Time".[3] The Writers Guild of America ranked it #79 on their list of the 101 Best-Written TV Series, tying it with Monty Python's Flying Circus, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Upstairs, Downstairs.[4] In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked it 18th on its list of 30 Best Horror TV Shows of All Time.[2]
A series of literary anthologies with the running title Alfred Hitchcock Presents were issued to capitalize on the success of the television series. One volume, devoted to stories that censors would not allow to be adapted for broadcast, was entitled Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Do on TV—though eventually several of the stories collected therein were adapted.
Guest stars and other actors[edit]
Actors appearing in the most episodes include Patricia Hitchcock (Alfred Hitchcock's daughter), Dick York, Robert Horton, James Gleason, John Williams, Robert H. Harris, Russell Collins, Barbara Baxley, Ray Teal, Percy Helton, Phyllis Thaxter, Carmen Mathews, Mildred Dunnock, Alan Napier, Robert Vaughn and Vincent Price.
Many notable film actors, such as Clint Eastwood,[23] Robert Redford, Inger Stevens, Cedric Hardwicke, Robert Newton, Steve McQueen, Bruce Dern, Robert Duvall, Walter Matthau, Robert Loggia, George Segal, Laurence Harvey, Claude Rains, Joan Fontaine, Thelma Ritter, Dennis Morgan, Joseph Cotten, Burt Reynolds, Vera Miles, Tom Ewell, Peter Lorre, Bette Davis, Dean Stockwell, Jessica Tandy, John Gavin, Charles Bronson, Michael Rennie, Phyllis Thaxter, Roger Moore, John Cassavetes, Peter Falk, Teresa Wright, Míriam Colón, Leslie Nielsen, Murray Hamilton, Ricardo Montalbán, Harry Dean Stanton, and Barbara Bel Geddes, among others, also appeared on the series.
Directors[edit]
The directors who directed the most episodes included Robert Stevens (44 episodes),[24] Paul Henreid (28 episodes),[25] Herschel Daugherty (24 episodes),[26] Norman Lloyd (19 episodes),[27] Alfred Hitchcock (17 episodes),[28] Arthur Hiller (17 episodes),[29] James Neilson (12 episodes),[30] Justice Addiss (10 episodes),[31] and John Brahm (10 episodes).[32] Other notable directors included Robert Altman,[33] Ida Lupino,[34] Stuart Rosenberg,[35] Robert Stevenson,[36] David Swift[37] and William Friedkin,[38] who directed the last episode of the show.
The broadcast history was as follows:[39]
Legacy[edit]
American rapper Eminem used the theme song in his song "Alfred's Theme" from his album Music to Be Murdered By – Side B (2020), which itself is one of two albums inspired by Hitchcock's 1958 spoken-word record of the same name.[50]