Nice reflections, EC. I've often felt Hitch was taking a chance by casting his daughter in the role of the awkward Caroline. (It could be insulting.) But, as you said, she had some great lines, and her part will never be forgotten.
She was a trooper!
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Hi, Gubbio! Its always good to know "you are out there somewhere," and you have checked in, in honor of a very honorable lady in film history!
There seemed to be a mutual understanding between Hitchcock and daughter Pat that as an actress, she should play roles that "fit" -- character parts -- and not attempt to go beyond that range.
Keep in mind that Pat Hitchcock WANTED to be an actress from an early age, and that Papa Hitch paid for her to go to the Royal Academy in London...very serious training. Pat evidently did quite a few Alfred Hitchcock Presents("whenever they needed an English maid") and some 50's TV dramas.
Evidently, once Pat married and had children, she pretty much retired from acting. She "came out of retirement" to do Psycho -- which, we will recall, was a fairly cheap production pretty much paid for out of Hitchcock's pocket (his production company.) So it was a "family favor" in a role that was a perfect fit, tough line ("I guess he noticed my wedding ring") and all. She WAS a trooper.
The obit says that Pat Hitchcock's husband died in 1994, so evidently she "went it alone" for the last near-three decades of a long life. I can't remember the husband's trade -- Hitchcock tried to keep the man (Joseph something) employed in the film industry, but he preferred to work in another line of work. A tidbit: Hitchcock willed to Joseph his expensive wine collection; Joseph noted "an odd gift, given that I've been AA for years." Hmmm. A final Hitchcock joke?
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ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
To remember: Pat Hitchcock's single scene as Caroline is not the extent of her work in Psycho. Her VOICE appears when Marion is in her car imagining what Lowery, Cassidy, and Caroline will say about her Monday absence. Caroline gets the line "She's always a little late on Mondays." A bit of a jealous dig -- but in MARION'S mind. Perhaps Caroline said that TO Marion on an occasion or two: "I noticed you're always little late on Mondays"...and Marion has added it into her guilty reverie.
So Pat Hitchcock's final work for her father was...voiceover work.
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Doghouse (447)
3 years ago
Pat always struck me as a woman of remarkable self-possession, embodying all the synonyms that designation suggests. By all accounts, precocious from an early age (that's redundant, isn't it?), she brought all of those qualities to bear in her performance as Barbara Morton. I like to think that the role came closest to Pat herself.
As maturity conferred upon her the mantle of keeper of the family legacy, her accounts continued to display those qualities, and her reminiscences constitute a valuable and fascinating first-person document of history, both filmic and personal. And thoroughly charming.
I never heard it, but I've read that she once said, "I wish my father had believed in nepotism. I'd have worked more." And it's so easy to imagine her saying so: at once provocative and self-deprecating; delivered, no doubt, with just the most subtle touch of wry, winking good humor (a family characteristic).
Although there will now be no more, thanks to her invaluable oral histories, we can re-live the enjoyment of each delicious serving of Hitchcock on wry, a cherished family recipe.
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Gubbio (3893)
3 years ago
I never heard it, but I've read that she once said, "I wish my father had believed in nepotism. I'd have worked more."
Hey, Doghouse,
She says that in this fine interview, around 4:15.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71xPQ24Xw38
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ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
Pat always struck me as a woman of remarkable self-possession, embodying all the synonyms that designation suggests.
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I think she gave some interviews while her father and mother were alive, but she REALLY came into her own once they passed.
I'm reminded that it was the "coming of the DVDs"(especially the Universal/Paramounts, but also the Warners films including Strangers on a Train) that Pat Hitchcock shined. This would have been in the late 90's, and I recall a "flurry" of Universal/Paramount DVDS in 2000. Each DVD interview had two key anchors: the screenwriter of each film(Joe Stefano, Anthony Shaffer, Ernest Lehman, Evan Hunter, and Jay Presson Allen all got their day in the sun) ...and Pat Hitchcock, rather confidently cutting to the chase about things.
I recall her opening remarks on The Birds: "My father was looking for something to top Psycho and -- come on...how DO you top Psycho?"
On the Family Plot one, Pat ruefully took up her father's health and passing: "If you don't take care of yourself, and he didn't, at a certain age everything just sort of..GOES." (She gestured down her body as if to suggest Hitch just lost his body fuctions entirely.) Interesting she made it to 93.
CONT
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ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
By all accounts, precocious from an early age (that's redundant, isn't it?), she brought all of those qualities to bear in her performance as Barbara Morton. I like to think that the role came closest to Pat herself.
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I would agree, Doghouse . (Hello, by the way!). One of the obits had a button you could push on the entire real estate office scene in Psycho...and its a great one...but Pat really got her best role in Barbara Morton. She starts as that obnoxious kind of character who says out loud what everyone is thinking("She was a tramp"), but once she's had Mad Bruno stare at her in her glasses a couple of times..she becomes vulnerable and scared...and THEN...she finds strength and determination and helps clear Guy Haines. Its a fine role, with a few changes in gear.
CONT
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ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
As maturity conferred upon her the mantle of keeper of the family legacy, her accounts continued to display those qualities, and her reminiscences constitute a valuable and fascinating first-person document of history, both filmic and personal. And thoroughly charming.
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Yes. Though she pretty much got all the DVD documentaries finished, there came a time with cable/streaming specials and the like where she just wasn't interviewed anymore. The granddaughters took over. And I realized: she's still alive, but age is taking its toll and she's out of the spotlight. It was a sad realization but, indeed, we have all these great interviews now.
I would like to note here that Pat made sure the world knew how important Alma was to the making of Hitchcock's films -- "If she didn't like a potential property...that was it. Over." Its clear that Alfred and Alma were a team of sorts, but I think the movie "Hitchcock" went overboard on the concept and pretty much had Alma doing EVERYTHING -- casting Perkins and Leigh, writing the perfect ending to the script(wha?) and directing the Arbogast murder(huh?) Pat Hitchcock's assessment was more "the real deal": Alma was the trusted advisor at home.
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Although there will now be no more, thanks to her invaluable oral histories, we can re-live the enjoyment of each delicious serving of Hitchcock on wry, a cherished family recipe.
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Yep -- AND -- Pat Hitchcock actually wrote a book about her mother that HAD many of her mother's recipes in it, plus some thumbails on daddy's films. Recommended.
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ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
I never heard it, but I've read that she once said, "I wish my father had believed in nepotism. I'd have worked more."
Hey, Doghouse,
She says that in this fine interview, around 4:15.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71xPQ24Xw38
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Isn't it great to have this machine at our fingertips that can summon up "lost quotes"?
Its a miracle device!
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ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
Interestingly, it mentions that Pat's youngest daughter, Katie Fiala, is an exec at Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. I suspect that Alfred and Alma would appreciate that too.
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Well, in various of her interviews on DVD and elsewhere, Pat Hitchcock chose Steven Spielberg as the man who had her father's reputation "today." Surely Spielberg had a huge number of genre hits and made a big name for himself. (He is someone "different" today -- not really like Hitchcock at all in his older age. More of a prestige historical drama director.)
I expect that Katie Fiala knows Spielberg's two stories about Hitchcock:
ONE: "Nobody" Spielberg snuck onto the ballet house set of Torn Curtain and remained there for quite some time until Hitch noticed him("with an eye in the back of his head") and had him removed.
TWO: "Big shot" Spielberg, in the summer of "Jaws" hitting huge, called ahead to visit Hitchcock on the set of Family Plot. Hitchcock evidently got the word -- and ran away ("I've never seen a big man move so fast" said Bruce Dern.) Sad...Hitchcock knew he was "near the end"...but he didn't have to do THAT. Dern also said that Hitchcock was feeling ashamed for doing some Universal Studio Tour commercials for a million bucks. He just didn't want to face Spielberg.
All is well...the granddaughter works for Spielberg but we are reminded. There was only one Hitchcock. There is only one Spielberg. Children rarely hit the same heights.
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ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
With Pat Hitchcock passed away, I do believe this leaves Vera Miles as the sole surviving player from Psycho --
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I was thinking about this. Though Vera Miles did 100s of TV shows and many movies, it seems that she is part of these four classics for two masters:
The Searchers(Ford)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance(Ford)
The Wrong Man(Hitchcock)
Psycho (Hitchcock)
So I was thinking...does this make Vera Miles the sole survivor of ALL FOUR films?
I think I found one "no":
Nehemiah Persoff -- who is Manny's relative in The Wrong Man -- is still alive. 101, I think! The next Norman Lloyd!
Persoff was born in 1919 -- same year as Martin Balsam(Arbogast) who died in 1996. Just goes to show you how long a life can be "at the max." Persoff and Balsam had the same build and head shape; I suppose Persoff could have played Arbogast. But he "fits" the Italian-American world of The Wrong Man(even as he is not Italian American himself.)
Persoff's big role of the 50s/60's cusp was in Some Like It Hot --he's the gangster at the end who has George Raft assassinated.
As for survivors of The Searchers and Liberty Valance -- I don't know.
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ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
Compleatist on Pat Hitchcock and Psycho:
I found an article on Pat Hitchcock's passing, last week. It had a 1994 quote from her on her work in Psycho (paraphrased):
"I can't even remember any of that. And who remembers that scene, given everything else that was going on in that picture?"
I may have blown some of the words, but there were things to think about:
ONE: "I can't even remember any of that." I suppose she means working on that scene. Similarly , Joseph Cotton in the 70's said "People always ask me to tell stories about the making of Shadow of a Doubt...and I can't help them. It was so long ago. I don't remember a thing."
To which I say : REALLY? These actors worked on successful Hitchcock pictures and have no memory of the experience at ALL? Of course, maybe the memories are like a "day at the office' to many of us. Who remembers? But on the other hand, I worked on several student films in high school and college, and I remember shooting and acting in THOSE minor epics. (I have some of them now -- a hard watch -- but in one, I took a long hard fall down a hillside that seemed "action packed" while I was doing it. On film, it just looked like I rolled a few feet and stopped.)
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ecarle (14979)
3 years ago
TWO: "Who remembers that scene, with everything else going on in that picture?" Pat Hitchcock was right: a LOT goes on in that picture(as in North by Northwest the year before.) Its like Hitchcock made sure that each movie was packed with interesting or exciting scenes. NOT packed with action(NXNW). NOT packed with murders(Psycho.) But with enough action and horrible murders to allow the OTHER scenes to shine (in Psycho: the parlor talk, the Arbogast interrogation, the clean-up of Marion's body)...and....
The Pat Hitchcock scene. It is VERY memorable. Daddy Hitchcock is in it. We see Marion at work and we know HER secret (lunchtime sex) and then enters the slimy Tom Cassidy,and Caroline and Lowery are a "greek chorus." As part of the " organic greatness of Psycho -- the real estate office scene, while bereft of horror or suspense...creates a MOOD...modern, mean, brackish..that will carry forth into the rest of the film.
Gus Van Sant said rather the same thing about Psycho -- and was wrong: "I don't think most people who saw Psycho remember what happens in it at all, beyond the shower scene." Ah, no...some generations had practically memorized it by heart. (Can I prove that? Only anecdotally -- the articles written about it, conversations I had with others over time.)
Psycho remains very strange in the power of its construction -- the "boring first 30 minutes" are not boring at all...once you've seen Psycho they are "a countdown to the most horrific murder in screen history to date" and in any event they are filled with artful images, fine acting, great music, and interesting sound effects.
Including the Pat Hitchcock scene.
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