In Gus Van Sant’s shot-for-shot remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” Van Sant repeats almost everything Hitchcock filmed for the original movie–including one of the director’s legendary wordless on-screen appearances. In the 1960 original, Hitchcock, wearing a ten-gallon hat and dark suit, is shown standing outside the front window of Marion Crane’s insurance office as she arrives for work. In the remake, a fat man resembling Hitchcock and wearing a similar outfit is shown outside the same window–but he is talking to a new character, a slimmer young man played by director Van Sant.
Modern movie audiences may not know about these cameo roles, but they were among the secret joys of cinephiles from 1926, when Hitchcock started doing them in his first classic thriller, “The Lodger,” until his last movie and role: 1975’s “Family Plot.” In every film in between, Hitchcock would pop up briefly as an extra, usually for only a single shot. Sometimes, when the cast was small and the space restricted–as in “Lifeboat” or “Rope”–these parts took considerable ingenuity to plan. But we knew he’d show up sooner or later. Here are some of Hitch’s most memorable walk-ons:
“The Lodger” (1926). The ritual started when young Hitchcock didn’t have enough crowd extras for two scenes and volunteered. We see him as a rotund journalist sitting at a newsroom desk and as a kibitzer in a crowd watching the arrest of the suspected Jack the Ripper.
“Blackmail” (1929). In an unconscious foreshadowing of W.C. Fields’ later bouts with evil children, subway rider Hitch is tormented by a small boy as he tries to read a newspaper.
“Young and Innocent” (1937). Belying his own visual expertise, Hitch plays an awkward, inexperienced news photographer at a sensational trial.
“Rebecca” (1940). While the suave George Sanders makes a nasty phone call, Hitch stands outside, watching.
“Lifeboat” (1944). In his favorite and most ingenious role, the problem of appearing in a film with no extras–the cast consists only of shipwreck survivors in a lifeboat–is solved by having Hitch photographed before and after losing 100 pounds on a special crash diet. He is then seen in a newspaper in the lifeboat, as the before-and-after model for a mythical wonder drug, Reduco.
“Notorious” (1946). In a movie where a doctored champagne bottle is the main clue and “maguffin,” Hitch sips champagne at Ingrid Bergman’s party.
“Rope” (1948). In this famous “one shot” movie, in which nearly all the action takes place inside the apartment of thrill-killers Farley Granger and John Dall, Hitch crosses the street outside–just before the shot begins.
“Strangers on a Train” (1951). In this great thriller based on a pattern dominated by the number two, Hitch boards the fateful train carrying a double bass.
“I Confess” (1953). In perhaps the most visually beautiful shot for one of his cameos, Hitch is shown in silhouette, crossing before a Quebec city skyline at the top of a staircase.
“Dial M for Murder” (1954). Hitch pulls another clever trick for this deliberately stagebound “filmed play”: In Grace Kelly and Ray Milland’s apartment, we see his picture in a college photo album.
“Rear Window” (1954). In one of the windows across the courtyard from wheelchair-bound voyeur/photographer Jimmy Stewart, punctilious Hitch winds a clock.
“North by Northwest” (1959). At the beginning of this classic chase movie, Hitch just misses a bus in New York..
“Topaz” (1969). Mocking the idea of his own advancing age, Hitch shows up early on in a wheelchair.
Source: “Hitchcock” (Simon & Schuster).
