Peter Ackroyd in The Independent on the titular subject of his latest biography, Alfred Hitchcock,
Update: Peter develops his theme in The Sunday Times...
He was inspired to begin his newest book, a well- received biography of Alfred Hitchcock published last week, after discovering the director was “camp” and “really rather a screamer” with a “funny mincing step”, which Ackroyd demonstrates by walking his index and middle fingers along his desk in a prissy sort of fashion and doing a little pout. Might Hitchcock have been bisexual, I ask.
“Well, he said he had ‘poofy’ moments when he was reading Vogue. But if that qualified you as a homosexual, half the population would be condemned.”
Update: Peter develops his theme in The Sunday Times...
He was inspired to begin his newest book, a well- received biography of Alfred Hitchcock published last week, after discovering the director was “camp” and “really rather a screamer” with a “funny mincing step”, which Ackroyd demonstrates by walking his index and middle fingers along his desk in a prissy sort of fashion and doing a little pout. Might Hitchcock have been bisexual, I ask.
“Well, he said he had ‘poofy’ moments when he was reading Vogue. But if that qualified you as a homosexual, half the population would be condemned.”
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I've started watching all his films again. I saw The Lady Vanishes yesterday. Absolutely perfect. My favourite, I think. Just finished The 39 Steps.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is a new angle on Hitchcock. Maybe the suggestion that he was a suppressed bisexual, but there's always been discussion about the queerness of his films. He made Strangers on a Train right after Rope, incidentally. I think there's a few obviously gay characters in his films. Martin Landau is a gay henchman in North By Northwest. You can tell by the way he holds his cigarette. Apparently, haha.