The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense

Winner of the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Biography
An Economist Best Book of 2021

A fresh, innovative biography of the twentieth centuryÕs most iconic filmmaker.

In The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock, Edward White explores the Hitchcock phenomenon_what defines it, how it was invented, what it reveals about the man at its core, and how its legacy continues to shape our cultural world.

The bookÕs twelve chapters illuminate different aspects of HitchcockÕs life and work: ÒThe Boy Who CouldnÕt Grow UpÓ; ÒThe MurdererÓ; ÒThe AuteurÓ; ÒThe WomanizerÓ; ÒThe Fat ManÓ; ÒThe DandyÓ; ÒThe Family ManÓ; ÒThe VoyeurÓ; ÒThe EntertainerÓ; ÒThe PioneerÓ; ÒThe LondonerÓ; ÒThe Man of God.Ó Each of these angles reveals something fundamental about the man he was and the mythological creature he has become, presenting not just the life Hitchcock lived but also the various versions of himself that he projected, and those projected on his behalf.

From HitchcockÕs early work in England to his most celebrated films, White astutely analyzes HitchcockÕs oeuvre and provides new interpretations. He also delves into HitchcockÕs ideas about gender; his complicated relationships with Òhis womenÓ_not only Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren but also his female audiences_as well as leading men such as Cary Grant, and writes movingly of HitchcockÕs devotion to his wife and lifelong companion, Alma, who made vital contributions to numerous classic Hitchcock films, and burnished his mythology. And White is trenchant in his assessment of the Hitchcock persona, so carefully created that Hitchcock became not only a figurehead for his own industry but nothing less than a cultural icon.

Ultimately, WhiteÕs portrayal illuminates a vital truth: Hitchcock was more than a Hollywood titan; he was the definitive modern artist, and his significance reaches far beyond the confines of cinema.

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