The only actors Alfred Hitchcock actually liked: “I can’t imagine how such a rumour began”
Did Alfred Hitchcock hate actors? It’s a loaded question, albeit one the filmmaker answered several times in a roundabout way. Obviously, he needed them, but he wasn’t one of those directors who’d give them the platform or leeway to bring their own perspective to the table.
It’s true that the ‘Master of Suspense’ compared the performers in his films to cattle. He believed that cinema was dictated entirely by the director and technical virtuosity that combined all of a picture’s moving cogs into a cohesive and satisfying whole, with thespians serving as little more than pieces on a chess board that he could move around to realise his vision.
It’s also true that he viewed female actors as inferior to their male counterparts, which speaks to a whole different set of issues. Hitchcock became synonymous with incorporating a blonde bombshell into many of his most famous features, but that was driven more by infatuation than admiration.
The mastermind behind several of cinema’s greatest-ever thrillers compared actors to cattle didn’t think women were as good at acting as men, and referred to anyone who took up the vocation as comparable to “stupid children,” so there’s enough evidence to suggest that he wasn’t the biggest fan of the craft.
And yet, he still denied it. Addressing the rumours – which were supported by the words that came out of his mouth – that he hated actors, it’s telling that Hitchcock could only think of two names off the top of his head to try and downplay the suggestion that he despised every single one of them.
“There is a dreadful story that I hated actors; imagine anyone hating James Stewart or Jack L Warner,” he said. “I can’t imagine how such a rumour began. Of course, it may possibly be because I was once quoted as saying that actors are cattle. My actor friends know I would never be capable of such a thoughtless, rude, and unfeeling remark that I would never call them cattle. What I probably said was that actors should be treated like cattle.”
The irony shouldn’t be lost on anyone that Hitchcock claimed he couldn’t say something so “thoughtless, rude, and unfeeling,” which were three descriptors that several of his former collaborators would happily use to describe him after being placed through the wringer by his exacting demands.
Stewart was one of the few stars who’d gladly stand up to Hitchcock, and Warner wasn’t even an actor but a producer who was instrumental in backing the movies he made for Warner Bros. Gary Cooper was another ‘Golden Age’ favourite that the ‘Master of Suspense’ appreciated from afar, but based on his history for being a confrontational chap, maybe he’d have felt different had they actually worked together.
