Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock,
KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was a British filmmaker and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and
psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native
United Kingdom in both
silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to
Hollywood. In 1956 he became an
American citizen while retaining his British citizenship.Hitchcock directed more than fifty
feature films in a career spanning six decades. He remains one of the most popular and most recognised filmmakers, and his works are still popular today. Often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker of all time, in 2007 Hitchcock was ranked #1 by film critics in The Telegraph’s list of 21 greatest British directors, which writes: “Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any
director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else.”