Hitchcock Cameos Trivia Quiz

Answer: Spellbound

Starring Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman, the 1947 "Spellbound" plot revolves around an mental asylum. The current director (Leo G. Carroll) retires and is replaced by a much younger man (Peck). Dr. Petersen (Bergman) is suspicious of the newcomer, especially when handwriting indicates he may not be the man he claims to be. Hitchcock appeared exiting an elevator in a hotel, carrying an instrument case and smoking.

Answer: Vertigo

"Vertigo" (1958) deals with the trouble police detective "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart) has with his fear of heights which caused him to botch a case and lose his job. He becomes a P.I. and is hired by his friend, Gavin, to tail Gavin's wife (Kim Novak). Things get complicated when Scottie starts to become involved with her and clues also point to a possible suicide and identity switch. Hitch is seen walking on the street in a gray suit, again carrying an instrument case.

Answer: Rebecca

This 1940 movie starred Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and George Sanders. The plot of this film centers on the widowed Mr. de Winter (Olivier) who, while vacationing in Monte Carlo, meets, falls in love and marries another woman (Fontaine). On returning home, she soon feels that the former Mrs. de Winter (Rebecca) still holds some power over the household. Uncustomarily, Hitch doesn't appear until near the end of this movie and it is with his back to the camera near a phone booth which the character, Jack Favell (Sanders), has just used.

Answer: Lifeboat

This 1944 movie presented Hitch with an interesting problem, since it took place when people were already on the lifeboat after their boat was torpedoed by a German U-boat. His clever way was to appear in a "before and after" newspaper advertisement for a weight loss preparation.

The film starred Tallulah Bankhead as a well-to-do newspaper columnist and William Bendix and John Hodiak as crew members of the merchant ship, and other survivors. Things get touchy when a survivor of the U-boat (Walter Slezak) is taken into the lifeboat.

Some people think he should be killed and some are more sympathetic.

Answer: North by Northwest

Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason head the cast in this 1959 "mistaken identity" thriller. Grant's character (Thornhill) is mistaken for a Federal agent and is drawn into espionage and finds himself framed for murder and on the run from authorities.

It's famous for Grant being chased by a crop dusting airplane and the finale where he and Ms. Saint are pursued on Mount Rushmore by Mason's character and his henchmen. Hitch appears just as his opening credit disappears as a man getting a bus door closed on him, thereby missing the bus.

Answer: Dial M for Murder

The plot centers on a married couple, Tony and Margot Wendice (Ray Milland and Grace Kelly) in this 1954 film. Tony married Margot mainly for money. She has still kept in touch with her old flame, Mark Halliday (Bob Cummings). In their wills, the Wendices are each other's beneficiaries.

When he learns of her continued interest in Mark, and in need of money, Tony plans Margot's murder. However, things don't go as planned. Hitch's cameo occurs about 13 minutes into the film where he is in a framed wall photo among alumni and faculty at a class reunion banquet.

Answer: The Birds

Animals figure prominently in this 1963 horror movie. Starting innocently enough when Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a pet store where he is shopping for love birds as birthday gift for his 11 year old sister. They are attracted to each other.

The love birds aren't available, but Melanie finds a pair and delivers them in person to his home in Bodega Bay. After her arrival, the wild birds there start to act bizarrely, even attacking people with increasing ferocity. Hitch is seen early in the movie leaving the pet store with his own two Sealyham Terriers.

Answer: The Lady Vanishes

This 1938 movie was one of the last films Hitch made in England before coming to America in 1940. The plot was taken from the 1936 novel "The Wheel Spins". The premise is simple enough - a woman, Iris Henderson, (Margaret Lockwood) is traveling by train when the older woman she is with (Dame May Whitty) disappears and no one else on the train claims any knowledge about the older woman or her disappearance. Iris tries to convince a male passenger, Gilbert Redman (Michael Redgrave) to help her find the woman. Hitch appears near the end of the movie in Victoria Station, smoking a cigarette.

Answer: Rear Window

This 1953 movie centers around a photo journalist, L. B. Jefferies (James Stewart) who is laid up with a broken leg. He amuses himself by observing his neighbors from a window in his apartment. It's all harmless fun until he sees circumstantial evidence of a murder.

His problem - convincing his friends (Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey and Thelma Ritter) that he didn't imagine it. One of Jefferies' neighbors is a pianist and songwriter (Ross Bagdasarian) who in real life was a songwriter. Hitch is seen in the musician's apartment winding a clock.

Answer: Strangers on a Train

The plot of this film involves two people (Farley Granger and Robert Walker) who meet on a train and discover that they both want a person eliminated from each of their lives. They hit on a plan to do the other's dirty work, thereby eliminating the motive of the crime. Hitchcock's daughter, Patricia, appears in the movie in the character of Barbara Morton. Hitch's cameo is around 11 minutes into the movie.

He is carrying a bass violin case onto a train as Farley Granger is getting off.