Added by SFG¿mystic on 14 Sep 2012 06:15

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Why Did Alfred Hitchcock Prefer Blondes?

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Rating: List Type:

8.5

Grace Kelly

Margot Mary Wendice in Dial M for Murder (1954)

Lisa Carol Fremont in Rear Window (1954)

Frances Stevens in To Catch a Thief (1955)

SFG¿mystic's rating:

8.5

Ingrid Bergman

Dr. Constance Petersen in Spellbound (1945)

Alicia Huberman in Notorious (1946)

Lady Henrietta Flusky in Under Capricorn (1949)

SFG¿mystic's rating:

7.8

Tippi Hedren

Melanie Daniels in The Birds (1963)

Marnie Edgar in Marnie (1964)

SFG¿mystic's rating:

8.3

Janet Leigh

Marion Crane in Psycho (1960)

SFG¿mystic's rating:

Vera Miles

Rose Balestrero in The Wrong Man (1956)

Lila Crane in Psycho (1960)

8.1

Kim Novak

Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton in Vertigo (1958)

7.9

Joan Fontaine

The Second Mrs. de Winter in Rebecca (1940)

Lina in Suspicion (1941)

7.6

Anny Ondra

Kate Cregeen in The Manxman (1929)

Alice White in Blackmail (1929)

Eva Marie Saint

Eve Kendall in North by Northwest (1959)

7.6

Madeleine Carroll

Pamela in The 39 Steps (1935)

Elsa Carrington in Secret Agent (1936)

8.3

Carole Lombard

Ann Smith in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)

8.1

Marlene Dietrich

Charlotte Inwood in Stage Fright (1950)

7.8

Anne Baxter

Ruth Grandfort in I Confess (1953)

8.6

Joan Barry

Emily Hill in Rich and Strange (1931)

8.1

Julie Andrews

Sarah Sherman in Torn Curtain (1966)

SFG¿mystic's rating:

7.9

Doris Day

Josephine 'Jo' McKenna in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

7.1

Priscilla Lane

Patricia 'Pat' Martin in Saboteur (1942)

7.9

Barbara Leigh-Hunt

Brenda Margaret Blaney in Frenzy (1972)

Barbara Harris

Blanche Tyler in Family Plot (1976)

7.4

Karen Black

Fran in Family Plot (1976)

She isn't blonde but she wears a blonde wig in the moive.

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Alfred Hitchcock had a dramatic preference for blonde women, stating that the audience would be more suspicious of a brunette. Many of these blondes were of the Grace Kelly variety: perfect, aloof ice goddesses, who also have a hidden red-hot inner fire.

Hitchcock said he used blonde actresses in his films, not because of an attraction to them, but because of a tradition that began with silent star Mary Pickford. The director said that blondes were "a symbol of the heroine". He also thought they photographed better in black and white, which was the predominant film for most dramas for many years.

During his interviews with Francois Truffaut, Hitchcock explained his preference for a certain kind of actress whose sex appeal is "indirect": "You know why I favor sophisticated blondes in my films? We're after the drawing-room type, the real ladies, who become whores once they're in the bedroom." [Triffaut:] "What intrigues you is the paradox between the inner fire and the cool surface." [Hitchcock:] "Definitely. . . . Do you know why? Because sex should not be advertised. . . . Because without the element of surprise the scenes become meaningless. There's no possibility to discover sex."