Overview

The inspiration behind BBC2's The Girl starring Toby Jones and Sienna Miller, Spellbound by Beauty examines Hitchcock's relationship with his leading ladies including Tippi Hendren and Grace Kelly. Hitchcock is also the subject of an upcoming film, Hitchcock, starring Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren, due for release in 2013 The inspiration behind BBC2's The Girl starring Toby Jones and Sienna Miller, Spellbound by Beauty examines Hitchcock's relationship with his leading ladies including Tippi Hendren and Grace Kelly. Hitchcock is also the subject of an upcoming film, Hitchcock, starring Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren dues for release in 2013. Spellbound by Beauty examines Alfred Hitchcock's well known collaborations with the leading ladies of his day, and, in so doing, delves into his creative life and his uniquely curious professional and personal relationships. The result is a singular kind of life story - a book about film and film stars; business and power; sex and fantasy; romance and derailed psychology. Drawing on explosive, never-before-published material and details gleaned through his friendship with Hitchcock, along with archival material and personal collections only recently made available, Donald Spoto casts a new light on this most famous of directors. He traces Hitchcock's professional and social rise and deals frankly with his strange marriage to Alma Reville, his distance from his daughter, Patricia, and his obsessive relationships with a number of his leading ladies from Grace Kelly and Kim Novak to Tippi Hedren.

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9780099503187

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Reviews

Mr. Spoto has enjoyed extraordinary access to Hitchcock's players over a long period of time, and he has assembled a cavalcade of chatty firsthand impressions. <br>-- The New York Times <br> What was behind [Hitchcock's] talent for turning perverse thematic elements such as voyeurism, bondage and murder fantasies into mainstream entertainment? According to Spellbound by Beauty,. .it was partly derived from a sexually repressed outcast's Svengali-like compulsion to manipulate and mistreat a long line of unattainable icy blondes. <br>-- USA Today <br> [F]ocuses on Hitchcock's sometimes troubled, sometimes perverse, always manipulative relationships with his leading ladies....The chapters on his behavior during the filming of The Birds and Marnie are riveting and deeply troubling, revealing an artist at once losing his touch and losing touch with reality. <br>-- Booklist, starred review <br>Praise for Donald Spoto <br>THE ART OF ALFRED HITCHCOCK <br> I am gratified by what Donald Spoto says about my work, and I am impressed by the wit and grace of his writing. <br>--Alfred Hitchcock <br> Exceptionally thoughtful. Spoto's total familiarity with the films is manifest throughout. He ably demonstrates that Hitchcock was not only a master of <br>suspense but an artist of the first rank as well. <br>-- Library Journal <br> Combines engaging analysis with wit and scholarship. <br>-- Chicago Sun-Times <p>THE DARK SIDE OF GENIUS: THE LIFE OF ALFRED HITCHCOCK<br> Absolutely compulsory reading. A serious and intelligent account, both credible and reasonable. <br>-- New York Times <br> A vivid and perceptive portrait. Hitchcock has been well served by<br>a knowledgeable and revealingbiography. <br>-- Time <br> With unblinking objectivity and insight, Spoto gives a balanced account of a man who shaped his fears and repressions into a powerful and popular art. <br>-- Newsweek <br> Sensational in its revelations--but at the same time, a biography of unassailable integrity. I could not put it down. <br>--Gregory Peck <p> From the Hardcover edition.

Author Information

Donald Spoto was born near New York City in 1941 and received his PhD degree from Fordham University in 1970. He is the author of 27 books, including internationally bestselling biographies of Alfred Hitchcock, Tennessee Williams, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe and Ingrid Bergman. He is married to the Danish school administrator and artist Ole Flemming Larsen. They live in a quiet village an hour's drive from Copenhagen.

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