I have always enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock movies but never read a biography about him. Edward White’s biography "The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock" is a comprehensive account of his personal life and how it impacted his film making. It is not a technical analysis of his work. What sets this biography apart from others I have read is that rather than laying out Hitchcock’s life chronologically, it is broken up into 12 chapters which deal with different aspects of his character or background and how each is reflected in his films. Examples are: “The Auteur”, “The Womanizer”, “The Londoner”, “The Family Man”, “The Entertainer” and “The Man of God”. White does not put Hitchcock on a pedestal; he presents a balanced picture of a man with flaws. I came away from reading this book with insight into what made Hitchcock both an iconic personality and a brilliant filmmaker.

Good evening. Tonight, we have an interesting little tale an interesting big man. Indeed, this man is somehow far bigger even than he appears at first glance, and I think we will all agree that at first glance he is quite big!
Alright, I can't really pull off sounding like one of those famous introductions to Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but I just wanted to try as I could think of no better way to pay homage to this unique man. I can think of few individuals that compare to Alfred Hitchcock. Yes, he was a famous, talented, ground-breaking film director, but it feels like his place in history and popular culture extends far beyond his directorial credits. I remember watching reruns of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and being far more interested in his introduction than the show itself. In his book, The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock Mr. Edward captures this elusive bigness of his subject. The book is an unconventional biography, with each chapter standing alone with no obvious order or sequence. Overall, this makes for interesting and engaging reading. The chapters are a bit uneven, but this is hardly a criticism. My slight complaint is the way most chapters stop. And I say stop because that is how it felt reading them, There is no conclusion, wrapup or finish to the chapter (topic) It appears that Mr. White has simply finished what he has to say on the topic and then moves on to the next. There is no grand conclusion, no overarching analysis or interpretation. What we are left with is 12 different, yet connected perspectives of the most interesting of big men. I thank Netgalley for sharing this marvelous book with me and would strongly reccommend it.

Subtitle: A Fresh, Innovative Interpretation of the Life, Work, and Lasting Influence of the Twentieth Century’s Most Iconic Filmmaker

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This book isn’t a pure biography, in that it doesn’t proceed through the subject’s life in any organized manner. Instead, this book is an examination of Alfred Hitchcock’s life in terms of twelve different aspects of his life that could be seen as defining him as an artist, celebrity, and person. By necessity, it consists of a lot of biographical information.


I won’t go into the details of all twelve aspects here, but will instead highlight a few of them:

The Murderer – Many of Hitchcock’s films feature at least one murder. It was interesting to be able to track the murders and Hitchcock’s presentation of them across the body of his work.

The Womanizer – Hitchcock was known for being a bit difficult with the actresses featured in his films and for crafting films that put his female characters into extremely stressful situations. He also believed that he made films that appealed specifically to female viewers.

The Fat Man – This section examined Hitchcock’s weight through the years, including his attempts to lose weight, and his self-deprecating humor concerning his weight.

The Entertainer – At the peak of his career, Hitchcock was considered a bigger box office draw for his films than the actors that starred in them. As a result, often was featured in the movie trailers and commercials for them. This section also looked at how Hitchcock became a multi-media star, with his television shows, books, and magazines that used his name to sell copies.

I gave The Twelve Lifetimes of Alfred Hitchcock four stars on Goodreads. As a result of learning about a wider variety of Hitchcock films, I put a couple of DVDs on hold at our library. One is North By Northwest, and the other is 2012’s Hitchcock, which tells the story behind the making of Psycho.

I loved the refreshing way this book was organized. The thematic take on Hitchcock’s life was very interesting. I do wish that the author had picked one or two movies to focus on for each side of Hitch. Sometimes it felt like the same idea was repeated each time a movie was mentioned. I also found the ending abrupt. The book had a lovely introduction & needed a concluding chapter.

My thanks to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for an advanced copy of this book.

Edmund White in The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense has written one of the most interesting studies of the director that I've read. Informative, not gossipy, with plenty of facts and interviews and interpretations. Mr. White covers Mr. Hitchcock's entire cover from his start writing lines for silent films to his last movie in the 1970'. Even some of the movies that have been thought lost to time are examined, which is sad to think that such a great director could have lost works.

Each chapter is devoted to a different theme, such as "The Dandy" or "The Londoner", and covers the director's career from that view. The book shows a different side to the cold maker of thrillers fat fellow that seems so familiar, presenting a man who serial dieted, loved his wife, and fashion, but maybe did not like himself. His treatment of his leading women is examined, and found to be lacking in some areas, possibly criminal in others. A compelling biography about a very complex man.

I’m not quite sure when I discovered Alfred Hitchcock’s movies. It was sometime after Nancy Drew books and James Bond films aired on commercial television as the movie of the week. My best friend’s parents had a small selection of movies and we watched and re-watched Rear Window and To Catch a Thief over and over. Then, my freshman year in high school, we had a teacher who looked so much like Anthony Perkins in Psycho, we couldn’t help but dive deeper into the Hitchcock library of films. The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense by Edward White explores Hitch’s films and life through twelve different facets of his personality.

Who was the man behind some of cinema’s most classic suspense films? That’s what The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock attempts to explore, through different parts of his personality. Some chapters work better than others. “The Boy Who Couldn’t Grow Up”, “The Family Man”, and “The Voyeur” were some of the better chapters because they rely on Hitchcock’s real life as well as his films to study his personality.

“The Man of God” was very interesting; I had no idea Hitchcock was raised Catholic. Either this wasn’t mentioned in the biography I read years ago or it wasn’t touched upon other than a mention. White shows how certain Catholic teachings remained with Hitchcock as an adult, even though he did not go out of his way to show his Catholicism. But his daughter was raised Catholic and her children as well, and when Hitch was at the end of his life, he had regular visits from a priest to receive communion and a prayer service. I always thought I Confess, the Hitchcock movie that has a priest being accused of murder because he can’t reveal the confession of the real murderer due to his oat a rather good film, but Hitchcock didn’t like the end result.

“The Voyeur” was also a treat to read, because really, all Hitchcock’s films are about voyeurism in one way or another, but none so much as Rear Window, where James Stewart is house-bound by a broken leg and he looks out on the apartment building across the courtyard of his Greenwich Village home. Hitchcock took great delight in showing us things that hadn’t been seen before in movies, like a toilet in a bathroom in Psycho, or a woman still half-dressed after a mid-day romp in the same film.

The book goes back and forth in time, discussing Hitchcock’s films from Hollywood as well as his time in England. Indeed, I found a wealth of information about his early films, of which I’ve only seen a few. I’ve never seen his silent films, but count The 39 Steps and his original version of The Man Who Knew Too Much one of my favorite of his. He enjoyed the story so much he later re-filmed it in Hollywood with James Stewart and Doris Day. I enjoy both films, but the original seems more intense.

“The Fat Man” was a chapter I had issues with, only because in this day and age to call someone fat is offensive. Hitchcock constantly referred to himself as fat, and made frequent references to his girth. His repeated diets, his drawing of the Hitchcock silhouette with the extra chin, in fact, walking on camera in profile so one could see that rotund silhouette was something Hitch never shied from. He often made jokes at his own expense, which can be seen as a defensive mechanism: laugh about yourself so others don’t start teasing you.

Still, despite the thorough look at Hitchcock’s life through these facets of personality, I found him a man hard to know. He kept so much of himself private that only his wife and daughter and later grandchildren really knew him. Hitch constantly projected this serious side when in public, but he had an incredible sense of humor, which is often found in his films to break up the suspense. I’ve seen home movies of Hitchcock where he’s laughing and playing about in his rolled up shirt sleeves, and they’re odd to see since he always projected this image of a proper English gentleman with his dark suits and droll way of talking.

The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock is released to the general public April 13, 2021. Thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton Company for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Alfred Hitchcock. His name alone can brings chills, fond spooky memories, discomfort, and nostalgia.

I was still ten years old in 1963 when I saw The Birds from the back seat of the family car, parked at the local drive-in movie theater. My parents thought I would fall asleep.

I didn't. The scene of a man missing his eye balls gave me nightmares for years.

The next year, in 1964, I was nearly twelve when I saw Marnie. I am sure my folks did not expect me to be asleep that time. I did not understand it, I had no concept of sexual dysfunction, so of course watched it every time it came on television, trying to puzzle out the feelings it raised in me.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1962) was a childhood staple. I learned the theme song, The Funeral March of the Marionette, on piano. It impressed the neighbor boy who was also a Hitchcock fan. I had story collections like Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery: Eleven Spooky Stories for Young People.

Over the years, watching the classic films I had seen in the movie theater with my folks, including Vertigo. Rear Window, and North By Northwest, and those I only saw later on television, like Psycho, I understood things I could not as a girl.

And I wondered why in the world did Mom take me to see those films! Today, scenes of rape, obsession, murder, and suicide would not be considered proper fare for the under-13-year-old child.

As far as I can tell, the only harm these movies did me, other than nightmares about eyeless men, was a penchant for stylish suspense stories. I knew that birds would not flock and attack me in reality, or crop dusters chase me.

"He was a child, you know, a very black-comedy child" screenwriter Arthur Laurents said of Hitch. Perhaps that was his appeal to children. Raised on Dick and Jane while undergoing 'duck and cover' drills and watching adults glued to the news during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, we were ready for the safety of theatrical horror. War became daily television fodder and political assassinations punctuated our teen years and watching Hitchcock movies on television were not as shocking any more.

I had never explored the man behind the persona. The nine-line sketch Hitch walked into on his show was all I needed to know. The sketch, I learned in The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock, Hitch himself drew and propagated as part of his image.

Edward White's biography considers the man through the lens of twelve aspects of his personality, each fully explored through Hitchcock's life and art.

On the one hand, the book is hugely informative and gave me a full picture of the man and the artist.

On the other hand, Hitchcock remains a mystery. He carefully controlled his persona, as deliberately and thoughtfully controlling our image of him as his films controlled our responses.

Was his marriage to Alma platonic? Did he remain a virgin expect for once, resulting in the birth of his daughter? Did he lunge at actresses and ask his secretary to 'erotically entertain' him? I saw Tippi Hendren talk about her experience. Can we tell the difference between the persona Hitch offered and truth?

He grew up with WWI air raids, the 1918 flu pandemic, in a rough part of town, with a Catholic Education. There is a lot of horror to draw from with that background.

And yet, Hitch was averse to conflict and could not deal with "complex emotions." He would not use animal cruelty in his films and preferred to have his victims thrown off a building than shot as in American films.

Still, he was fascinated by violence and cruelty, grew up reading classic British crime fiction including G. K. Chesterton and John Buchan. He once expressed his belief that he would have made a great criminal lawyer.

I learned about his middle class, Catholic childhood, his struggle with his appearance, the art and film and stories that inspired him.

The book is always fascinating, always interesting, and often disturbing. Especially when I ask myself what kind of person is a Hitchcock fan, as perhaps it reveals things about myself I would rather not consider.

I received a free galley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Broken down into twelve sections, the book tries to uncover how Hitchcock the man and how his many characteristics and events in his life managed to shape what appeared on the screen. The twelve sections each take an aspect of the director's life such as The Fat Man, The Dandy, The Family Man and The Voyeur, trying to peel back a layer to the director to paint a fuller picture of him.
The structure of Edward White's book does not follow a chronological timeline but dips in and out of Hitchcock's life, piecing together from many sources, sometimes contradicting the man himself who was also a constant self-publicist but also had a habit of reshaping the narrative of his own life during interviews.
This is a book that can sit next to any analytical study of Hitchcock's films and will be a benefit to any film fan looking to learn more about the great director.
This book was provided by NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review.

In The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock, Edward White employs a unique approach to discussing the life and work of Alfred Hitchcock. Instead of the expected chronological listing of events, evaluating both his work and personal development along the path of a lifetime, White compartmentalizes attributes of the man and his work into 12 categories: "The Boy Who Couldn’t Grow Up”; “The Murderer”; “The Auteur”; “The Womanizer”; “The Fat Man”; “The Dandy”; “The Family Man”; “The Voyeur”; “The Entertainer”; “The Pioneer”; “The Londoner”; “The Man of God.” Each section covering the span of his life and career from the point of view of that one characteristic.

While much of what Mr. White writes has been written about and discussed by others (he freely gives credit to his sources), there are a few tidbits and food for thought that will engage even the most learned Hitchcock devotee. By simply threading together personal experiences and career milestones with these twelve individually colored threads, you see the whole tapestry in a new light.

I must confess that I have spent many hours in the dark watching Hitchcock films, have read many books and written analytical papers on the works of Alfred Hitchcock. I have a BA in Radio, Television and Film and have always had an affinity for his work. This bond was made even greater when I discovered we share the same birthday (luckily, different years). I write this sitting in front of a gallery of Hitchcock artwork collected and given to me through the years. All of this is to say that I would gladly have this book sitting along the many others I own on Alfred Hitchcock.
It is an entertaining and informative read for both the interested filmgoer and film students alike.

My thanks to Net Galley for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

This was a wonderful portrayal of Hitchcock's career. The writing was interesting and insightful, as I had only studied Hitchcock briefly in university, I appreciated a more in-depth coverage of Hitchcock's directorial choices and legacy.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A multi-faceted man...in the round. Edward White cleverly breaks down the facets of the iconic director in a way which will have the reader looking at not only Hitchcock but his movies in a new light. Absolutely recommended reading for anyone interested not only in Hitchcock but in cinema as well.

Who was Alfred Hitchcock, the ‘master of suspense’? Edward White, in twelve cleverly titled chapters highlight the aspects and versions of his life; The Boy Who Couldn’t Grow Up”; “The Murderer”; “The Auteur”; “The Womanizer”; “The Fat Man”; “The Dandy”; “The Family Man”; “The Voyeur”; “The Entertainer”; “The Pioneer”; “The Londoner” and “The Man of God.” Hitchcock is one of the most famous and studied directors of all time. His directorial style, pushing film censorship to the limits and his relationships with his leading men and women are legendary. Actress Tippi Hedren revealed in her memoir that she was the recipient of his abusive and suggestive behaviors while filming “The Birds”. He was also a married man devoted to his wife Alma, his closest collaborator and a father to their daughter.
As complex and thought provoking as his films, this is a unique portrayal into the life of this influential director.
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Edward White unravels the conundrum of filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock — “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,” as Churchill once said about Russia. His films still mesmerize but his reputation has been tarnished, especially since release of Tippi Hedren’s 2016 memoir, in which she documents his sexual abuse of her, and as scholarly papers explore his misogyny.

White explains Hitch’s many contradictions in this brilliant bio, which reveals his essence through 12 thoughtful chapters: The Boy Who Couldn’t Grow Up, The Murderer, The Auteur, The Womanizer, The Fat Man, The Dandy, The Family Man, The Voyeur, The Entertainer, The Pioneer, The Londoner, and The Man of God.

This kaleidoscopic approach helped me understand, for example, why I love “Rear Window,” yet why the relationship between characters Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly made me cringe. She has brains, beauty, and style (those Edith Head costumes!) but he gives her wounding mixed messages about her desirability. It’s typical of many male-female interactions in his films and truly maddening!

A must-read for Hitch fans and film buffs, and those who love substantive bios that entertain.

5 of 5 Stars
Pub Date 13 Apr 2021
#TheTwelveLivesofAlfredHitchcock #NetGalley

Thanks to the author, W. W. Norton & Company, and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are mine.

Hitchcock is one of the most fascinating directors of all time. This book takes an interesting perspective on his biography with a fresh take. I highly enjoyed it and think all readers will as well