Alma Reville

Alma Reville
Reville in November 1955
Born Alma Lucy Reville
(1899-08-14)14 August 1899
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, UK
Died 6 July 1982(1982-07-06) (aged 82)
Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Screenwriter, film director, film editor
Spouse(s)
Alfred Hitchcock
(m. 1926; d. 1980)
Children Patricia Hitchcock

Alma Lucy Reville, Lady Hitchcock (14 August 1899 – 6 July 1982), was an English-American screenwriter and editor,[1] best known for her work with Alfred Hitchcock, whom she married in December 1926.[1]

Early life

She was born in Nottinghamshire, the second daughter of Matthew Edward and Lucy (née Owen) Reville. The family moved to London when Reville was young, as her father got a job at Twickenham Film Studios. Reville often visited her father at work and eventually got a job there as a tea girl. At 16, she was promoted to the position of cutter, which involved assisting directors in editing the motion pictures. She continued to work there as a script writer and a director's assistant. These roles enabled her to contribute to and become involved with a part of film-making that very few women had access to at the time.[2]

The studio closed in 1919, but Alma Reville was given a job at Paramount's Famous Players-Lasky, an American motion picture company in Islington, where she met her future husband, Alfred Hitchcock. The same company gave him a job as a graphic designer before he became an art editor.[2] She worked on British films with such directors as Berthold Viertel and Maurice Elvey. The first film Reville worked on with Hitchcock was in 1923 when Hitchcock received the role of assistant director for the film Woman to Woman. Reville had just lost her job from the studios, so Hitchcock hired her as an editor.[2]

Reville converted to Roman Catholicism from Protestantism before their marriage.[3] Reville was just one day younger than Hitchcock. The couple married on 2 December 1926 at Brompton Oratory in London. Their only child, a daughter, Patricia, was born on 7 July 1928. Reville became Hitchcock's collaborator, and sounding board, with a keen ear for dialogue, and an editor's sharp eye for scrutinising a film's final version for continuity flaws so minor they had escaped the notice of Hitchcock and/or his crew. It was Reville who noticed Janet Leigh inadvertently breathing after her character's fatal encounter in Psycho (1960), necessitating an alteration to the negative.

Career

She produced many film treatments as well as working on many of Hitchcock's scripts, including Rebecca, Foreign Correspondent (1940), Suspicion (1941) and Saboteur (1942).[4]

Reville co-wrote The Ring in 1927; that was the first screenwriting credit she shared with Hitchcock. Her ambition made her want to become a director herself but the birth of her daughter, Patricia Alma Hitchcock, on 7 July 1928, and their move to the U.S. changed her plans. Hitchcock hired Joan Harrison in 1935 as his assistant, and she took over many of Reville's jobs within the production. Therefore, Reville focused primarily on preparing and adapting her husband's scripts.[5]

There were many scripts on which Reville worked with her husband in Hollywood. She collaborated with Joan Harrison to create the script for Suspicion, which was completed on 28 November 1940. They worked on the script in the Hitchcocks' home in Bel Air as Hitchcock preferred writing within a comfortable and intimate environment rather than an office.[6]

Death

Alma, Lady Hitchcock, a breast cancer survivor, died at the age of 82, two years after her husband's death. She was cremated, and her ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean.[7]

She was portrayed by actresses Imelda Staunton in The Girl (2012),[1] and Helen Mirren in Hitchcock (2012).[1] Staunton was nominated for a BAFTA and a Primetime Emmy[8] for her performance, while Mirren was nominated for BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG awards for her performance.

Selected filmography

Screenwriter

Co-writer of screenplays

The Constant Nymph, 1928. The First Born, 1928. After the Verdict, 1929. A Romance of Seville, 1929. The Outsider, 1931. Sally in Our Alley, 1931. The Water Gipsies, 1932. Nine till Six, 1932. Forbidden Territory, 1934. The Passing of the Third Floor Back, 1935. It's in the Bag, 1945.[5]

Screenplays with Alfred Hitchcock

The Ring, 1927. Juno and the Paycock, 1929. Murder, 1930. The Skin Game, 1931. Rich and Strange, 1931. Number Seventeen, 1932. Waltzes from Vienna, 1934. The 39 Steps, 1935. The Secret Agent, 1936. Sabotage, 1936. Young and Innocent, 1937. The Lady Vanishes, 1938. Jamaica Inn, 1939. Suspicion, 1941. Shadow of a Doubt, 1943. The Paradine Case, 1947. Stage Fright, 1950. I Confess, 1953[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Anderson, John (18 November 2012). "Alfred Hitchcock's Secret Weapon Becomes a Star". The New York Times.
  2. 1 2 3 "Alma Reville biodata". The Biography.com website. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  3. ↑ Adair, Gene. Alfred Hitchcock: Filming Our Fears. Oxford University Press, 2002; ISBN 0-19-511967-3
  4. ↑ Leitch, Thomas; Poague, Leland (1 March 2011). A Companion to Alfred Hitchcock. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781444397314.
  5. 1 2 3 Unterburger, Amy (1999). St James Woman Filmmakers Encyclopedia. pp. 349–51.
  6. ↑ Osteen, Mark (14 March 2014). Hitchcock and Adaptation: On the Page and Screen. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781442230880.
  7. ↑ Wilson, Scott; Mank, Gregory W. (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 343. ISBN 9780786479924.
  8. ↑ "Imelda Staunton profile". Emmys.com. Retrieved 2 December 2016.

Further reading

  • Alma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind the Man by Pat Hitchcock O'Connell and Laurent Bouzereau, Berkley Trade, 6 July 2004; ISBN 0425196194/ ISBN 978-0425196199
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