Spellbound by Beauty
  • Published: 1 October 2009
  • ISBN: 9780099503187
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $32.99

Spellbound by Beauty

Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies

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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.
  • Published: 1 October 2009
  • ISBN: 9780099503187
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $32.99
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About the author

Donald Spoto

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.

portrait photo of Donald Spoto

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Praise for Spellbound by Beauty

This study provides new insights into a flawed cinematic genius.

Choice Magazine

Spoto does a workmanlike job with this rich vein of creepy material

Independent

A fascinating look at a flawed and troubled genius whose creative influence still lives on.

Waterstone’s Books Quarterly

A brisk and interesting read

Irish Independent

As Donald Spoto demonstrates, Hitchcock's art imitated his life and mentality with disquieting closeness.

Daily Express

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

New York Times

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

USA Today

Focuses 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

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