Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE was an iconic and highly influential director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. After a substantial film career in his native Britain he moved to Hollywood in 1956.

He ultimately directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades, from the silent film era, through the invention of talkies, to the colour era. Hitchcock was among the most consistently successful and publicly recognizable world directors during his lifetime, and remains one of the best known and most popular of all time. Alfred Hitchcock was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in the 1980 New Year’s Honours.

He was entitled to use the title “Sir” because he remained a British subject when he adopted American citizenship in 1956. He died just four months later, on April 29, before he had had the opportunity to be formally invested by the Queen.