R.I.P. Patricia Hitchcock, daughter of Alfred Hitchcock who appeared in ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ and many of his films

By: Start TV Staff     Posted: August 12, 2021, 11:22AM

Patricia Hitchcock, who often went by Pat, was born in London in 1928. As a child, she witnessed her father become one of the most famous film directors in the world. The elder Hitchcock made classics like The Man Who Knew Too Much and The 39 Steps in Europe before signing a contract with American producer David O. Selznick and moving the family to southern California in 1940.

Patricia’s mother, Alma Reville Hitchcock, began in the film industry as a film editor and was a trusted confidant and uncredited collaborator on every film he made. After visiting sets throughout her childhood and pursuing acting in school, Patricia decided to go into the family business.

She appeared on Broadway before going back to England to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic art in London. Just shy of graduation, her father offered her a part in his next movie, Strangers on a Train. The film starred Farley Granger and Robert Walker as two strangers who, at least according Walker’s character, agreed to kill each other’s wives. Naturally, complications ensue. Patricia played the plucky younger sister of Granger’s love interest in one of her best remembered roles. 

She continued to act, next appearing in the live anthology series Suspense. Her episode, “A Time of Innocence,” costarred Thomas Mitchell from It’s a Wonderful Life and a young actress named Doris Roberts, who would play Ray Romano’s mom 50 years later in Everybody Loves Raymond.

Patricia Hitchcock also acted in no less than ten episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, appearing in the episode “A Glass Eye” with William Shatner in one of his first screen roles.

Pat Hitchcock also had an uncredited part in Cecil B. Demille’s epic The Ten Commandments and played Janet Leigh’s coworker in Psycho. After a break from the industry, Hitchcock returned to act in the 1970s TV movies Ladies of the Corridor with Mike Farrell and Six Characters in Search of an Author with Andy Griffith.

The only child of Alfred and Alma, Patricia helped continue the legacy of both her parents. She co-wrote the book Alma Hitchcock: The Woman Behind the Man published in 2003.

According to the Associated Press, Patricia Hitchcock’s own daughter, Tere Carrubba, said of her mother, “She was always really good at protecting the legacy of my grandparents and making sure they were always remembered. It’s sort of an end of an era now that they’re all gone.”

Patricia Hitchcock passed away this week at the age of 93.