1. Alfred Hitchcock bought the rights to the novel ‘Psycho’ anonymously from Robert Bloch for only nine grand. Then, he bought as many copies of the novel as he could to keep the ending a secret.
2. On set of ‘Psycho’, Hitchcock would only refer to Anthony Perkins as “Master Bates”.
3. One of the reasons Hitchcock made the movie in black and white was he thought it would be too gory in color.
4. Walt Disney refused to let Hitchcock film at Disneyland, because of a "that disgusting movie, 'Psycho'"
5. In the opening scene, Marion Crane wears a white bra, a symbol of her being "angelic". After she takes the money, she’s shown in a black bra to showcase her now “evil” side. Similarly, the color of her purse changes from white to black.
6. 'Psycho' is is the first American film ever to show a toilet flushing on screen.
7. The shower scene has over 90 splices in it, and did not involve Anthony Perkins at all.
8. Hitchcock originally envisioned the shower sequence as completely silent, but Bernard Herrmann scored it anyway, and upon hearing it, Hitchcock immediately changed his mind.
9. The blood was chocolate syrup.
10. The reason Hitchcock took his cameo so early in 'Psycho' was because he knew people would be looking out for him, and he didn't want to divert their attention away from the plot.
11. The cast didn't even know how 'Psycho' ended, so to add to the mystery of who would eventually play "Mrs. Bates," Hitchcock had a canvas chair with "Mrs. Bates" placed prominently on set.
12. 'Rear Window' is the only film in which Grace Kelly is seen with a cigarette. She refused to smoke in films, except this once.
13. While shooting 'North by Northwest', Eva Marie Saint discovered that Cary Grant would charge fans 15 cents for an autograph.
14. Rather than go to the expense of shooting in a South Dakota woodland, Hitchcock planted 100 ponderosa pines on an MGM soundstage.
15. Hitchcock filmed Cary Grant's entrance into the United Nations building from across the street with a hidden camera. When he gets to the top of the stairs a man about to walk down does a double take upon seeing the actor.
16. While in her "Judy" costumes in ‘Vertigo’, Kim Novak did not wear a bra. She said it was an element of the Judy costuming that helped her feel much more comfortable as Judy than as Madeline, whose costumes were much more severe and stiff.
17. There is a 25-year age difference between James Stewart and Kim Novak, who were 49 and 24 respectively when the film was shot in 1957.
18. The now infamous ‘Vertigo’ zoom effect was inspired by a time when Hitchcock had fainted during a party.
19. In 1958, Alfred Hitchcock was bitter about the commercial and critical failure of the film. He blamed this on James Stewart for "looking too old" to attract audiences any more.
20. When Kim Novak questioned Hitchcock about her motivation in a particular scene, the director is said to have answered, "Let's not probe too deeply into these matters, Kim. It's only a movie."
21. In ‘The Birds’, Tippi Hedren was actually cut in the face by a bird in one of the shots.
22. In May 2001, the son of 'The Birds' novelist Daphne Du Maurier reported that he and his wife were being terrorized by seagulls nesting outside their cottage in England.
23. When audiences left the film's UK premiere in London, they were greeted by the sound of screeching and flapping birds from loudspeakers hidden in the trees to scare them further.
24. Also attending the London premiere were two flamingos, 50 red cardinals and starlings, and six penguins.
25. ‘The Birds’ does not finish with the usual "THE END" title because Hitchcock wanted to give the impression of unending terror.
26. A number of endings were being considered for 'The Birds'. One that was considered would have showed the Golden Gate Bridge completely covered by birds.
27. For ‘Rope’, since the filming times were so long, everybody on the set tried their best to avoid any mistakes. At one point in the movie, the camera dolly ran over and broke a cameraman's foot, but to keep filming, he was gagged and dragged off.
28. 'Rope' was banned in some American cities because of the implied homosexuality of Phillip and Brandon.
29. This was the only movie James Stewart made with Hitchcock that he did not like. Stewart later admitted he felt he was badly miscast.
