Laurence Leamer "Hitchcock's Blondes"

Center Stage with Mark Gordon

In HITCHCOCK’S BLONDES, bestselling biographer Laurence Leamer offers an intimate journey into the lives of eight legendary actresses whose stories helped chart the course of the troubled, talented director’s career—from his early days in the British film industry, to his triumphant American debut, to his Hollywood heyday and beyond. Through the stories of June Howard-Tripp, Madeleine Carroll, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Janet Leigh, Kim Novak, Eva Marie Saint, and Tippi Hedren—who starred in fourteen of Hitchcock’s most notable films and who bore the brunt of his fondness and sometimes fixation—we can finally start to see the enigmatic man himself. After all, “his” blondes (as he thought of them) knew the truths of his art, his obsessions and desires, as well as anyone. As with his previous book, Capote’s Women, Leamer's empathetic retelling acknowledges their complex stories and allows their biographies to take priority. Alfred Hitchcock was fixated—not just on the dark, twisty stories that became his hallmark, but also by the blond actresses who starred in many of his iconic movies. The director of “North by Northwest,” “Rear Window,” and other classic films didn’t much care if they wore wigs, got their hair coloring out of a bottle, or were the rarest human specimen—a natural blonde—as long as they shone with a golden veneer on camera. The lengths he went to in order to showcase (and often manipulate) these women would become the stuff of movie legend. But the women themselves have rarely been at the center of the story, until now. Biographies have been written about Alfred Hitchcock, but never has there been an account of his life and work told through the lens of the actresses who helped launch his career. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Laurence Leamer is a leading biographer of the rich and powerful, including Capote’s Women, Madness Under the Royal Palms and The Kennedy Women, among many other books. Leamer’s last book, 2021’s CAPOTE’S WOMEN was an acclaimed national bestseller and will serve as the source material for the second season of Feud, Ryan Murphy’s F/X anthology series. It has a jaw-dropping cast of stars attached including Naomi Watts, Molly Ringwald, Diane Lane, Demi Moore, and Chloe Sevigny, with Gus Van Sant directing. He lives in Washington, D.C., and Palm Beach, Florida.