I’ve long been a fan of Alfred Hitchcock. Rear Window, North by Northwest, The 39 Steps, all great films, in my opinion. One of my favorite elements of Hitchcock’s filming was his Easter egg gift to his fans. He appeared in some form or another in every one of his movies. Usually, he was an extra in a scene with no lines. Sometimes, he was simply in a picture hanging on a wall.
Here’s a multipage article laying out all of those cameos. But there’s no substitute for seeing this for yourself. Watch the video below for a nice sampling. No, these are not all of them and yes, there are some typos, but I loved the effort. Gosh, Psycho, Strangers on a Train, The Man Who Knew Too Much. So many more.
My favorite’s the one from North by Northwest. Even audiences who don’t recognize Hitch get a laugh at that button on the opening credits.
My favorite is the one in “Blackmail”. That’s the only one in which he gave himself a large enough role for him to enact a character who has a distinctive personality. His character has a WC Fields-like relationship with small boys who annoy him. In the others he basically played an extra who teased the audience by his distinctive looks & challenged us to find him. It was only in the “Blackmail” character that we got a glimpse of his droll humor that became known to everyone as host of his TV drama. But that was 30 years later.