Alfred Hitchcock and Obesity

Alfred Hitchcock was a very influential English filmmaker in the 1900s who was known as the “Master of Suspense” (Luecht 1). He was a man who had everything he needed, fame, wealth, and power. However, Hitchcock struggled with one thing his whole life…. Obesity. Growing up, he was very insecure about his weight and even went on to have heart and kidney problems caused and amplified by obesity. He went his whole life with the struggle of obesity, and because of this Alfred Hitchcock would think that obesity is a problem that needs to be prevented and resolved.

Obesity is a problem that has severely grown in the United States over the last two decades, and over 1/3 of all Americans fit in this category (Obesity Is a Common, Serious, and Costly Disease 1). Obesity is known for not only drastically affecting one’s physical health, but also affects mental health as well. From the time Alfred Hitchcock was born, until the day he passed, he had gone through his whole life with obesity. He stated that “I have always been uncommonly unattractive. Worse yet, I have always known it,' he said” (Howe 1). He hated being fat, hated looking the way he looked, and hated the way that people saw him as. He felt that because of his weight he was seen as lazy and a joke, so he was constantly having to prove himself worthy to people that he worked with or worked for. His weight stopped him from many things, and even though he was successful he did miss out on a lot of events that he could’ve done.

Hitchcock would want to end obesity because he knows what it felt like to be judged and discriminated against because of his weight. During interviews, weight was always the main topic, and he hated it because that’s all he was seen as, not only a filmmaker, but a fat filmmaker. Hollywood used Hitchcock’s weight for publicity. For example, there was an article published in the 1940’s by the Saturday Evening Post titled “300-Pound Prophet Come to Hollywood”. In this article, they referred to him as the “fat director”, and the “fat boy” (Johnston 1). While they said good things about his films, the author added unnecessary comments like, “He is fat because his mind is too wrapped up in the cinema to give attention to incidentals like diet” (1). It was stated in many articles that he was very insecure about how he looked, yet people still used this rare-looking man to their advantage because he attracted attention (1). Back when Hitchcock was in his prime around the 1940s, obesity was not a prevalent problem like it is today, so seeing a person the size of Hitchcock was extremely rare. Some of his fame came from him being so big (1). It is said that “People reacted to him like children at sight of balloon giants in Macy’s parade” (“The Incredible Shrinking Hitchcock.” 1).

Alfred Hitchcock would want to prevent obesity because he himself lived the struggles that those who have obesity go through. As he got older, he obtained many medical illnesses. Alfred suffered from joint pains, especially in his lower back, and his knees which carried the weight of his body. He also started having more internal organ problems, his Kidney and his Heart both stopped functioning properly. He later died of Renal failure, which is the failure of the Kidney. According to the National Kidney Foundation “Extra weight forces the kidneys to work harder and filter wastes above the normal level. Over time, this extra work increases the risk for kidney disease” (“How Does My Weight Affect My Risk for Kidney Disease?” 1). His Kidney failure was due to his body fat index, and his kidney having to do extra work in order for his body to function. According to many sources he was only around five-foot-five, and well over 300 pounds (“Alfred Hitchcock Height, Weight, Age, Bio, Family, Net Worth & Wiki.” 1). As most know, this is very detrimental to one’s health, obtaining so much weight like Hitchcock did causes many internal bodily systems to eventually fail. If Hitchcock prevented himself from getting so big, he would have never gone through all the physical pain he did.

As a man in the very tough and judging Hollywood industry, he went through times when he was bullied and not taken seriously because of his weight. In 1940, the producers of the movie Lifeboat would not let him get in the lifeboat because she thought that he was going to sink it, and that would ruin the take. So instead of saving the character, Hitchcock was playing, they killed him off by making him drown and sink to the bottom. Many of the people that Hitchcock worked with were bullies, they make taunting remarks like, “How’s the metabolism?” (“The Incredible Shrinking Hitchcock.” 1) Just horrible things that made him feel bad about how he looked.

Hitchcock lived a very successful life, however, he had to go through many obstacles that didn’t make his life very easy. He also went through a lifetime of insecurities caused by the bullying that he endured. Based on the way that Hitchcock lived his life with obesity, he would most likely agree that obesity is a growing epidemic that needs to be prevented.

Cite

“Alfred Hitchcock Height, Weight, Age, Bio, Family, Net Worth & Wiki.” The Stars Fact, 6 June 2017, https://thestarsfact.com/alfred-hitchcock/.

“How Does My Weight Affect My Risk for Kidney Disease?” National Kidney Foundation, 24 Jan. 2017, https://www.kidney.org/content/how-does-my-weight-affect-my-risk-kidney-disease.

Johnston, Alva. File:300 Pound Prophet Comes to Hollywood (1943).PDF. 23 May 1943, the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/File:300_Pound_Prophet_Comes_to_Hollywood_(1943).pdf.

Luecht, Lindsay. Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense. Film Shows Inc., 2013.

“Obesity Is a Common, Serious, and Costly Disease.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 12 Nov. 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html.

“The Incredible Shrinking Hitchcock.” It’s Only a Movie..., 27 Feb. 2014, https://the.hitchcock.zone/onlyamovie/2014/02/27/the-incredible-shrinking-hitchcock/.