Ranking the 5 Best 'Hitchcock Blondes'

I think the first time I felt something stir inside me was when I saw a woman watching a Hitchcock movie. The director had a certain way of showing, a leer you could call the male gaze, but it felt like it went even deeper than that.

And he became famous for using that feeling around blondes.

The Hitchcock Blonde became an enduring cultural symbol of his thrillers and gave us the archetype of the icy, glamorous, intelligent, fiercely independent woman at the center of his movies.

Today, I want to cover five of the best Hitchcock Blondes and the mark they left on cinema history.

Let's dive in.

1. Grace Kelly (Rear Window)

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• Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• Writer: John Michael Hayes (Screenplay), Cornell Woolrich (Based on the short story "It Had to Be Murder")
• Cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter, Wendell Corey, Raymond Burr

Grace Kelly remains the definitive archetype of the Hitchcock Blonde. And the one who stirred my heart all those years ago. I mean, in this movie, she might be the hottest an actress has ever been on screen. Her entrance, illuminated in close-up as she leans in to kiss James Stewart, is pure cinematic magic. But what makes her the top investigator in a murder, and how her cleverness saves he day again and again.

2. Kim Novak (Vertigo)

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• Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• Writer: Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor (Screenplay), Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac (Based on the novel D'entre les morts)
• Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore

Kim Novak playing her own ghost remains one of cinema's coolest Hitchcock reveals. And then the triple reveal of it all being orchestrated to kill a wife is exquisite. Novak embodies the unreachable, haunting dream-woman Hitchcock has chased in his mind throughout his career.

3. Janet Leigh (Psycho)

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• Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• Writer: Joseph Stefano (Screenplay), Robert Bloch (Based on the novel Psycho)
• Cast: Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam

You want to talk about the shower scene, but I think the power of Janet Leigh iz that you kind of want ot be bad with her. You want her to take the money; you want her to get away with it. Crushing our hearts when she goes makes her a specter that hangs over the entire film afterward.

4. Eva Marie Saint (North by Northwest)

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• Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• Writer: Ernest Lehman
• Cast: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis, Martin Landau

In North by Northwest, Eva Marie Saint plays Eve Kendall, who is the kind of secret agent I'd let kill me. Saint delivers one of the most confident and overtly sexual performances in Hitchcock's body of work, but she's also the only one who steps ahead of everyone else in the room. The banter between her and Grant sizzles.

5. Tippi Hedren (The Birds)

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• Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• Writer: Evan Hunter (Screenplay), Daphne du Maurier (Based on the story "The Birds")
• Cast: Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, Veronica Cartwright

In her feature debut, Tippi Hedren stars as Melanie Daniels, a wealthy San Francisco socialite who follows a romantic interest to Bodega Bay, only to find the coastal town under siege by birds. You buy into her as an heiress who has never dealt with the real world, only to watch it fall apart as she might want something from it.

Summing It All Up

They say blondes have more fun, and in Hitchcock movies, that may be true. Even if they dodn;t have as mich fun n the sts. These were incredible actresses who made their mark on the big screen with performances and stories that are undeniable.