Alma Reville

Alma Reville is perhaps best known as the wife of director Alfred Hitchcock, but she was also an assistant director, a screenwriter, and adaptor. She was raised near her father's workplace, Twickenham Film Studios, so it seemed only natural that she herself would begin working there at 15 as a rewind girl in the cutting rooms. She was soon promoted to editor/continuity girl. In this capacity she worked on The Prisoner of Zenda (1915). In 1922, she began working for Famous Players-Lasky Studios where she met Hitchcock. Together they went to work at the UFA Studios in Berlin. By 1925, they had returned to Gainsborough Studio, England where Hitchcock made his directorial debut with The Pleasure Garden. Reville worked as his assistant director. Thus began a working relationship that would last until his death, even though they did not marry until 1936. In addition to her formal professional duties, Reville also provided the great director with invaluable constructive criticism, functioning as his 'ultimate authority,' throughout his long career. She also occaisionally wrote scripts for other writers.

~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide