10 Most Notorious Alfred Hitchcock Urban Legends

1. Hitch Deployed Whoopee Cushions At Parties Because He Loved A Fart Gag

Verdict: True When he wasn't busy being one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Alfred Hitchcock liked to cook up elaborate practical jokes, like mailing childrens' suits to the diminutive Peter Lorre or giving a young Melanie Griffith a miniature coffin with a model of her mother Tippi Hedren inside (which, actually, is pretty horrible). But more than anything else, they say Hitch enjoyed a good whoopee cushion. Yes, the man behind some of the greatest films ever made just loved to hear people inadvertently make fart sounds. He would actually invite people round to his house for a dinner party - where he would serve courses in the wrong order, or offer food disguised by blue colouring - then encourage them to sit on cushions hiding the inflated rubber fart-bags. It's not exactly behaviour you'd expect from the man who made pranking into an art form - you'd think the whoopee cushion to be a bit beginner level to him - but stories come up time and again about the director embarrassing guests in this fashion. When the rasp rang out, Hitch would look to the culprit with a straight face, all the while knowing deep down that he was the architect of their doom. What urban legends have you heard about Alfred Hitchcock? Let us know in the comments below.