10 Most Notorious Alfred Hitchcock Urban Legends

10. Hitchcock Made Rear Window's Psychopathic Killer Look Like His Nemesis

Verdict: Uncertain Super-producer David O. Selznick was probably the most powerful exec in Hollywood at his peak. On top of marshalling giant hits like Gone With The Wind and King Kong, Selznick also made four films with Alfred Hitchcock, including Rebecca and Spellbound, but their partnership ended disastrously in 1947 with Hitch's The Paradine Case. The director didn't take kindly to the fact that Selznick took over editing and scoring on the film in post, or that he used his power as a major studio figure to interfere with production and casting. So, the story goes, when Hitch came to making Rear Window seven years later, he cast Raymond Burr in the part of the psychopathic, wife-murdering Lars Thorwald, mainly due to Burr's resemblance to Selznick. This is apparently one of two Hitchcock digs at Selznick - Roger O. Thornhill in North By Northwest asserts that the middle letter in his name stands for "nothing" (like Selznick's) - and a piece of now-accepted trivia that is based largely on speculation. The resemblance between the two isn't all that uncanny either, unless you count the mutual presence of eyes, nose and hair a good likeness.