Donald Spoto's biography of Hitchcock full of lies

When I was eighteen or so, I read Donald Spoto's biography of Alfred Hitchcock, The Dark Side of Genius: the Life of Alfred Hitchcock. In it, the later Hitchcock is portrayed as a rather dirty old man who, when he was dying, refused to have a priest and to be reconciled in the faith into which he was baptized and raised as a child.

I do remember that in this biography it talked of how the only driving Hitch would do was when he drove his daughter the short way to Mass, which he did regularly, though not attending Mass himself.

Anyways, that biography left me with an uneasiness as to what to think about Alfred Hitchcock the man. I've always loved his films, which made the uneasiness the greater. There's typically a hunch one has when the truth is not being told.

Thus it was with great relief that I just read this article about Hitchcock's last days written by one of the priests who was there.

"After we chatted for a while, we all crossed from the living room through a breezeway to his study, and there, with his wife, Alma, we celebrated a quiet Mass. Across from me were the bound volumes of his movie scripts, "The Birds," "Psycho," "North by Northwest" and others—a great distraction. Hitchcock had been away from the church for some time, and he answered the responses in Latin the old way. But the most remarkable sight was that after receiving communion, he silently cried, tears rolling down his huge cheeks."

Do read the entire article HERE.

Good, good God.

God is so good.

H/T: Father Z.