Saturday, March 07, 2026

Book review - "Vera Miles: The Hitchcock Blonde Who Got Away" by Christopher McKittrick

 Miles was a solid, pretty actor who delivered solid performances over the years, including some classics - The Searchers, Psycho, The Wrong Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. I think it's fair to say she's no one's favourite part of these movies but she doesn't let anyone down. The most interesting thing about her career is Hitchcock was briefly obsessed with her and wanted to star her in Vertigo but she fell pregnant and he ended up using Kim Novak.

This is a conscientous, dogged book, like a Miles performance, not that gripping - her life and career wasn't that interesting. She had a few divorces, the Hitchcock interlude... that was about it. She seems like a nice person who married a few dodgy men. The book might've been better putting more dates and credits in an appendix than the text.

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