Alfred Hitchcock vs Charlie Parker
Two child prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Alfred Hitchcock | Charlie Parker | |
| Field | Film | Music |
| Sub-field | Screenwriter | Jazz |
| Born | 1899 | 1920 |
| Died | 1980 | 1955 |
| Country of birth | United Kingdom | United States |
| Star sign | Leo | Virgo |
Who they are
Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899, in Leytonstone, a quiet district of east London, to a greengrocer and his wife. He was a shy, overweight child who found that stories — their architecture, their capacity to generate unease — interested him more than almost anything else. His father once sent him to the local police station with a note, and the duty officer locked him in a cell for five minutes as a lesson in what happens to naughty boys. Hitchcock later described this as the defining trauma of his life, the…
Full biography of Alfred Hitchcock →
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. was born on August 29, 1920, in Kansas City, Kansas, and grew up across the river in Kansas City, Missouri, in a city that pulsed with jazz at every hour of the day and night. The Kansas City of Parker's youth was a wide-open town, operating under the corrupt but musically fertile patronage of political boss Tom Pendergast, and the music that thrived there — hard-swinging, blues-drenched, built for all-night cutting sessions — formed the soil in which Parker's genius took root. He began playing alto saxophone at age eleven and joined…
Full biography of Charlie Parker →
What they share
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Different fields: Film for Alfred Hitchcock, Music for Charlie Parker.
- Born in different countries: United Kingdom and United States.
- 21 years separate their births (1899 and 1920).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Alfred Hitchcock or Charlie Parker?
- Alfred Hitchcock. Alfred Hitchcock was born in 1899, Charlie Parker in 1920.
- What field is each of them in?
- Alfred Hitchcock is filed under Film (Screenwriter). Charlie Parker is filed under Music (Jazz).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.