Alfred Hitchcock vs Edgar Degas
Two child prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Alfred Hitchcock | Edgar Degas | |
| Field | Film | Art |
| Sub-field | Screenwriter | Painting |
| Born | 1899 | 1834 |
| Died | 1980 | 1917 |
| Country of birth | United Kingdom | France |
| Star sign | Leo | Cancer |
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 →
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas was obsessed with movement — the way a dancer's tutu catches the stage light mid-pirouette, the bunched muscle of a racehorse at the starting gate, the tired slump of a laundress pressing a shirt at the end of a long day. He trained his eye like a scientist and his hand like a master draughtsman, then used both to capture modern Paris in moments of arrested motion that feel simultaneously spontaneous and eternally composed. He called himself a Realist. Others called him an Impressionist. He rejected the label but showed in seven of…
Full biography of Edgar Degas →
What they share
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Different fields: Film for Alfred Hitchcock, Art for Edgar Degas.
- Born in different countries: United Kingdom and France.
- 65 years separate their births (1899 and 1834).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Alfred Hitchcock or Edgar Degas?
- Edgar Degas. Alfred Hitchcock was born in 1899, Edgar Degas in 1834.
- What field is each of them in?
- Alfred Hitchcock is filed under Film (Screenwriter). Edgar Degas is filed under Art (Painting).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.