"Alfred Hitchcock was fixated--not just on the dark, twisty stories that became his hallmark, but also by the blond actresses who starred in many of his iconic movies. ... The lengths he went to in order to showcase (and often manipulate) these women would become the stuff of movie legend. But the women themselves have rarely been at the center of the story--until now. In [this book], bestselling biographer Laurence Leamer offers an intimate journey into the lives of eight legendary actresses whose stories helped chart the course of the troubled, talented director's career--from his early days in the British film industry, to his triumphant American debut, to his Hollywood heyday and beyond. Through the stories of June Howard-Tripp, Madeleine Carroll, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Janet Leigh, Kim Novak, Eva Marie Saint, and Tippi Hedren--who starred in fourteen of Hitchcock's most notable films and who bore the brunt of his fondness and sometimes fixation--we can finally start to see the enigmatic man himself"--