Hitchcock himself made a cameo appearance in each of his films—often only briefly, especially in the last half of his career when he was famous enough that the general public knew him on sight.
It was also during this period that Hitchcock became known for his disparaging remarks about actors—like many directors with a strong vision, he seems to have had little patience with performers who wanted any input beyond following his instructions, and only contempt for actors who felt a role was beneath them (as was often the case with theatrical actors working in cinema). He had a noted dislike for method acting, believing that actors should focus only on the role at hand and leave characterization to the writers and director. In response to a question from a fan about whether he actually once said that “actors are cattle,” Hitchcock replied: “No, what I really said was that actors should be treated like cattle.” Hitchcock himself made a cameo appearance in each of his films—often only briefly, especially in the last half of his career when he was famous enough that the general public knew him on sight.