Some facts about Hitchcock and his movies...

There are several references to birds in this film: Marion's surname is Crane, the movie is set in Phoenix, there are stuffed birds in Norman Bates' parlour and pictures of them throughout the hotel. Norman himself makes references to birds, telling Marion she eats like one. Hitchcock was fascinated with birds, and made a horror movie (The Birds) centred around them in 1963.

Chocolate syrup was used for the blood in the famous shower scene. The scene, which was shot from over 70 camera angles and has 90 splices in it, took seven days to film, but lasts for only about 45 seconds in the movie. Interestingly, Anthony Perkins was not present at all - he was then in New York preparing for a play.

Psycho was Hitchcock's last Oscar nomination for Best Director. He was nominated four times previously - for Rebecca (1940), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945) and Rear Window (1954) - but never won.

Walt Disney refused to allow Hitchcock to film at Disneyland in the early 1960s because he had made "that disgusting movie, Psycho". Some of the horror movies Hitchcock declined to direct, which went on to become famous later, were Wait Until Dark, Rosemary's Babyand The Exorcist.