This article is part of Overlooked, a series highlighting notable individuals whose deaths have gone unreported in major newspapers since 1851.
Before Alfred Hitchcock rose to prominence in Hollywood, he turned to the works of British suspense writer Ethel Lina White for inspiration.
In the 1930s, White was a formidable presence in the suspense genre, having authored more than 100 short stories and 17 novels. Three of her novels were adapted into films, the most famous being The Lady Vanishes (1938), directed by Hitchcock. Filmed in England, this movie was recognized by the British Film Institute as one of the top 100 films of the 20th century. It earned Hitchcock the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director—one of the few accolades he received for directing—and was among his final British productions before relocating to Los Angeles.
The Lady Vanishes was based on White’s 1936 novel, The Wheel Spins, which was published in Spanish under the film's title. This suspenseful thriller centers on Iris Carr, an Englishwoman on holiday who sustains a head injury before boarding a train traveling across Europe. On the journey, she befriends another English passenger, Miss Froy. When Miss Froy mysteriously disappears, everyone aboard denies having seen her. The story masterfully captures Iris’s struggle to discern reality from delusion as her persistent investigation threatens to expose a far-reaching conspiracy.
