Strangers On A Train (film) - Cast

Cast

Stubborn antagonists. Guy never imagines Bruno is serious until Bruno commits murder and pressures Guy to do the same. Fearing police gaze, Guy is at first passive-aggressive, then finally confronts Bruno after Anne has deduced the truth

• Farley Granger as Guy Haines
• Ruth Roman as Anne Morton
• Robert Walker as Bruno Anthony
• Leo G. Carroll as Senator Morton
• Patricia Hitchcock as Barbara Morton
• Laura Elliott as Miriam Joyce Haines
• Marion Lorne as Mrs. Anthony
• Jonathan Hale as Mr. Anthony
• Norma Varden as Mrs. Cunningham
• John Brown as Professor Collins
• Robert Gist as Detective Hennessey
• Georges Renavent as Monsieur Darville (uncredited)
• Odette Myrtil as Madame Darville (uncredited)

Cast notes

Alfred Hitchcock's cameo appearance in this movie occurs 11 minutes into the film. We see him carrying a double bass as he climbs onto the train.

Hitchcock said that correct casting saved him "a reel of storytelling time", since audiences would sense qualities in the actors that didn't have to be spelled out. In his book-length interview with François Truffaut, Hitchcock/Truffaut, Hitchcock told Truffaut that he originally wanted William Holden for the Guy Haines role, but Holden declined. "Holden would have been all wrong—too sturdy, too put off by Bruno", writes critic Roger Ebert. "Granger is softer and more elusive, more convincing as he tries to slip out of Bruno's conversational web instead of flatly rejecting him."

Warner Bros. wanted their own stars, already under contract, cast wherever possible. In the casting of Anne Morton, Jack Warner got what he wanted when he assigned Ruth Roman to the project, over Hitchcock's objections. The director found her "bristling" and "lacking in sex appeal" and said that she had been "foisted upon him." Perhaps it was the circumstances of her forced casting, but Roman became the target of Hitchcock's scorn throughout the production. Granger diplomatically describes it as Hitchcock's "disinterest" in the actress, and said he saw Hitchcock treat Edith Evanson the same way on the set of Rope (1948). "He had to have one person in each film he could harass", Granger said.

Kasey Rogers (Miriam, credited as Laura Elliott) noted that she had perfect vision at the time the movie was made, but Hitchcock insisted she wear the character's thick eyeglasses, even in long shots when regular glass lenses would have been undetectable. Rogers was effectively blind with the glasses on, and needed to be guided by the other actors. In one scene, she can be seen dragging her hand along a table as she walks; this was in order for her to keep track of where she was.