Doris Parkerson (Patricia Breslin; 1931-2011) is a villainess from episode 2.20 of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, "Anyone For Murder?" (airdate March 13, 1964). She is the wife of psychology professor James Parkerson.
The beginning of the episode gave a hint that Doris felt ignored by James, and the episode's progression cemented her sentiment when it was shown that Doris was having an affair with a man named Robert Johnson. Robert had expressed a desire to be with Doris permanently, even suggesting killing her husband, which Doris objected to. Robert answered a murder-for-hire ad placed by James (an experiment James was conducting) and later met James while giving a description of Doris and his plans to have her husband killed, unaware that he was speaking to Doris' husband directly.
The episode's climax showed Doris approached by Bingham, a hitman James enlisted to kill Robert, only for Bingham to later go after Doris and attempt to kill her. After James arrived, Doris angrily confronted her husband and accused him of sending Bingham to kill her, only for both of them to end up as targets for Bingham. Robert later arrived and shot Bingham, and later sees that James is Doris' husband and attempts to convince her to help him kill James. Doris takes the gun from Robert and appeared to be compliant in helping her lover in his plan, but at that moment, Doris turned heel and pointed the gun at Robert, cementing her betrayal by chastising her lover for attempting to kill James.
The scheming villainess stated to Robert that he meant nothing to her, and that what she has with James is something she could naver have with Robert; after which the couple decided to plan out Robert's murder. After giving James the gun, the evil Doris phoned police regarding Robert killing Bingham, with the episode ending under the assumption that James shot and killed Robert. Robert's murder was planned to look like self-defense, but Hitchcock's narration revealed that the couple was arrested for their murderous actions.
Trivia[]
- Patricia Breslin previously played a Hitchcock villainess on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, appearing as the evil Margo during Season Seven.