Turns out this Hitchcock classic may have been a bit autobiographical. The eccentric director was smitten with leading lady Grace Kelly who appeared in several of his films, including Rear Window and Dial M for Murder (both 1954).
When she abandoned her acting career to marry the Prince of Monaco, Hitchcock was crushed, and for the remainder of his directorial days he attempted to find a substitute for his lost blonde bombshell. Interesting that not only does Kim Novak bear a striking resemblance to Kelly; but that Vertigo is about a man's attempt to remake a woman in the image of his lost love.