The Third Secret 1964

Prominent London psychoanalyst Dr. Leo Whitset, Peter Copley, is discovered wounded in his own home by his housekeeper. As he lies dying, he whispers:

blame no one but me

The coroner quickly rules the death a suicide, a verdict that is soon called into question by one of Whitset’s patients, Alex Stedman, Stephen Boyd, a successful American news commentator for British television who has been in therapy since the death of his wife and daughter. The doctor’s 14-year-old daughter Catherine Whitset, Pamela Franklin, is certain he was murdered and turns to Alex for help in preserving her father’s reputation by uncovering the truth.

Catherine supplies Alex with the names of three other patients who might hold the key to the mystery. Sir Frederick Belline, Jack Hawkins, is a respected judge; Alfred Price-Gorham, Richard Attenborough, runs a prestigious art gallery with his assistant Miss Ada Humphries, Judi Dench; and Anne Tanner, Diane Cilento, is a corporate secretary. As Alex digs into their backgrounds, he learns that each of them, like himself, harbors a secret known only to the murdered man.

In hopes of uncovering more clues, Alex travels to Whitset’s country home to pore over his files. There he discovers that Catherine was under her father’s care, and when he confronts her, she admits she killed the doctor after he threatened to send her to an institution to be treated for paranoid schizophrenia. In a tense moment, Catherine reenacts the crime and stabs Alex, leaving him wounded but alive.

She is then confined to a psychiatric hospital, where Alex, now on the mend, visits and promises to stay in touch. The doctor’s hidden truth—and the fear surrounding his daughter’s illness—comes into focus: the seriousness of Catherine’s condition had, in Whitset’s view, driven him to delay admitting her to a mental institution.