- Rod Taylor as Mitch Brenner
- Jessica Tandy as Lydia Brenner
- Suzanne Pleshette as Annie Hayworth
- Tippi Hedren as Melanie Daniels
- Veronica Cartwright as Cathy Brenner
- Ethel Griffies as Mrs. Bundy, ornithologist
- Charles McGraw as Sebastian Sholes, fisherman
- Ruth McDevitt as Mrs. MacGruder, owner of the bird shop
- Lonny Chapman as Deke Carter, restaurateur
- Joe Mantell as cynical businessman
- Doodles Weaver as fisherman helping with rental boat
- Malcolm Atterbury as Deputy Al Malone
- John McGovern as postal clerk
- Karl Swenson as drunken doomsayer in diner
- Richard Deacon as Mitch's neighbor in San Francisco
- Elizabeth Wilson as Helen Carter, Deke's wife
- William Quinn as Sam
Alfred Hitchcock makes his signature cameo as a man walking dogs out of the pet shop at the beginning of the film. They were two of his own Sealyham Terriers, Geoffrey and Stanley.[5]