McGavin returned to Hollywood in the early 1950s and appeared in the short film "A Word to the Wives" with Marsha Hunt, and had his first starring roles in the feature films "Summertime", opposite Katharine Hepburn, and "The Man with the Golden Arm" (both 1955). Also in 1955, McGavin appeared twice in the anthology series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", first in an episode titled "Triggers in Leash" and later in an episode titled "The Cheney Vase", as a scheming caretaker and aspiring art thief, opposite Carolyn Jones, Patricia Collinge, and Ruta Lee. He also later appeared in an episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" titled "A Matter of Murder" in 1964.