Hitchcock’s girl - FT

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Tippi Hedren photographed at home in California

Hedren with her daughter, actress Melanie Griff ith

July 27, 2012 6:10 pm

Hitchcocks girlBy Rosie Millard

Alfred Hitchcock sabotaged Tippi Hedrens movie career after she rejected his advances. But the heroineof The Birds and Marnie says she has no regrets

here is quite a procedure surrounding meeting Tippi Hedren at Shambala, her Californianhome, because it is in a gated community. But not in the conventional Beverly Hills sense.

The gates are 15ft security fences and the community is Hedrens own safari-stylesanctuary, a reserve for more than 50 big cats formerly used in the entertainment industry,or previously owned by people who think an apex predator might make a lovely pet. Itincludes lions, one of Michael Jacksons tigers and a couple of leopards.

Hedren has several domestic cats too. These are kept at a safe distance from their largercousins, and all appear to be named after sexy film stars. Wheres Johnny Depp? coosHedren as we arrive, referring to a grey tabby who whisks past on to the netted roof of theconservatory.

Hedren, tiny, blonde, booted in knee-length leather and, at 82, still beautiful, once had the world at her feet. She was christened Nathalie: the nickname came from her Swedish fatherand derives from tupsa meaning adorable. Hollywood certainly adored her. Cool and ice-

blonde, she stepped into the public domain as if she had always been there: a fully-fledgedstar after just one film; a working woman and single mother to boot whose poise hadcaused Alfred Hitchcock to summon her after a single sighting in a television ad for a dietdrink.

Johnny Depp is eventually coaxed down and put firmly indoors. He probably wont try that again, says Hedren. Antonio Banderas got

into the lions enclosure . That was the end of him. I thought for a moment she was talking about her son-in-law. Banderas, the actor, ismarried to the a ctress Melanie Griffith, Hedrens only child. When the call came from Hitchcock, Melanie was a toddler and Hedren asuccessful model, who had spent the 1950s making pots of money under the care of Eileen Ford at the famous Ford Modeling agency inNew York.

I had a very successful career going on as a fashion model, she says. And of course with theadvent of television came the commercials. T hese commercials paid well, and it was easy work for Hedren, then married to the actor/producer Peter Griffith, three years y ounger thanher. The union was short-lived. In 1961, they divorced and Hedren decided to head back tothe west with Melanie. She was 31 and had no fears about upping sticks. Fear is not anemotion Hedren experiences often, I learn.

I thought I could continue my career as it had been in New York, so I rented a very expensive home. I thought every thing would be just fine, and it wasnt . So I thought, well, Idont type, what shall I do?

Fortunately, TV commercials have a long shelf-life, and Hedren was in a particularly good one,for Sego, a diet drink. In it, she had to sashay past an array of admiring men. I wasnt justholding up a product, you know, she says, drolly. On Friday 13 October 1961, after the adhad been running on TV, the phone rang. It was a man from Universal Studios. He said Are you the woman in the Sego advert? There is a producer here who is interested to meet y ou. Who was the producer? T he man would not say. I did not know all weekend who this person was, says Hedren. I was giving a cocktailparty, and my agent was there, and he knew and he wouldnt tell me.

She thinks this is hilariously funny, even 50 y ears on, her face creasing up with laughter. She looks the spitting image of her daughter.(No, she corrects me firmly. I do not look like Melanie. Melanie looks like me.)

When she discovered the mystery producer was Hitchcock, she was thrilled, thinking that perhaps he might want her to work on one of histelevision projects. A contract would mean a salary for me to take care of my daughter. And from one of the most famous directors in theentire industry. What could possibly be wrong with that?

Hitchcock honoured her with a personal welcome to Universal. He opened the door and stood there with his

Amanda Friedman

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Hedren posing betw een scenes of 'TheBirds'

Sienna Miller as Tippi Hedren in 'The Girl'

Tippi Hedren in 'The Birds'

hands over his belly. We had tea. We talked about everything; food, travel, wine, all sorts of things,everything other than making a motion picture. Did she want to appear willing to please? Sure. Of course,I wanted to come over as pliable. There would be no point in saying I wanted to be under contract and then being negative. I t was v ery exciting.

There were screen tests and wardrobe fitt ings. Finally, four months later, Hedren was invited to lunch withHitchcock, his wife, Alma, and Lew Wassermann, head of Universal. The venue was Chasens, the starr iestrestaurant in Hollywood. The table was Hitchcocks.

Hitch placed a beautifully wrapped parcel from this wonderful gift shop, Gumps of San Francisco, on my plate. I opened it and it was this beautiful gold and seed-pearl pin of three birds in flight. And he said, We want you to play Melanie Daniels in The Birds . I was so stunned. It never occurred to me that I would begiven a leading role in a major motion picture. I had great big tears in my eyes, say s Hedren.

I looked over at Mrs Hitchcock and she was tearing up, and even Lew Wasserman was affected. I lookedover at Hitch, and he was sitt ing there looking very pleased with himself.

Hedren is wearing the actual pin. One of the pearls has been lost, but I can understand why she has not replaced it. One wouldnt want to tamper with it. It is the symbol both of herspringboard to fame, and her ev entual prison. From then on, she was at the mercy of herSvengali.

Well, she has nothing to unlearn, Hitchcock was said to have commented, when explaining why he had cast a novice in the lead role for his eagerly awaited, latest film. Here was his ElizaDoolittle, a woman he could mould as he desired. At least, he thought so.

The story of how Hitchcock became mesmerised and obsessed with Hedren, and her rejectionof him, has merited a drama, to be screened later this year on the BBC (and in the US, onHBO). Toby Jones plays Hitchcock and Sienna Miller, Hedren.

. . .

Hedren isnt remotely interested in how beautiful Miller is in the film (which she is). What shecares about is that Sienna plays her strong. And not shy, she says. Because I was not, notat all. There was nothing coy about Hedren. Vulnerable, inexperienced, a single mother she

may have been. But she had a formidable presence.

Hitchcock, however, was just as determined. Indeed, by the time of The Birds , he was laudedand untouchable. Both physically and creatively he had become one of Hollywoods colossalpersonalities. On set he always held court, recalls Hedren. We would hear theannouncement Alfred Hitchcock has arrived. He was always the most important entity .

Wherever he went. And what he wanted was what he got. Always.

It started at the end of The Birds . To depict thenotorious final sequence, when Melanie is

attacked by dozens of birds on her own in an upstairs bedroom, Hedren was reassured thatmechanical birds would be used. Yet Hitchcock had always planned otherwise. She arrived onset to discover cages of live birds were being put in position for the terrifying denouement.The reality was as horrific as the film. I just kind of did it, says Hedren, with her eyes shut.It was hardly even acting. They put bands around my waist and these bands had elasticspulled in different places through my dress. And the bird trainers tied the elastics to the feetof the birds, so they were all around me. One was ev en tied to my shoulder. At one point, itumped up and almost clawed my eye.

The torment went on for five days. At the end, I was so exhausted I just sat in the middle of the stage, sobbing. In the BBC film, Hedren is shown with clothes ripped, skin bleeding frompecks, hysterical, while Hitchcock impassively looks on, almost as if he is willing his film to break her.

Corbis

Amanda Friedman

BBC

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Hedren with A lfred Hitchcock arriving for the Cannes FilmFestival in 1963

Hedren stars w ith Sean Connery in Hitchcocks 'Marnie'

Why did she go back to make another Hitchcock movie, the darkly suggestive Marnie , where Hedren plays a compulsive thief alongsideSean Connery?

Because I was under contract, she says. Was Hitchcock pleased that he had created a star? Apparently. Did he ever praise yourperformance? Not particularly. All the same, he was not slow in dressing her up and presenting her at Cannes, on his arm. Hedren wasthe toast of the film world. Hitchcock, always keen to appear in his own fictions, presented himself as the director who had invented her.There is a photograph of them both standing at the Palais in Cannes, Hitchcock looking like the cat who got the cream.

The French Foreign Legion were all lined up with their swords in an arch for me, Hedrenremembers. I was wear ing the most beautiful Edith Head gown; white satin, with a coatdown to the floor, also white satin. Alexandre de Paris did my hair. It was awesome, how they put me together.

A star was indeed born, but Hedren was an experienced woman in her thirties. I wasnt alittle girl, she says. So when Hitchcock sought to draw her on to his casting couch, sherejected him. In the BBC drama, Hitchcock is shown pawing Hedren, begging her to touch him,kiss him, attesting that he wants to share his life with her and will give up everything for her. Was it actually like that? Pretty much so. It was horrifying. A horrible situation in which to be. She shudders. There were women who would have gone along with it, but I wasnt oneof those. The demands were ... brutal. Could she have made a fuss? Of course not. Nobody had heard of suing for sexual harassment. Although, if that happened today, I would be a very rich woman.

Having created a star who had the temerity to reject him, Hitchcock made sure she paid for it.Hedren was informed she had received a best newcomer award, and was invited to accept it

live on The Tonight Show in New York. It would have been a prestigious moment of national acclaim for her. Hitchcock refused to let herleave Marnie s LA set.

That was when things came to a horrible, horrible fight, says Hedren. He made these demands on me, and no way could I acquiesce tothem.

After Marnie had finished shooting, shed had enough. I said I wanted to get out of my contract. He said:You cant. You have your daughter to support, and your parents are getting older. I said: Nobody would want me to be in this situation, I want to get out. And he said: Ill ruin your career. I said: Do what youhave to do, says Hedren. And he did ruin my career. He kept me under contract, paid me to do nothingfor close on two years.

Directors, including Franois T ruffaut, came knocking. They were all sent away. Hitchcock informed them

that Hedren, the hottest actress in Hollywood, was not available for work. When she was finally let go by Hitchcock, she was no longer the woman of the moment. Her moment had come; she was unable to exploitit, and it had gone. Was this hard to bear? I came to terms with it the moment I said it, she says. It seemsthat stardom wasnt all that important to her. I had none of those feelings, says Hedren, batting away images of satin gowns and Alexandre de Paris with a sort of steely magnificence.

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A promotional poster for the film 'Marnie'

A promotional poster for 'The Birds'

All I wanted to do was to get out of the horrible situation. I didnt hear about things like Truffaut asking forme until years later. Yes, I felt like I had been cheated. It was like, he giveth and he taketh away. Sheshrugs. Was she ever tempted to relent? Not for one minute, she says. I would have been unable to live with myself.

. . .

The actress at her safari-style sanctuary, Shambala

He never importuned her again, and she never discussed it with anyone. The story only came out years later, after Hitchcocks biographerDonald Spoto asked her about it. She has no regrets. I saved myself. I know that, she says. I feel good about that. I wish I had gone onto do all those other films. But I couldnt. I replaced the films with other things.

She married her agent Noel Marshall. She made some low-budget movies. She spent 11 years working on her own personal saga, Roar .Directed by Marshall and starring herself, Marshall and Melanie, Roar was the story of a family who lived alongside more than 100leopards, lions and tigers. It cost $17m, made $2m when it was eventually released, and was once described as the most expensive homemovie ever made. Afterwards, Hedren transformed the Roar set into Shambala, the sanctuary where she now lives.

Her movie career stalled. So what? She sailed around the South China Sea giving food and clothes to refugees from Vietnam the BoatPeople and sending them to safe havens. For those who arrived in America, she did more. She taught Vietnamese women how to domanicures, and sent them to beauty school. Forty years on, the nail bar business in New Y ork and Los Angeles is now dominated by the Vietnamese community. Last year , Hedren went to Washington, DC to receive a humanitarian award for her efforts. Im regarded as thepatron saint of manicurists, she says, regarding her hands (they are, of course, perfectly done). Tee hee hee!

Yet it is those two films, made more than 50 y ears ago, which fascinate the public even now.Recently, a playful poll on Twitter asking Who was Hitchcocks greatest leading lady? came up withone name above all: Hedren. She knows it, and accepts it. Her own house reflects it. T here arepictures from Marnie , stills from The Birds (on wine labels), books about Hitchcock on the coffeetable, and stuffed birds perched in almost every corner.

How does she avoid feeling bitter? Years in therapy? She looks at me as if I am mad.

I dont have time for counselling! she says. Im very busy. Self-belief? My parents gave it to me. Iknow so many people who are eaten up by regret. It manifests itself in so many ways. They either become mentally a bit off, or they get very fat, or they are just horribly depressed. And there is alsothat thing called age. They dont write movies for older people, she say s, laughing.

She is the least vain Hollywood personality I have ever met. Perhaps shes had a bit of work done onher face, who knows? Shes not interested in hiding her age. Both invitations to her 70th and 80th birthday part ies (each one thrown by Melanie), are framed and hung on her living room wall. Shesnot keen on taking herself too seriously, either. I went through passports at LA airport the otherday, she says, and the security lady said Oh, your name is Tippi Hedren. Do you know we had thereal Tippi Hedren through here last year. She snorts with laughter. I like going into town with nomake-up on. And people say You remind me so much of that T ippi Hedren!. Happens all the time,I tell them.

So, tell me Hedren. Which leading man did you fancy more? The strong Rod Taylor from The Birds , or Scotsman Sean Connery? Well,she says, sitting down in a mountain of tiger-striped cushions. After Sean Connery was neutered, to be honest he was never quite thesame. She looks at me steadily. Sean Connery, the cat, she say s, hooting with laughter. Before admitting that of course it was theScotsman who did it for her.

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Amanda Friedman

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And how about Hitch? He never made a hit film after Marnie . And as his loyal secretary Peggy Robertson always said, He never got overTippi.

The Girl, a Wall to Wall production, will be show n on BBC2 later this year
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