Today’s Guest: Tippi Hedren, actress, The Birds, Marnie, founder, Roar Foundation
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We know Tippi Hedren for many reasons.
As a young model, she was plucked from a successful career in one field by British film director Alfred Hitchcock to star in two of his most fondly remembered works, The Birds and Marnie.
A falling out with Hitchcock over sexual harassment accusations slowed her career opportunities when she refused his advances, but the beautiful young woman found ways of staying in the public consciousness. And she never stopped working in a variety of roles, large and small, over the years.
TIPPI HEDREN podcast excerpt: “Stop the breeding. Just plain stop it! There is a special interest group trying very hard to stop the Big Cat bill in Congress. It’s the circus — Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey — and Kenneth Feld. I think when God needs money, he calls Kenneth Feld. This man controls Washington, whatever he wants. He has made noises that he doesn’t like this bill. I have written an open letter to Congress: ‘Will anyone stand beside me against Kenneth Feld?’ He’s got to be stopped.”
She is also the mother of another prominent American actress, Melanie Griffith, Academy Award nominated star of Working Girl.
And her philanthropic commitment to abandoned exotic felines – lions, tigers, cougars, black and spotted leopards, servals, bobcats, and Asian leopard cats – showed the public another side of her when she founded The Roar Foundation and Shambala Preserve on the outskirts of Los Angeles in 1983.
The Preserve is home to 50 retired big cats and she will appear before Congress on September 20th to speak on behalf of the “Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act.”
Miss Hedren is back in the headlines – and on the small screen – with the upcoming release on HBO of The Girl, a made-for-TV movie about her strained relationship with Hitchcock. Sienna Miller plays Hedren and Toby Jones plays the director in the film, which debuts in October.
The story is about a young actress fighting off the hands and sexual demands of a controlling cinematic legend unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. It has taken Miss Hedren 50 years to get even with Hitchcock but her moment is approaching.
In addition to being portrayed in The Girl, Miss Hedren is also shooting an upcoming episode of the Fox sitcom “Raising Hope,” in which she is typecast as Melanie Griffith’s mother.
Where does Hollywood get these crazy ideas?
Tippi Hedren Shambala Website • The Roar Foundation on Facebook • The Roar Foundation on Twitter • Order The Birds (Collector’s Edition) from Amazon.com
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