Comprehensive information and links about Tippi Hedren

Tippi Hedren (born January 19, 1930 in New Ulm, MinnesotaTippi Hedren is an American actress. She was discovered by Alfred Hitchcock who saw her while she was doing a diet drink commercial. He was looking for an actress who looked like Grace Kelly. Hedren appeared in for Hitchcock.

Tippi Hedren is the mother of actress Melanie Griffith. Active in animal causes, she was sometimes billed as 'Tippi' Hedren in her early acting career.

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Early life

Hedren was born of a Swedish father and a German-Norwegian mother. Her father gave her the moniker "Tippi" even though her birth name is . "My father thought Nathalie was a little bit much for a brand new baby," Hedren remembered at a 2004 screening of Tippi comes from the Swedish nickname "Tupsa," or "sweetheart."

As a teenager, Hedren took part in department store fashion shows. Her parents relocated to California while she was still a student in high school. As soon as she had her 18th birthday, she bought a ticket to New York and started her professional modeling career. Within a year she made her movie debut as one of the Petty Girls in the musical comedy as her first film. While in New York, she met and married her first husband, Peter Griffith, in 1952. sup in retrospect

At a packed house in Lancaster, California's Antelope Valley Independent Film Festival Cinema Series screening of on September 28, 2004, Hedren recounted her film career and her big acting break to a spellbound audience for almost an hour. "I said, 'Well, who is this person? Who is interested?'... No would tell me who it was." Of course, it was Alfred Hitchcock, who soon announced that Hedren was his new lead actress.

She remembered the work (on location at Bodega Bay) as being dangerous and taxing. During the filming of the last attack scene, Hedren became exhausted to the point of sitting down on the middle of the set and crying. A week's rest was ordered by a doctor at that time of completing the film. "For a first film, it was a lot of work," Hedren mused. Her performance brought her a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer. sup

Hitchcock's plan to mold her image went so far as insisting that her name should be printed only in single quotes -- 'Tippi' -- yet for the most part, journalists ignored the press releases with this curious dictum by the director. Strained by Hitchcock's controlling manner, Hedren declined further work with him after in 1964. "It grew to be impossible. He was a very controlling type of person, and I guess I'm not about to be controlled." Ending their professional relationship on a sour note, she remarked "He said, 'Well, I'll ruin your career.' And he did." Producers who wished to hire Hedren for acting roles had to go through Hitchcock, who would inform them that "she isn't available." sup

After the two for Hitchcock, she went on to make 40 films between 1967 and 2005. After a grueling, five-year project starring dozens of African lions. "This was probably one of the most dangerous films that Hollywood has ever seen," remarked the actress. "It's amazing no one was killed." During the production of , both Hedren and her husband at the time, Noel Marshall, were attacked by lions, and Jan de Bont, the director of photography, was scalped.

directly led to the establishment of Hedren's Shambala Preserve, located in Acton, California between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley just north of Los Angeles. Shambala, an animal rescue preserve, houses (and has housed) the animals that appeared in Hedren lives on the site and conducts monthly tours of Shambala for the public. The preserve also houses many birds, according to Hedren. When asked about this point by an audience member, she replied, "I love birds. No, I like 'em. I do. I hate to tell you that. It spoils the whole story." sup