Why Cary Grant Called Tippi Hedren ‘The Bravest Woman I’ve Ever Seen’
Old Hollywood is known for its glitz, glam, and many of the most culture-defining movies ever produced in the United States. However, it’s no secret anymore that a lot of this lavishness was a mask to hide a much darker reality. There were many things wrong with classic Hollywood, particularly in how it treated its famous actors. One of the women who got it the worst was Tippi Hedren, with one incidence of on-set abuse and how she dealt with it earning her some major respect from another actor.
Tippi Hedren was a major star of ‘Old Hollywood’
Hedren was one of the defining stars of 1960s Hollywood. Starting as a successful fashion model, she made the jump to film in 1961. Despite being scouted because of a commercial and having no formal training, she took to acting like a natural. With her classic beauty and genuine talent, she starred in several big pictures, such as Marnie, A Countess from Hong Kong, and Tiger by the Tail.
Cary Grant was impressed by Hedren’s resolve when faced with the demands of filming ‘The Birds’
While Tippi Hedren worked for many years in many roles, her most famous work is undoubtedly the films she did with Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock was the man who initially scouted her from the commercial she was in, offering her a contract without knowing anything about her. He was also the one to give her training as an actor, having her recreate scenes from his past films in a crash course ahead of the movie he first signed her to.
This movie was, of course, The Birds. Arguably one of both Hitchcock and Hedren’s most iconic films, it was by all accounts an absolute nightmare for her to film. As one might suspect from how their relationship began, Hitchcock wasn’t simply interested in Hedren for some talent he saw in her from across the screen. According to Hedren and several others, he was infatuated with the actor, making numerous unwanted advances on her throughout filming The Birds and Marnie. This eventually developed into full-blown stalking and damage to her career when she refused him.
In addition to the off-screen issues the director caused for her, filming with him wasn’t any better. Seeing as The Birds is a movie about killer bird attacks, it’s no surprise that Hedren (playing the lead) would be attacked by birds. One would assume a director who cared about the safety of his actors wouldn’t actually set up an actual attack just for the sake of filming it, but Hitchock wasn’t like most directors.
During the filming of the infamous attic scene near the middle of the movie, Hedren’s character is swarmed by tons of birds and pecked all over. Initially, she was told that the birds would be props strapped to her to make them look as though they were swarming her. However, as BuzzFeed wrote in one of their articles, Hitchcock had other plans.
Due to “mechanical issues,” he decided that live birds would work just as well. Ultimately, real birds were strapped to Hedren, while others were simply hurled at her throughout the scene. You don’t have to be an ornithologist to know that the birds weren’t happy about any of this, with Hedren taking the brunt of their anger throughout the very stressful scene.
It just so happened that fellow actor Cary Grant was visiting the set on the day they shot this part of the movie. Upon seeing the conditions Hedren was working under, the To Catch a Thief actor was shocked. That said, he was also impressed, calling Hedren the “bravest woman I’ve ever seen” for going through with the stunt.
Tippi Hedren’s family still has harsh words for the director that terrorized her
Alfred Hitchcock’s treatment of Tippi Hedren and other women has been discussed at length by many sources. Hedren herself blew the whistle on many of the incidents between them. However, one other voice in the conversation happens to be her granddaughter – none other than Fifty Shades actor Dakota Johnson.
Johnson has made her position on the matter clear, once saying, “It’s completely unacceptable for people in a position of power to wield that power over someone in a weaker position, no matter the industry.”
How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
