Biography for
Tippi Hedren More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

19 January 1930, New Ulm, Minnesota, USA

Birth Name

Nathalie Kay Hedren

Height

5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Biography

From working for (Best Director) Alfred Hitchcock, to a movie written by (Worst Director) Edward D. Wood Jr., Tippi Hedren, the Minnesota girl of Scandinavian descent, has had a distinctive career. She moved to New York City in 1950 to begin her modeling career, and two years later married 18-year-old future advertising executive Peter Griffith (they divorced in 1961). She gave birth to her only child, Melanie Griffith, on August 9, 1957. Alfred Hitchcock discovered Tippi, the pretty cover girl, while viewing a 1962 TV commercial on NBC's "Today" (1952). He put her under personal contract and cast her in The Birds (1963). Her second film was the title role in Hitchcock's masterpiece Marnie (1964) with Sean Connery, and she gave the performance of her life. Though it took years before she won well-deserved admiration for her work, the film is now widely considered a classic. The professional relationship with Hitchcock ended with mutual bitterness and disappointment during the filming of Marnie. In 1964, she married her then-agent, Noel Marshall (they divorced in 1982). Tippi and her husband Marshall collected big cats and other wildlife for the film Roar (1981), which they starred in and produced. The film took 11 years and $17 million to make, but it only made $2 million worldwide. Nevertheless, the film was a turning point in her life; she became actively involved in animal rights, as well as a wide variety of humanitarian and environmental causes. Tippi has devoted much time and effort to charitable causes: she is a volunteer International Relief Coordinator for "Food for the Hungry". She has traveled worldwide to set up relief programs following earthquakes, hurricanes, famine and war, and has received numerous awards for her efforts, including the "Humanitarian Award" presented to her by the Baha'i Faith. As for animal causes, she is founder and President of "The Roar Foundation". Onscreen, she continues to work frequently in films, theater and TV. She appeared in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998), finally bringing to the big screen the last screenplay written by the late Edward D. Wood Jr. in 1974 (and featuring Wood regulars Vampira and Conrad Brooks, just about the only surviving members of Wood's stock company). She also enjoyed playing comedic roles, such as an abortion rights activist in Alexander Payne's satire Citizen Ruth (1996) and slapping Jude Law in I Heart Huckabees (2004). Tippi's contributions to world cinema have been honored with Life Achievement awards in France at The Beauvais Film Festival Cinemalia 1994; in Spain, by The Fundacion Municipal De Cine in 1995; and at the Riverside International Film Festival in 2007. In 1999, Tippi was honored as "Woman of Vision" by Women in Film and Video in Washington, D.C., and received the Presidential Medal for her work in film from Hofstra University. Tippi and her partner, Martin Dinnes, have lived together since 2002, although they are not married despite many internet reports to the contrary. She enjoys spending time with her daughter, Melanie Griffith, son-in-law Antonio Banderas, and grandchildren Alexander Bauer, Dakota Johnson, and Stella Banderas.

IMDb Mini Biography By: kdhaisch@aol.com

Spouse

Martin Dinnes	(2002 - present)
Luis Barrenecha	(1985 - 1995) (divorced)
Noel Marshall	(27 September 1964 - 1982) (divorced)
Peter Griffith	(1952 - 1961) (divorced) 1 child

Trade Mark

An unaffected, icy mid-period "Hitchcock blond"

Voluptuous figure

Deep sultry voice

Trivia

At the end of shooting Mister Kingstreet's War (1971), she discovered that the big cats used in the production had no place to go and would likely languish in small cages. This prompted her to obtain a parcel of land on her own to establish a home with a natural setting for retired big cats. She named it Shambala and it exists to this day.

Mother of Melanie Griffith.

Presides over The Roar Foundation, an animal preserve outside of Los Angeles.

Director Alfred Hitchcock unsuccessfully pursued a relationship with her during the filming of Marnie (1964).

Is a vegetarian.

She named one of her housecats after Sean Connery, her co-star in Marnie (1964).

Lobbying for passage of Shambala Wild Animal Protection Act.

Participated in panel at University of Illinois on "Hitchcock, Women and Terror", October 2001.

Her first television commercial was for a cigarette brand in the early 1950s. She learned to smoke for the commercial, because she felt viewers would know if she was faking it. Her smoking habit lasted for 15 years until her daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, then 10 years old, came to her after a school health lecture and begged her to stop.

Received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7060 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on January 30, 2003.

Alfred Hitchcock saw her in a 1962 commercial aired during the "Today" (1952) show and cast her in The Birds (1963). In the commercial for a diet drink, she is seen walking down a street and a man whistles at her slim, attractive figure, and she turns her head with an acknowledging smile. In the opening scene of The Birds (1963), the same thing happens as she walks toward the bird shop. This was an inside joke by Hitchcock.

Grandmother of Alexander Bauer, Dakota Johnson, and Stella Banderas.

Mother-in-law of Antonio Banderas. Former mother-in-law of Don Johnson and Steven Bauer.

Operates an exotic animal sanctuary which prompted her testimony in February 2005 in Riverside Superior Court. Hedren made a complaint regarding animal cruelty by a tiger rescuer and was told by U.S. Department of Agriculture that there were not enough inspectors to respond to her complaint. She eventually made room for a lion rather than have it go to the rescuer. She stated she felt like she was walking through a trash dump.

Her store owner father, Bernard, was Swedish and her school teacher mother, Dorathea, was German-Norwegian.

Friend of Linda Blair, Rod Taylor and Diane McBain.

Has a sister named Patty Davis.

She met with Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville for the final time in London, England, in 1966, while she was filming Charles Chaplin's last film, A Countess from Hong Kong (1967). They took her to tea at Claridge's. The atmosphere was tense because she knew Hitchcock was upset that she had been cast in what was expected to be a big film, and he was unable to hide his bitterness.

Her performance as Melanie Daniels in The Birds (1963) is ranked #86 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

British neo-progressive band Landmarq have a song titled "Tippi Hedren" on their 1992 album "Solitary Witness".

Attended Suzanne Pleshette's funeral in 2008. They starred together in The Birds (1963).

One of her favorite sweet treats is Marnie's red velvet cake, which she named after her character from the film of the same name Marnie (1964). She graciously provided the recipe for this three-layer cake to a website called high-societea.com, which specializes in articles on tea and accompanying treats.

Requested director Alfred Hitchcock to give her the fur coat that she wore in The Birds (1963), and he graciously gave it to her but charged it to the production company. Eventually, she stopped wearing fur after she became an animal rights activist.

Found it touching when Sean Connery, her leading man from Marnie (1964), said on television that she was underrated while almost everyone in Hollywood was overrated.

Of all her films, Marnie (1964) continues to be her favorite film, because of the complex title character. This is even more telling, considering all the problems that reportedly took place during the filming, which spelled the end of her professional relationship with the film's director Alfred Hitchcock, as well as the mixed critical reception and the indifferent box office results upon the film's release.

In most of her films (and in all of her films before 1982 except Tiger by the Tail (1970), her character's name starts with an M: "Melanie Daniels" in The Birds (1963), "Marnie Edgar" in Marnie (1964), "Martha Mears" in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), "Marla Oaks" in Satan's Harvest (1970), "Maggie Kingstreet" in Mister Kingstreet's War (1971), "Margaret Tenhausen" in The Harrad Experiment (1973), "Madelaine" in Roar (1981), "Marcia Stevens" in Inevitable Grace (1994), "Maylinda Austed" in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998), "Martha" in The Darklings (1999) (TV), "Michelle Labner" in Searching for Haizmann (2003), "Mary" in Dark Wolf (2003) (V), "Mary Jane" in I Heart Huckabees (2004), and "Minnie" in Dead Write (2007).

Bridget Fonda, who played her daughter in the straight-to-cable film Break Up (1998), gushed to her about how she had watched Marnie (1964) "a million times".

She was supposed to play the leads in Bedtime Story (1964) (opposite David Niven and Marlon Brando), Mirage (1965) (opposite Gregory Peck and Walter Matthau), and Fahrenheit 451 (1966) (opposite Oskar Werner), but Hitchcock told the directors and producers that she wasn't available to work with them. Shirley Jones, Diane Baker, and Julie Christie eventually played the parts she was considered for.

Actress Sienna Miller portrayed her in the cable movie, The Girl (2012) (TV), which dealt with Tippi's three years with Alfred Hitchcock. She told Miller to portray her as strong, since she rejected Hitchcock's advances, even though it meant the end of her career as a leading lady. She said she was happy with Miller's portrayal.

Met President John F. Kennedy once, when he was on vacation, as she was, in the South of France. Later, she was driving to her horse-riding lesson in preparation for her role in Marnie (1964), when she learned about the President's assassination. She said that she was "stunned, and very angry", that the assassination could have happened.

Is a fan of actor Johnny Depp and named one of her house cats after him. Even though, she hasn't met him, her son-in-law Antonio Banderas acted with him in Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), and her grand daughter Dakota Johnson appeared in 21 Jump Street (2012), though not in the same scenes as Depp.

She turned down the starring role in Eye of the Cat (1969) which was later played by Gayle Hunnicutt.

In the biographical movie The Girl (2012) (TV), Tippi (played by Sienna Miller) explained to Alfred Hitchcock (played by Toby Jones) that "Tippi" is a nickname for "Tupsa", meaning "little girl" or "sweetheart".

Personal Quotes

[on Alfred Hitchcock] To be the object of somebody's obsession is a really awful feeling when you can't return it.

[on 3/1/05, when asked which is her favorite of the Alfred Hitchcock films she starred in] I think Marnie (1964). They were both so different that it's kind of hard to figure out which, but The Birds (1963) was sort of a chase. All of the Hitchcock films have a mystery to them and that sort of thing, but the personality of Marnie was so intriguing. She was really - poor Marnie.

My advice to anyone contemplating acting as a profession is to be independently wealthy or have another vocation as a backup. [Melanie Griffith] and [Antonio Banderas] are well set, but most actors make a pittance.

For years, directors and producers came up to me and said they'd wanted me for a role, but [Alfred Hitchcock] wouldn't allow it. The worst was when I found out that François Truffaut had wanted to cast me. I'd never heard a word about it. That one hurt.

[on being offered the title role in Marnie (1964) by Alfred Hitchcock] I was stunned. I was amazed that he would offer me this incredible role and that he would have that kind of faith in me . . . I thought Marnie was an extremely interesting role to play and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

[on working with Sean Connery, her leading man in Marnie (1964)] He was just fabulous, a consummate actor with a great sense of humor. He was practicing his golf swing all the time - a rather profound golfer. We honored him on June 8, 2006, at the American Film Institute. They asked me to speak about him, which was great fun. It was one of the most wonderful evenings.

It is interesting because some of the critics who really panned [Marnie (1964)] when it came out see it again and it is like they are reviewing an entirely different movie. I think a lot of it was that all those years ago, people were not aware of how a trauma being inflicted upon a child can affect what happens to them as an adult if it isn't properly dealt with. I think there were multiple reasons why they didn't like it. For some reason, the painted backdrops really bothered people forty years ago - that was a big deal for some reason with the critics. I kept thinking "So what, it's a movie!"

[In 2006, when asked whether she can watch The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964) and separate herself from the experience of making them] I can do that now and it is quite a relief, actually. I can look at it and think "She did a good job!" There were years where I would see things and wish I could do them over but now I can just watch them.

They called and asked what I thought about a remake of The Birds (1963) and I thought: 'Why would you do that? Why?' I mean, can't we find new stories, new things to do?

When you do a love scene with someone in a movie, you have cameras and lights surrounding you. It's not very romantic, especially considering what I was going through. A lot of people have asked me whether or not I had a fling with Sean Connery during the filming of Marnie (1964), and the answer is no. Marnie was so frigid and cold that she screamed when a man came near her. If I had strong feelings for him in real life, it would have shown through my eyes in the film. I was too dedicated to acting. So, no, I don't really know what it's like to kiss Sean Connery.

Salary

The Birds (1963)	$500 per week
Marnie (1964)	$600/per week