Biographie

During a 1975 trip to Hope Village (a Vietnamese refugee camp), she met with a group of women who had recently fled the takeover of South Vietnam by the armed forces of Communist leader Ho Chí Minh. In an effort to introduce them to the US workforce, she soon discovered that the women were fascinated by her manicure. Hedren then arranged for her manicurist Dusty Coots Butera, with the help of a local cosmetology school, to teach the group of 20 women the art of the perfect manicure. Once the women were licensed, Hedren would personally scout nail technician openings in salons and secure jobs for her students. Some of the original 20 women, after graduating, taught the nail trade to other immigrants. This would lead to an explosion in Vietnamese working as nail technicians.

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.

Alfred Hitchcock saw her in a 1961 commercial aired during the Today (1952) show and cast her in Les oiseaux (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 Les oiseaux (1963), the same thing happens as she walks toward the bird shop. This was an inside joke by Hitchcock.

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

Mother of Melanie Griffith.

[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 Pas de printemps pour Marnie (1964). They were both so different that it's kind of hard to figure out which, but Les oiseaux (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 Pas de printemps pour 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.