Trivia

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.

Found it touching when Sir Sean Connery, her leading man from Pas de printemps pour Marnie (1964), publicly said that she was underrated while almost everyone in Hollywood was overrated.

She was supposed to play the leads in Les séducteurs (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.

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, La comtesse de 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 huge film, and he was unable to hide his bitterness.

Became friends with writer William Peter Blatty in the early 1970s and named one of her lions Billy after him. He gave her a copy of his unpublished novel "The Exorcist" and she was so absorbed reading it that she woke up her then-husband, an agent Noel Marshall, in the middle of the night and told him that he should represent Blatty in publishing the novel and the film adaptation. She took the photo of the author for the first edition novel's back jacket. The 1971 novel became a bestseller and Marshall would be credited as 'Executive Producer' for the film adaptation, also titled L'Exorciste (1973), and he was supposed to receive 15% of the profits. When the film became a blockbuster, Blatty refused to give him the agreed-upon share of profits, since he never signed the written contract, but only initiated it. Marshall sued and the lawsuit dragged on for several years, eventually resulting in an out-of-court settlement. These were trying years for Hedren and Marshall, since they needed the money to feed the big cats for their film Roar (1981), the financial stress would result in their divorce. Many years later Blatty ran into Hedren at a party and said "Hi". She walked away without acknowledging him.

Of all her films, Pas de printemps pour Marnie (1964) continues to be her favorite, 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 director Alfred Hitchcock, as well as the mixed critical reception and the indifferent box-office results upon the film's release.

Named one of her house cats after Sir Sean Connery, her co-star in Pas de printemps pour Marnie (1964).

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

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

Is a huge fan of Johnny Depp and named one of her house cats after him. Even though she hasn't met him, her then son-in-law Antonio Banderas acted with him in Il était une fois au Mexique... Desperado 2 (2003), and her granddaughter Dakota Johnson appeared in two films with him, 21 Jump Street (2012) and Strictly Criminal (2015).

She was the daughter of Carl Bernard Hedren (1893-1979), a store owner, and Dorothea Henriette Eckhardt (1899-1994), a school teacher. Both were born and raised in Minnesota. Her paternal grandparents were Swedish, her grandfather from Vinsater, Jarbo, Dalsland and her grandmother from Finnatorp, Norra Ving, Vastergotland. Her mother was of German and Norwegian descent.

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

Appeared under the direction of three Oscar winners: Charles Chaplin, John Schlesinger and Alexander Payne. She was also directed by Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton, but he left her scenes in Jayne Mansfield's Car (2012) on the cutting room floor. Alfred Hitchcock, who directed her twice, received the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy Awards.

In her memoir, she claimed that Marlon Brando wanted to have an affair with her during La comtesse de Hong-Kong (1967), but she turned him down, since she was married. She wrote that he didn't hold the rejection against her. Many years later, she named one of her house cats after him.

Responding to a fan inquiry, she commented on Facebook in May 2017 that she's still in touch with Sean Connery. In December 2017, in a joint interview with her daughter Melanie Griffith, granddaughter Dakota and Dakota's father Don Johnson, "The Hollywood Reporter" publication asked her who her first celebrity crush was, and she replied, "Sean Connery".

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

Was engaged to veterinarian Martin Dinnes for a long time. In her 2016 memoir, she wrote that the engagement ended because of the strain caused by their difference of opinion on declawing big cats. He believed in declawing them, while she believed that shouldn't be declawed. She was upset when she felt that he urged people to dismiss her stand on an issue she felt passionate about, and he was upset with her that she overreacted. They stopped being a couple.

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

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 this. Her smoking habit lasted for 15 years until her daughter, Melanie Griffith--then 10 years old--came to her after a school health lecture and begged her to stop. In her 2016 memoir, she wrote that her primary reason for quitting was because smoking ages one's physical appearance.

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 Les Oiseaux (1963), Marnie Edgar in Pas de printemps pour Marnie (1964), Martha Mears in La comtesse de Hong-Kong (1967), Marla Oaks in Satan's Harvest (1970), Mary 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), Michelle Labner in Searching for Haizmann (2003), Mary in DarkWolf (2003), Mary Jane in J'adore Huckabees (2004), and Minnie in Secrets de jeunesse (2007).

Turned down a cameo role in Le bûcher des vanités (1990) that starred her daughter Melanie Griffith, because she had just done a cameo in another film of Melanie's, Fenêtre sur Pacifique (1990), and didn't want to appear in all of her daughter's films, only on special occasions.

Claims that she never had affairs with any of her leading men.

In her 2016 memoir, she wrote that she lost her sense of smell and taste, as a result of her fainting in a hospital and hitting her head, while still married to her second husband. She said she has to rely on other people's judgment to make sure she's not in any danger.

Lobbying for passage of Shambala Wild Animal Protection Act.

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 Pas de printemps pour 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.

After their falling-out on the set of Pas de printemps pour Marnie (1964), director Alfred Hitchcock tried to mend fences with Hedren with the intention of casting her alongside Paul Newman in Le rideau déchiré (1966). They had business lunches on June 30, August 19 and December 16, 1964, but Hedren was definite about never wanting to work with him again. The role of Sarah Sherman ultimately went to Julie Andrews.

Has three grandchildren: Alexander Bauer (born 1985), Dakota Johnson (born 1989), and Stella Banderas (born 1996).

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

In her 2016 memoir, she wrote that the executives at Universal Studios wanted to submit her name for Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Pas de printemps pour Marnie (1964), but the film's director Alfred Hitchcock blocked it as a retaliatory measure for turning down his sexual advances. The Academy later awarded Hitchcock an honorary Oscar, and over the years Hedren's co-stars from Hitchcock's films and screen-test (Sean Connery, Jessica Tandy, Martin Balsam) won Oscars. The Academy has refused to give Hedren an honorary Oscar, in spite of her humanitarian work and animal rights activism.

The one special project that's been passed down three generations in her family is J.M. Barrie's play "Mary Rose". She was originally set to star in the film adaptation for director Alfred Hitchcock in 1964, and she was heartbroken that the film was never made, because she and Hitchcock had a falling out. She gave the play to her daughter Melanie Griffith, when she was a child, who also loved it. When Melanie grew up, she also wanted to play the title character with her then-husband Antonio Banderas as director, but after their production company, Greenmoon Productions, released flop movies like La tête dans le carton à chapeaux (1999) and Le Tombeau (2001), financing collapsed for the project. As of 2018, Melanie's daughter Dakota Johnson is the right age to play Mary Rose, but the studios have long ago decided that the project wasn't commercial, so a film with her is also unlikely.

It took her and her husband six years to build up their ranch from nothing and gather some 100 big cats, two elephants and numerous birds, most coming from films after being finished with.

Operates an exotic-animal sanctuary, which prompted her testimony in February 2005 in Riverside (CA) Superior Court. She made a complaint regarding animal cruelty by a tiger rescuer and was told by the US 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.

Met President John F. Kennedy once, when he was on vacation, as she was, in the south of France. In her memoir, she claimed that he wanted to spend the night with her but she declined since they were both married to other people. Several years later she was driving to her horse-riding lesson in preparation for her role in Pas de printemps pour 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.

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

Tippi Hedren and Norman Lloyd are the only performers who worked with both British geniuses of the silent era, Sir Alfred Hitchcock and Sir Charles Chaplin.

Her second husband, Noel Marshall, was said to have a violent temper. In 1982, she got a restraining order forbidding him from coming within 20 feet of her home.

Sean Baker considered casting her and her real-life granddaughter Dakota Johnson in Starlet (2012) before deciding on Besedka Johnson and Dree Hemingway.

Attended the London premiere of the hit movie Alfie le dragueur (1966). She sat right next to director Lewis Gilbert when she fainted during the infamous abortion scene. (March 29, 1966)

Bridget Fonda, who played her daughter in the straight-to-cable film Point de rupture (1998), gushed to her about how she had seen Pas de printemps pour Marnie (1964) "a million times".

Spent the better part of a decade depressed over the fact she wasn't starring in any major movies. To cut off the source of her discontent, she canceled her subscription to all the trade magazines.

Turned down the starring role in Les Griffes de la peur (1969) which was later played by Gayle Hunnicutt.

Attended the funeral of Suzanne Pleshette. (January 23, 2008)

Her producer Jerome Epstein from La comtesse de Hong-Kong (1967) wrote how Charles Chaplin loved working with her, because she was "completely professional" and "very relaxed". Jerome also became a huge fan of her, and that he loved to listen to her speaking voice, since it was "throaty, sensual and musical".

Her birth year has often been reported as 1935, even though she was actually born in 1930. What makes it puzzling is that there was always direct evidence to prove her correct age, since she looked like a 20-year-old, not a 15-year-old in her very first film La scandaleuse ingénue (1950) and in 1964 "Time" magazine accurately reported her age as 34, not 29.

Younger sister of Patricia "Patty" Davis (born 1926), who gave birth to five children of her own. She named one of them Tipper, in honor of Tippi.

Dropped out of House of Good and Evil (2013) at the last minute because of illness. Her role was recast with Marietta Marich.