Tippi Hedren Can’t Remember Her Hollywood Career

This comes as a devastating blow to her fandom, with many holding a special place in their hearts for Tippi Hedren’s show-stopping roles in such titles as Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, Charlie Chaplin’s final production, A Countess from Hong Kong, and the psychological drama, Marnie – just to name a few.

One of the very first queens of Hollywood, Hedren would pass her knack for acting to her family as her daughter, Melanie Griffith would follow in her mother’s footsteps, easily fitting into her shoes. Down the family tree, Tippi Hedren is also the grandmother of Madame Web and Fifty Shades of Grey franchise starlet, Dakota Johnson. 

As for her career, Tippi Hedren first kicked off her trek to Tinsel Town as a model, doing what every young, aspiring model does and booking a one-way ticket to New York City. Once there, she wasted no time at all in getting her face out there, and would soon appear on the covers of such publications as Life and Glamour. It was also in New York that she met her husband Peter Griffith, an actor and advertising executive. The couple would have their daughter, Melanie, but things soon got rocky and the pair divorced, sending Hedren to California.

While the cross-country move could have easily presented itself as a challenge to the single mother, she saw it as a step in the right direction and one overflowing with opportunity. It was then that Tippi Hedren decided that a career in acting might be her best bet. Almost immediately after booking an agent, she was contacted by Alfred Hitchcock’s team to come in and audition for the role that would mark her as a legend in The Birds.

For those unfamiliar with the premise of Hitchcock’s classic horror flick, The Birds followed Tippi Hedren’s Melanie Daniels, who upon finding herself smitten with a man named Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) brings to him the present of two love birds. From here, all hell breaks loose with birds in the surrounding San Francisco area going completely feral and waging war from the skies on residents of the city.

For her performance in the Hitchcock film, Tippi Hedren nabbed a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. She impressed the Psycho director so much that he signed her on to star in his psychological thriller, Marnie, while cameras were still rolling on The Birds. Sadly, as fans would come to discover years later, Hedren and Hitchcock’s relationship was a tumultuous one filled with alleged inappropriate behavior on the side of the director with the young actress vowing to never work with him again and afraid that the decision would destroy her career.

Still, she went on to flourish in titles like Satan’s Harvest, Roar, Citizen Ruth, and, more recently, I Heart Huckabees. The news of her dementia diagnosis is a tough one to face as her groundbreaking and incredible career will eventually be completely wiped from her memory. Still, surrounded by family members like her daughter, Melanie Griffith, and granddaughter, Dakota Johnson, Tippi Hedren is bound to be reminded of all of her triumphs over the last six decades. 

Source: Daily Mail