Anyone who knows me very well knows that I am a huge admirer of Tippi Hedren. The Alfred Hitchcock movie, “Marnie” (1964) ranks as one of my very favorite movies; one of those rare films that has so much going on that it bears repeated viewings. Tippi’s film career with Hitch began with “The Birds” (1963). Although it definitely was a much more successful film, it just never really appealed to me very much—it comes off as trying too hard to be arty. There are many extremely well-done and memorable scenes, but as a whole, I feel it was an experiment that just didn’t really gel. Tippi’s performance is passable, especially when one considers that this was her first lead in a major film. Still, her acting in “Marnie” blows this one away. More on that in another post. The photo posted here shows Tippi in the bird store at the beginning of “The Birds,” where she playfully flirts with Rod Taylor. A lobby card from the original release follows; it is often mistakenly thought that the image on the right side of the lobby card is also Tippi when it is actually Jessica Tandy.
Hitch did a huge build-up for Tippi, as he wanted her to eclipse Grace Kelly and all the other “cool blondes” from his past. Here are some publicity photos of her:
See more Tippi Hedren photos at my Tippi Hedren web page.
I never looked at the color red in the same manner after seeing Marnie. I was a very dramatic child.
ReplyDeleteThat scene on the lobby card comes right after one of my favorite lines from the movie, "Caaaathy, where's Cathy?" Another favorite line is, "I think you're the cause of all this....I think you're evil, EEEEEEEEVIL!!!!!!! And what Tippi does to the woman that delivers that line.....classic!
ReplyDeleteRumor is the Michael Bay wants to remake "The Birds" through his horrible "Platinum Dunes" production company. You know it'll be great!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that there are other Tippi Hedren fans out there in the Disneyverse. I need to see "Marnie" again; it was such a well done film with what I have always felt is such a top-notch performance by Tippi.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I missed this post but I'm glad I am seeing it now. You have to admit...everytime you are stopped at a red light and you look up and see 100 black birds sitting there looking down at you.... I get nervous!
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