The Cat Lady of Shambala: A Conversation wtih Tippi Hedren

In the last decade, since I began seriously pursuing pop culture phenomena, I have had the good fortune to encounter nearly a hundred notable people. I’ve met artists, writers, actors, directors, musicians, songwriters and politicians. Some of these actors are icons while others only have a small cult following. Some are household names, while others require a huge explanation and then oftentimes people still aren’t entirely sure who I’m talking about. However, until recently, I wouldn’t have ever said any of them could be considered legendary. This changed last month when I had the great fortune, not to mention the greatest thrill of my life as a film buff, to have an hour long conversation with Hollywood icon Tippi Hedren.

It all came about suddenly. A local antique dealer, John Dunbar, who I have dealt with for about ten years, has a friendship with Ms. Hedren through their shared passion for the protection of exotic cats. John was kind enough to make the arrangements with Ms. Hedren for us to talk to her. However, what I did not know until John made these arrangements is that Tippi Hedren is not only a classic Hollywood actress – Tippi Hedren embodies the true essence of a hero.

Starting her career as a model in New York City, Tippi Hedren was discovered by legendary director Alfred Hitchcock and quickly cast as the lead in his 1963 thriller “The Birds”. Hitch’s “Marnie”, co-starring Sean Connery, followed a year later and paved the way for Tippi to team up with Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren in Charlie Chaplin’s final film “The Countess From Hong Kong”. Since then Tippi has had a continuous presence in Hollywood, most recently appearing in the cult hit “I [Heart] Huckabees”.

However, while she is probably most famous for her films, Tippi Hedren’s heart and soul is truly in her mission to protect and care for exotic cats. Since 1972 Tippi Hedren has been bringing displaced cats to the Shambala Wildlife Preserve located 40 minutes outside of Los Angeles. Shambala has been protecting and caring for large cats that were born in captivity and either suddenly found themselves without a home or in situations with owners who could not take care of them. Many of the stories of these animals are horrendous tales of mistreatment and abuse. Others are only a further testament that exotic cats should not be privately owned and should never be pets. As I read the stories of the 70 cats that Tippi and her expert staff have saved and maintain I began to get a sense of Tippi Hedren’s larger purpose on this planet. It is not to make movies but to be a guardian of these animals, and a spokesperson for the issues surrounding the treatment and ownership of exotic animals.

But what do you say to a legend? Sure, I had a lot of things to talk about but as the day of my visit with Tippi came closer I began to grow more and more nervous. I knew my talk with Tippi would be the defining moment in my career, and the greatest opportunity in my pop culture journey. What was supposed to be a half hour interview turned into an hour and a half visit with one of the most beautiful and genuine actresses I have ever had the pleasure to talk with as we discussed names like Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, Ed Wood, Siegfried and Roy and, most of all, Tippi’s incredible work with the cats of Shambala.

This is it friends. Come and join me in the pivotal moment of my career as:

CONFESSIONS OF A POP CULTURE ADDICT PROUDLY PRESENTS

THE CAT LADY OF SHAMBALA:

A CONVERSATION WITH TIPPI HEDREN 

I reached Tippi Hedren on the morning of May 19th, 2006 at her office at the Shambala Wildlife Preserve. 

Sam Tweedle:  So, I’ve spent a lot of time on your website over the last few weeks.

Tippi Hedren: Oh good!

Sam: And I gotta tell you – I had no idea how much of a crusader you are.

Tippi: Oh, well thank you.

Sam: It’s just amazing the work you’re doing.

Tippi: Well it is amazing and it’s very important also. It’s become a very important facility for taking in these animals who have been born in the United States to be sold as pets.

Sam: So where does your passion for these animals originate? Is it just something that just in the last twenty or thirty years you’ve been doing?

Tippi: No, no. It’s a birth affect. Some of us are born with a real concern and love for animals; some people acquire it later in life, but whatever it adds a great deal of quality to your life.

Sam: So how long have you been taking care of these animals?

Tippi: Well we started about 1971, probably late seventies. This all came about when I did two films in Africa. That was in 1969 and during that time environmentalists were saying that if we don’t do something right now to save the animals in the wild, then by the year two thousand they will be gone. And we started hearing a lot of awareness, a great deal of awareness was going out about the plight of the whale, the tiger, the panda and other species that were either endangered or leaving our planet forever. Extinction is forever. And my then husband was a producer so we decided to do a movie about the animals in the wild and, of course, being in Africa we went to the different game preserves. On the Gorongosa game preserve in Mozambique there was a house that had been abandoned by a game warden. He moved out and a pride of lions had moved in and it grew to be the largest pride in all of Africa! There must have been twenty eight or twenty nine lions of all sizes. The big maned lions all the way down to the little cubs and it was an amazing sight to see, of course you couldn’t get near the place. (Laughs)

Sam: (Laughs) Yeah, well not if you valued your life.

Tippi: So we decided to use that idea of lions living in this great big house and so we built the script around that and then we got back to the coast to do the movie. We had planned on using Hollywood acting animals, nine months shoot, over and out. However, because of instinctual dictates the trainers for these animals advised that this can’t be done because of instinctual dictates to fight. So they suggested that we acquire our own animals to do the movie and of course the first one was a rescue and from then on down we became this crazy couple who were taking in animals and pretty soon California Fish and Game were calling us to take animals that they had confiscated because they weren’t treated well or they weren’t permitted or whatever and then the Department of Agriculture was calling us to take in animals and then the Humane Society…

Sam: So it just kind of snowballed.

Tippi: It all did.

Sam: So you have about seventy animals now?

Tippi: Yes we do.

Sam: How many animals do you figure you’ve taken in over the years?

Tippi: Oh, you know something? I think I’d have to take a real count on it because there’s been hundreds. But when we take an animal in it’s here for the rest of its life. Some of the lions live to be twenty three, twenty four. The tigers live to be twenty. So they have a lifespan that’s probably triple in many cases than they would have out in the wild. They don’t have this great human care, they don’t have this wonderful food that they eat, they don’t have medical care out there in the wild, so we give them every advantage. The only problem is that we can’t give them the space that they need. We can’t give them that freedom to be who they are which is very sad to me. We do move them around to one compound to another every couple of weeks so they don’t get bored.

Sam: Does that seem to work out for them?

Tippi: Very well.

Sam: They like that?

Tippi: Yes they do. They have a different neighbor. They have a different tree to climb. They have a different body of water to play in and it’s just wonderful.

Sam: I was going to ask you about saving some of these animals. I found the one part when I was reading the stories of all the cats, which I absolutely love most, is where you’ve got the pictures of the cats and the stories of some of them. Like, I’m reading about lions that are locked in basements and tigers being sold out of station wagons in strip mall parking lots…

Tippi: They are.

Sam: So, where do people acquire these cats? How does a tiger end up being sold out of a station wagon? Where are these cats coming from?

Tippi: Well there’s a huge belt in the United States in the midwest that has no laws so that they can breed these animals and sell them and it’s an unconscionable thing to do because they won’t tell anybody that these animals are wild and that you can’t take the wild out of them and they are extremely dangerous. And so these people buy them and you can buy them for whatever amount of money you are sucker enough to pay! You can get them on the internet, you can look in a newspaper because most states don’t have any laws. In some states it’s more difficult to get a license for your dog than to have a lion or a tiger living in your backyard.

Sam: I just can’t imagine that. I mean, I don’t remember exactly where it was on your website but I read about a man that had a lion living in his one bedroom apartment?

Tippi: Oh. In New York. Yes!

Sam: In New York!

Tippi: It was a tiger.

Sam: A tiger!

Tippi: It was a tiger.

Sam: I mean, I live in a two bedroom apartment and I have two house cats and sometimes it seems too small for the three of us.

Tippi: Well it’s absurd! You know, the whole idea of having a wild animal as a pet is such a selfish thing to do because there is nothing that we can give a wild animal that they need unless it’s medical help.

Sam: So I read something about the “Shambala Wildlife Protection Act”?

Tippi: Yes! We got that passed in 2003.

Sam: Okay. What’s that about?

Tippi: I co-authored a bill. The first bill that I worked on in 2003 was titled the “Shambala Wildlife Protection Act” and it was thrown out. It was a bill that was very involved. It involved the care of the animals, all kinds of different facades of who should have these animals and where they should have them, that there should be an education involved it before you take on an animal of that caliber, that they should be outside the city limits with a habitat and not just an 8×10 cage that some state decides is the minimum. It’s like saying that we’re born to be put into one room for the rest of our lives. It’s horrible! So anyways, that bill was thrown out by a congressman from Texas who was the head of the committee for Agriculture for this kind of a bill.

Sam: Why did he throw it out?

Tippi: Because he said it wasn’t good for the state of Texas! Where there are more tigers living in the state of Texas than exist in the country of India!

Sam: In Texas? Really?

Tippi: And there are more canned hunts. Do you know what a canned hunt is?

Sam: John was trying to explain it to me once but we never got through it all. John Weinhart

Tippi: Okay, well a canned hunt is a facility that will take in an exotic animal and for anywhere from three to twenty thousand dollars someone who calls himself a hunter can blow that animal away with the weapon of his choice.

Sam: For crying out loud!

Tippi: And it is a guaranteed trophy. They will lead it out on a chain, they will put it out in a contained area, they will tranquilize it and put it under a tree… whatever.

Sam: That is disgusting!

Tippi: It is disgusting. It’s unconscionable. These are animals that may have entertained you in a circus. They may have been in a zoo. They may have been someone’s private pet. Some private citizen owned it. But it’s so ugly. It’s so awful.

Sam: Is there anything being done about this?

Tippi: Most of the states won’t pass the law. California voted against it. Oregon voted against it. A number of states have voted against it. I understand that Pataki won’t sign to stop the canned hunts in New York. So it’s a major, major issue. The exotic animal business is huge. It’s just under illegal drugs and they are very often felons and people who probably aren’t bright enough to carry on another job they have to deal with these poor innocent animals.

Sam: Unbelievable.

Tippi: Yes. It is unbelievable.

Sam: So let’s bring this up a little bit. So do you handle the animals at all?

Tippi: I used to, but now my focus is administration of the Roar Foundation in raising the amount of money that we need – almost a million dollars every year. And this year we need more because of the fact that we are thirty years old now, well, over thirty years old now, and things need to be repaired, rebuilt and that kind of thing.

Sam: So how can we support Shambala? Can we send donations?

Tippi: Oh yes! You certainly can! We operate totally on donations and I’d like your readers to know that we operate totally on donations including my own. I’ve never been paid, even when we were doing our movie as co-producer I put all of the money back into production. And I’ve never been paid as director of this preserve or as president of the Roar Foundation. None of the money goes to take care of me. All of it goes to the care of the animals.

Sam: So it’s more of a love and a passion than a job.

Tippi: It’s a mission. It’s an obsession and I will not go up to the heavens until we get a bill passed to stop the breeding of these animals as pets. Anyways, the Captive Wildlife Safety Act that I co-authored and my own congressman introduced, Buck McKeon, and he stayed with the bill and I went to testify for it to the committee in Washington. It passed in the house and the senate unanimously and in December 2003 President Bush signed the bill. What this bill does is it’s a much more watered-down bill compared to the “Shambala Wildlife Protection Act”. The Captive Wildlife Safety Act simply stops the interstate traffic of these animals as pets. The zoos are exempt. Unfortunately the circuses are exempt. I’d like to see all the wild animals out of that too and hopefully one day that will come.

Sam: What’s the reality with circuses?

Tippi: Well there are more people really realizing that these animals shouldn’t be in circuses, not only in the way they live which is in small cages, traveling… many of them have been killed in weather. It’s especially difficult on the elephants. And to train the elephants in the stupid things that they have to do, it is very cruel. And then of course eventually the elephant will say “I won’t do this anymore” and then, of course, they hurt somebody and then they are killed. They are called a bad elephant. Well, you know, anybody who is confined for doing absolutely nothing wrong it would drive a human to insanity.

Sam: Sure. Exactly.

Tippi: So I hope that will someday come to fruition but at least this “Captive Wildlife Safety Act” will stop the interstate traffic which will inhibit the breeders and will inhibit the canned hunts and the auctions which sell animals.

Sam: Are these auctions legal?

Tippi: In many states nearly anything is legal.

Sam: Really?

Tippi: It’s tragic.

Sam: Now you said you have about seventy cats on the preserve now. Is there any one or two which is your absolute favourite?

Tippi: Oh absolutely and through the years I’ve had so many. And you know we love them all whether they are the good guy or the bad guy but right now we have a wonderful animal which is called a Liger.

Sam: Oh the Liger!

Tippi: Yes! Patrick!

Sam: Patrick the Liger! I think he is wonderful!

Tippi: Yes, Patrick was on the cover of National Geographic. I think the May issue I believe it is. Anyways his father was a lion and his mother was a tiger therefore he’s called a “Liger”. If the father was a tiger and the mother a lioness it would be called a “Tigon”.

Sam: Oh I see.

Tippi: It takes the name of the sire.

Sam: You know, when I saw the liger on your website for the first time I thought it was incredible because I thought it was…

Tippi: A fictional character.

Sam: I did! I thought the concept was a joke from Napoleon Dynamite!

Tippi: Yes! I know! He is no joke and he is very big. He weighs over six hundred pounds and he has a small mane. He came from Illinois so when he first came he had a bigger mane because it was colder there but I guess they don’t have manes because of the heat or whatever so his mane did diminish a little bit. But he has sort of caramel coloured stripes. He’s a little more orange than the lion color and he speaks both languages. He speaks lion and tiger.

Sam: They have different languages?

Tippi: Of course! Everybody does!

Sam: Yeah?

Tippi: Yeah. They all do! He is a very benevolent animal. Anytime he’s moved around his neighbors, whether they are lions or tigers he seems to get along with everyone.

Sam: That’s wonderful.

Tippi: Yeah. He’s an amazing animal.

Sam: How long have you had him?

Tippi: Since he was seven years old, now he’s fifteen and the place he was living in in Illinois he apparently was in such a small cage that he could take three steps one way and three steps the other. When he was in quarantine here the veterinarian said, “Oh, he’s lucky he’s here because he’s losing muscle tone.”

Sam: Is he okay now?

Tippi: Oh yes. And you know, he comes up to the fence and he’ll chuff like a tiger, that’s a “pffft” sound which always means “Hi, how are you, love ya, whats new, sorry,” he looks at you and he eyes gets big and he leaps in the air and runs the full length of the compound which is sometimes, depending on where he is an acre so he’s a very lucky guy and we’re thrilled to have him. He’s a very popular animal. A lot of people love him. The school kids, when they come, they just love Patrick.

Sam: Well as I said, I didn’t even know there was such a thing until a month ago.

Tippi: Well, you see there?

Sam: Well you learn something new everyday.

Tippi: Yes you do.

Sam: What’s your biggest success story about bringing these animals in? I mean some of these cats are so damaged and so sick that they are almost to the point of death.

Tippi: Well I think the biggest one was three years ago there was a place outside of Colton, California. Now California has really good laws however they are only as good as they are enforced.

Sam: Was this the gentleman with the tigers?

Tippi: Yes. His name was John Weinhart. I went to that place about six years ago. A group of us had gotten together who have sanctuary-type facilities which means no breeding, no buying, no selling, no trading outside the city limits, adequate veterinarian care and the list goes on. Well we all got together because it’s so difficult and there are so many animals that need a home that it was very difficult to turn them down and a facility such as Shambala can only financially handle so much. So we formed the American Sanctuary Association which if somebody calls Shambala and says, “Can you take this lion or this tiger, this primate, bear, whatever,” (which we don’t take anyways, our expertise is in the exotic cats). So I can call another sanctuary and say, “Can you take this lion or this bear or whatever,” and it all works very well. So I had heard about this John Wienhart place called… and he had the audacity to call it “Tiger Rescue”. So I went out to see him and his place and first of all within a hundred feet you could smell the place it was so bad. And it was like he had put a bunch of cages in a trash dump. There was garbage all over. Inside the cages there was feces, there were dead chickens, feathers… I mean it was just deplorable. And there was no water for the animals and the only containers he had were the tops of trash cans. So we ran around and filled the water so the cats could have a little bit but I left in tears.

Sam: So how long had he been doing this?

Tippi: Oh years! Something like thirty years! And I went to the Department of Agriculture and I said, “Why are you allowing this to happen?” and my only answer was, “There aren’t enough inspectors.” So, eventually the California Department of Fish and Game closed him down and I testified against him and I was thrilled when the District Attorney asked me to come and testify and he was given two years and not able to own any animals anymore.

Sam: Two years in prison?

Tippi: It wasn’t a lot as far as a lot of us are concerned. It was awful. So anyways three years ago California Fish and Game called us and asked us if we could take thirteen tigers and I said, “What’s going on?” And he said, “We’ve closed down Tiger Rescue,” and I said, “Well it’s about time! We can’t take thirteen but let me get back to you.” So we took the first three tigers…

Sam: Were those the ones that were stuffed in the attic?

Tippi: No. They were a little older than that but they were two females and a male so I named them after my grandchildren; Stella, Dakota and Alexander, and they came in with the worst skin disease. Usually they are in quarantine for a month. These little guys had to be in quarantine for almost two months before we could bring them into the preserve because we don’t want to bring in any illnesses or diseases. [In total] we took eight of those animals from Tiger Rescue and two of them were the ones that the man was hiding up in the air conditioning system.

Sam: For crying out loud!

Tippi: And one of them was blind and we found a doctor and we operated on her and she can see!

Sam: Oh! That’s fantastic!

Tippi: Oh, well that’s one of the blessings of what all of us do here.

Sam: Now I want to ask you a question and if you can answer this it’s fine, but if you don’t want to that’s fine too because it might be touchy. I was talking to Anita Harrick at your facility and she was saying you know Siegfried and Roy.

Tippi: Oh, I do.

Sam: Now the media, well, it was an awful tragedy that happened and I don’t always think the media has been very fair or they seem to have different perspectives on what happened. Now I know is we will never exactly know why the tiger attacked Mr. Horn but can you give any kind of insight on how something like what happened to Mr. Horn could happen?

Tippi: This really lends creditability to the fact that they’re not pets. Now there probably isn’t anyone in this world who has worked with the big cats more than Roy and yet this accident happened. It was just a perfect example that you can never take the basic instinct out of these animals. Not ever. People think that if you feed the animals with a bottle when they are a little infant or they’re cubs and you play with ‘em, take a little nap with him and be his friend then he’ll be alright with you and that you can tame him but you can’t. There is no way you can do it. Just in the he last year there have been horrific accidents and several deaths from these animals attacking their owners. Or some of these people get a lion or a tiger and take them around to malls or they’ll have people come out to have photographs taken with them. There’s a instance in Kansas where last summer a group of students wanted some really different photos for their yearbook and so they decided to go get their picture taken with a tiger and all the students went out to do this and this one girl went up to have her photograph taken and the tiger jumped her, bit her in the neck and she was instantly dead.

Sam: Oh my god!

Tippi: Another little boy in Minneapolis went with his father to see a friend of theirs who had a dozen or so big cats and it was the general activity of the man to bring out a lion or a tiger and he brought a tiger out and the tiger immediately went for the ten year old boy and instead of closing the gate (the owner) went to help the little boy and a lion got out and both the lion and the tiger got the little boy… ten years old, he’s now quadriplegic and living on life support! Over and over again you see and hear… in Texas a little boy, four and a half years old, Clayton Tidwell, had his arm ripped off by his uncle’s pet tiger. He saw his uncle petting the tiger through the fence.

Sam: Now are these animals destroyed if they attack a child?

Tippi: It isn’t their fault! It’s always our fault for putting them in that position.

Sam: But doesn’t the state demand that they be destroyed?

Tippi: Some do. Some states do. In Minnesota they kill the animal because they have to check to see if there has been rabies. There has never been a sign of rabies in a wild cat… ever… none. That law is very bizarre.

Sam: So whatever happened to the cat that attacked Mr. Horn?

Tippi: Well when we have had accidents here, when we were doing our movie, we had a number of them. I was hurt, my daughter was hurt, my stepson was hurt, my then husband was hurt many times. We really proved that these animals are not pets. It doesn’t matter how well you know them. In January I was in Las Vegas and I talked to Roy and Siegfried and we met and they wanted to meet at the compound and Roy walked to me…

Sam: Did he?

Tippi: To us. I was with my fiancé Dr. Marty Dinnes and he walked over to us and we went and talked to the animals. It was really wonderful to see the way they reacted to Roy and we came up to Monticore, he was the one who hurt Roy, and Roy stood there for a while and then he said, “Monticore… you’ve changed my life forever.” Because it’s true.

Sam: But Mr. Horn is fine!

Tippi: Well, he’s doing very well.

Sam: Well as I said, it’s one of those things that you hear so many different reports…”Oh he’s fine!”…”Oh he’s on life support”… the tabloids are horrible.

Tippi: Yes they are. Yes they are.

Sam: But he’s walking and talking.

Tippi: Oh yes he is. He’s doing very well.

Sam: Now I have a few quick questions not cat related because, I mean… I’m talking to Tippi Hedren who has worked with some of the most legendary people in the history of show business!

Tippi: (Laughs) Yes, I’ve been very fortunate.

Sam: And I don’t want to bother you too much with that but when I’m looking through your list of films and projects the one name that fascinates me the most, because there are not a lot of people who can talk about working with him anymore, is Charlie Chaplin.

Tippi: Mmm hmm…

Sam: And I need to ask what was Chaplin like as a director, and what was it like to work with him?

Tippi: Well it was such a wonderful experience that I’m sorry that they didn’t have a documentary done on him because (A Countess from Hong Kong) was his last film and he had stated that it was his last film and he wasn’t going to be making anymore.

Sam: Now he was at his seventies at the time, wasn’t he?

Tippi: Oh yeah. Yes. It was fascinating the way he directed – which Marlon Brando didn’t appreciate at all. He directed by acting out all the different roles. I just thought it was fabulous because he could change from one character… he’d be my character for my directions and then he’d switch over and be Marlon Brando and then he’d be Sophia Loren and then he’d be his son Sidney and it was just amazing. It was amazing to see it but Marlon certainly did not appreciate that. Not at all. But he was very serious in his directing… unlike Hitchcock who loved dirty limericks and held court all the time. Charlie was a great deal more serious.

Sam: I’m surprised to hear that Mr. Hitchcock wasn’t more serious.

Tippi: Yes. Isn’t that amazing? Oh. He loved holding court.

Sam: Really?

Tippi: Oh yes.

Sam: See, I’m a huge fan… see, I took film in school and I studied Hitch and…

Tippi: He’s the best director you could study.

Sam: I mean anybody who knows film can tell that right away but I mean you hear these stories about Mr. Hitchcock being such a perfectionist.

Tippi: Oh, he was indeed. Yes. And he worked so closely with the writer on the scripts that there is a lot of Hitchcock in every one of his films. A lot of him.

Sam: Now let’s go to the other end of the spectrum. The other man I’m completely fascinated with is Edward D. Wood Jr. and you did his film that he wrote, though he was dead at the time of filming, “I Woke Up Early the Day I Died”. This is a film that has eluded me for years. I can’t find it anywhere. It has a fantastic cast.

Tippi: It’s unbelievable.

Sam: I mean, you have some of Eddie’s cohorts like Vampira and Conrad Brooks and meanwhile there are people like you, and John Ritter, and Leif Garrett – which right there is an unlikely trio. How did you get involved with that?

Tippi: They asked for me!

Sam: Really…

Tippi: Yeah which was incredible. I was delighted. Apparently his wife had that script…

Sam: Kathy…

Tippi: Yes. Oh you know about all this of course.

Sam: Ah. Some of it.

Tippi: She really needed to sell it but everybody wanted to put dialogue in it and the way Ed Wood had written it was with no dialogue. You hear sounds, you hear cars, you hear doors shutting, you hear everything else but no dialogue. It was the most unique film to act in. There was no dialogue. So she finally found the director, it was a Greek director… it’s a Greek name and I can’t remember what it was… well, anyways, he was the first director who said, “Oh no, I just want to leave it as it is.” So she allowed it to be done.

Sam: Did you meet Kathy Wood?

Tippi: Ah, no I didn’t.

Sam: Now out of all the people you worked with who was your favorite? I mean you’ve worked with Sean Connery and Martin Balsam and just all these wonderful people.

Tippi: Yes, I’ve been so fortunate. Well, I’ve been so fortunate because I’ve worked with so many really, really wonderful people but of course Hitchcock gave me my start and not only was he my director but he was my drama coach and he had often said that he was very happy that I had not had any other coaching because it was like a clean slate.

Sam: He discovered you in a cola commercial, wasn’t it?

Tippi: No, it was a Pet Milk product called SEGO. It was a diet drink.

Sam: And you were working in New York as a model?

Tippi: I was. I was doing a lot of commercials, it was really terrific.

Sam: What was it like to find out that Alfred Hitchcock saw you and wanted to meet you and wanted to do this for you?

Tippi: Well he signed me to a contract after just looking at the reel of commercials that I had done and my fashion book. My modeling book.

Sam: And he was just absolutely taken by you…

Tippi: I guess! I guess he and Alma, his wife, watched over the weekend and I guess some of the executives… And I didn’t even know who the director was. They didn’t tell me. Oh I was put through a suspense thriller for about three days!

Sam: And when you found out it was Alfred Hitchcock what was your reaction?

Tippi: Well when his agent told me that Alfred Hitchcock wanted to sign me to a contract I didn’t know whether to run up and down the halls or burst into tears or what to do because I had just moved to California because I wanted Melanie to have just some kind of little independence at four years old and so I moved to California because my parents were there and so I had rented a very expensive home and had expected my career to go on as it had in New York and it wasn’t happening and I was getting very worried. Thinking, “What am I going to do?” and there this was, handed to me on a silver platter.

Sam: It was like it was meant to happen, like fate.

Tippi: Yeah. I truly believe that.

Sam: Did they have “The Birds” written yet?

Tippi: Yes, they were working on it… and I knew they were working on “The Birds” but it never occurred to me that I would be even considered for it… because they were doing the television shows…

Sam: Yeah.. yeah – Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Tippi: Yeah.

Sam: Yeah. Those were just released on DVD and I’m seeing those for the first time right now.

Tippi: Oh! They are fabulous!

Sam: They are fantastic!

Tippi: They are absolutely fabulous! It’s a great gift for a movie fan.

Sam: Oh. A few weeks ago I just started watching them and the early ones have never been aired where I live in the last… well… not as long as I can remember… So I’m discovering them for the first time and they’re blowing my mind. I’m a big fan of Serling’s stuff and it’s the same kind of thing, just more suspense orientated.

Tippi: Yes.

Sam: Did you do any of those?

Tippi: No. I didn’t. I went right into “The Birds”.

Sam: Did the studio have any objections to casting a virtual unknown in a major production?

Tippi: Oh they had a big problem with it! Yes, they told him he was crazy. No, if Hitch hadn’t given me the confidence that I could do this role I never could have done it because I’d hear little snippets of how the executives felt and it was difficult. It was very hard, so if he hadn’t given me the confidence in my ability I don’t think it ever could have happened.

Sam: Who did they want for the role?

Tippi: Everybody wanted it but, you know something, I don’t know who. The role was so difficult just because of the birds. It was a really difficult thing. I think that’s why he chose me because no actress in her right mind would have done it.

Sam: Me and my buddy Al watched “The Birds” about a week ago, just to get me prepared to talk to you, and I own it of course but he had never seen it before and Al said, “If Tippi had her cats those birds wouldn’t have a chance.”

Tippi: (Laughs) But on the other hand if all the birds in the world banned together to attack us we wouldn’t have a chance as you know Mrs. MacGruder says that in that bar scene.

Sam: And that scene with you in the playground…

Tippi: Isn’t that fabulous!

Sam: I wrote an entire paper on that scene when I was in university. It’s my all time favorite Hitchcock scene. The greatest example of building suspense ever in a film.

Tippi: I’m going to speak to my granddaughter Stella’s film class today.

Sam: Oh?

Tippi: She’s in the third grade and they have three to six graders in this class.

Sam: They have film class in the third grade?

Tippi: Yes!

Sam: Wow!

Tippi: And those kids are… I can’t wait to talk to them… they came out to the preserve on a school tour two weeks ago and those kids were so smart and I can’t wait to talk to them. I’m really very excited.

Sam: And that’s one of those things that memories are going to be made of for those children… When Tippi Hedren came to visit us at school… I mean, when I was growing up I was lucky if we got a cop or a fireman or something. That’s incredible.

Tippi: Yes!

Sam: So this class you’re visiting? They are teaching kids about classic films? Like films that aren’t in the new release shelves at Blockbuster?

Tippi: Yes. The teacher is completely wonderful and she is teaching kids between grades three and six about films that were made prior to Star Wars.

Sam: Wow. I think that’s fantastic! One of the things that plagues me as a film buff is people who haven’t seen these films. I mean, if they haven’t seen Gone with the Wind or the Ten Commandments then I don’t want to hear their opinion. Titanic isn’t the biggest epic of all time.

Tippi: Well I certainly don’t think it is.

Sam: So have you got any new projects on the go?

Tippi: Well I’m appearing in the season premier of The 4400. Have you seen this? I’m not sure if it’s being aired in Canada.

Sam: I read about it on your website. What network is it on?

Tippi: USA.

Sam: Well I don’t know. It could be one of those things that we get a year later and pay out the nose for.

Tippi: Well I am doing that, and I also just wrapped up a new series with Bo Derek.

Sam: Bo Derek! There’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.

Tippi: Oh yes. She’s just wonderful. However I seem to be just playing old women that get killed these days. I’m afraid that people will think that people will see me in these roles and say, “Oh… so that’s what she really looks like now.”

Sam: Oh. I’m sure it’s not that bad. I mean, I think you were absolutely ravishing in I [Heart] Huckabees.

Tippi: Well thank you. That was a fun film to do.

Sam: I had sunstroke when I saw it. That could be why I’m not sure if I understood it.

Tippi: Well it was one of those films that you really liked it or you just didn’t get it.

Sam: Maybe. I remember that I had a yard sale and I got too much sun and a friend showed up and wanted to watch it and when the credits rolled I was so surprised to see your name and I excitedly exclaimed, “Wow! Tippi Hedren’s in this!” which led my friend to reply, “Tippi who?”

Tippi: (Laughs)

Sam: Anyways, I think I just have to see it again, but I thought you were just so beautiful and elegant. I can’t see you just being an old lady who gets killed.

Tippi: Well thank you.

Sam: Well Ms. Hedren, I’m not going to take much more of your time because I know you’re going to go and talk to the kids but I want to thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. This has been such a thrill for me.

Tippi: Well you’re very welcome

And so ended my conversation with Tippi Hedren. For days afterwards I must admit I was still in a state of shock. I couldn’t believe that Tippi Hedren had taken so much time to talk with me. Final observations: Tippi Hedren is one of the most kind, most wise and warmest celebrities I have ever had the pleasure to encounter. She is a genuine lady and a true modern day hero. For more information on Shambala and to support Tippi and the work that she does please visit http://www.shambala.org/. I want to thank John Dunbar for being such a swell guy for setting up my visit with Tippi. However, most of all, I want to thank Tippi Hedren for her kindness towards me, for taking the time talking to a guy who is just starting out, as well as for the fantastic films and for caring enough to devote her life to taking care of animals in need.