Tippi Hedren desperately wanted to quit Alfred Hitchcock movie ‘Marnie’: “I have to get out of this”
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(Credit: Alamy)
At her lowest point while working on her second film with iconic director Alfred Hitchcock, Tippi Hedren told the ‘Master of Suspense’ that she wanted out of his obsessive clutches.
Over the years, more and more has been revealed about Hitchcock’s predilection for blonde leading ladies. From Ingrid Bergman to Janet Leigh, Grace Kelly to Kim Novak, and Eva Marie Saint to Hedren, Hitchcock loved populating his movies with beautiful blondes whom he would subject to all manner of cinematic trauma. Unfortunately, he also had a habit of crossing the line with some of his stars in real life by making unwanted advances. Then, when he was spurned, he made their lives miserable on-set.
None of Hitchcock’s blondes had it worse than Hedren, though, a woman he literally plucked from obscurity and thrust into a leading lady Hollywood career. She was a model who starred in an advert for a diet replacement drink called Sego, and when he happened to catch it one day while watching The Today Show, he tasked his agents with tracking her down. Out of nowhere, she was offered a seven-year contract with Hitchcock, despite having almost no acting experience.
The iconic Psycho helmer first cast her in The Birds, and became her director, mentor, and acting coach all wrapped up in one. After a while, though, he began to exert a domineering influence, hiring two crew members whose sole job was to keep a close eye on Hedren away from set, reporting back to him about who she talked to, what she ate, and how she spent her free time. This was worrying enough, but when he grabbed Hedren in the back of a car and tried to kiss her, she told the studio chief about what he had done. Sadly, nothing was done to help her, and she was too scared to quit the film for fear of being blacklisted by Hollywood.
Despite this shitstorm of experience, Hedren still felt beholden to Hitchcock and agreed to star in a second film for him: Marnie, a thriller about a kleptomaniac held hostage by a wealthy businessman played by Sean Connery. This time, the relentless director’s behaviour went so far beyond the pale that she was left fighting with the urge to quit the production every single day.
“Before Marnie was even over, I said, ‘I have to get out of this,’” Hedren admitted in 2014. “I don’t know if you know anything about being the object of anyone’s obsession, but it is a nightmare. Every day, it’s, ‘What am I going to have to deal with today?’ and ‘How do I get out of these situations?’”
Hitchcock began by inviting Hedren to have a glass of champagne with him every night when shooting ended. She agreed the first time, but didn’t want it to become a regular occurrence, as she knew “He was really isolating me from everyone.” On another occasion, he said that he’d had a recurring dream in which she told him, “Hitch, I love you. I’ll always love you.” Then, during one particularly appalling meeting, Hedren claimed, “He stared at me and simply said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, that from this time on, he expected me to make myself sexually available and accessible to him.”
Eventually, Hedren reached the end of her rope and told Hitchcock in no uncertain terms that she was quitting the film. To that, he supposedly said, “Well, you can’t. You have your daughter to take care of, your parents are getting older.” She insisted that her family wouldn’t want her to continue working in such toxic conditions that were making her unhappy, but offered a compromise: “After we wrap Marnie, I am done.”
To this, a vengeful Hitchcock growled, “I’ll ruin your career,” but the exhausted, disillusioned Hedren was too far gone to care. “Do what you have to do,” she told the abusive director, before walking away, never to work with him again.
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