ShareThisShe is almost laughing when she tells them, but Tippi Hedren's behind-the-scenes stories about shooting "The Birds" with director Alfred Hitchcock sound like nightmares come to life.
For one scene, plastic tubes ran up her back and through her hairdo, the better to deliver fake blood on cue.
For another, rubber bands were used to attach real birds by their legs to her clothing, forcing the creatures to flutter in her face, again and again.
"The special effects people had a ball on this film," Hedren said during a phone call. "And as crude as they were, the special effects hold up when you see them today."
"The Birds" may have been released more than 45 years ago, but Hedren's performance as the impeccably groomed, cool-as-a-cucumber Melanie Daniels made such an impression that the character continues to inspire costumed look-alikes at film festivals and Halloween parties.
"People show up dressed like her all the time," Hedren, 80, said. "It's really quite stunning."
Hedren attends screenings and answers questions about the film, often as a fundraiser for the Shambala Preserve, which she founded 27 years ago as a home for abandoned and exotic felines.
Among the 58 animals now living at the preserve are two "big cats" that had been someone's pets until they were found wandering down a street in Missouri, Hedren said.
"I'm working on legislation to stop the issue of private ownership of these animals. If people don't bother to ask how big a dog is going to get or how expensive it is going to be, they aren't going to think about that when they see an adorable tiger cub, either," she added.
Hedren also was active in the creation of the Captive Wildlife Safety Act. Signed by President George W. Bush in 2003, it outlaws the interstate transport of "big cats" for the pet trade.
If you want to know what scares Hedren these days, don't ask about birds or Hitchcock. Ask how she manages to raise the $75,000 Hedren says is needed each month to keep the animals of Shambala in food, shelter and veterinary care.
The preserve, which is near Acton, Calif., and also is Hedren's home, is open to the public one weekend a month for guided walking tours. Those who donate money through the preserve's Adopt a Wild One program have separate Parents' Day visiting hours, and in the summer a tent furnished with canopied feathered beds is available for overnight guests. Dinner with Hedren is optional.
If raising money for Shambala requires that Hedren relive whatever lingering nightmares she may have of "The Birds," so be it.
"I've seen it so many times, I've lost count," said Hedren, who often attends such events wearing the bird-shaped brooch Hitchcock gave her at one of their first meetings. "At this point, it has become a cult film with a life of its own."
(Contact Lisa McKinnon at the Ventura County Star in California
