Alfred Hitchcock’s psychotic cruelty exposed

Before Hitchcock’s death, he worked on several films, including fantastic horror The Birdsled by newcomer Tippi Hedren, now 94. Back then, she left a lasting impact thanks to The birds final series, in which her character was attacked by ravenous birds.

Hedren recalled in her interview for HBO’s The girl: “There was a cage with four boxes full of ravens, seagulls and a few pigeons thrown in. Bird trainers with gloves up to their shoulders hurled birds at me one after the other for a week. As the days passed, it got worse and worse.

“It was a nightmare! I ended up in a doctor’s office for a week. Hitchcock said, ‘She can’t rest for a week. We have no one else to film.’ The doctor said, “What are you trying to do, kill her?” I didn’t hear Hitchcock’s answer.”

Hedren insisted that Hitchcock had sabotaged her career after she worked on the film Marniewhere producers and directors go through the filmmaker to get her for their projects.

Hitchcock reportedly did nothing other than claim she was unavailable, making Hedren think it was “so easy for him” to manipulate her career.