Alfred Hitchcock’s Psychotic Cruelty Exposed

Before Hitchcock’s death, he worked on several films, including the fantastical horror The Birds, led by newcomer Tippi Hedren, now 94. At the time, she left a lasting impact due to The Birds’ final sequence, where her character got attacked by ravenous birds.

Hedren recalled in her interview for HBO’s The Girl: “There was a cage with four boxes of ravens, gulls and a few pigeons thrown in. Bird trainers with gauntlets up to their shoulders hurled birds, one after the other, at me for one week. As days went by, it just became worse and worse.

“It was a nightmare! I ended up in a doctor’s care for a week. Hitchcock said, ‘She can’t rest for a week. We have nobody else to film.’ The doctor said, ‘What are you trying to do, kill her?’ I didn’t hear Hitchcock’s answer.”

Hedren stressed Hitchcock had sabotaged her career after working on the film and Marnie, with producers and directors going through the filmmaker to get her for their projects.

Hitchcock reportedly did nothing but claim she was not available, leading Hedren to think it was “so easy for him” to manipulate her career.