美国国家公共电台 NPR For Tippi Hedren, Hitchcock's Scares Came Off-Screen

For Tippi Hedren, Hitchcock's Scares Came Off-Screen

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0004:52repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

Tippi Hedren played the beautiful blonde woman that Alfred Hitchcock liked to put into peril², as in this most famous scene where she turns the door in a dark attic³ in "The Birds" and is pecked by a flock of the title characters.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE BIRDS")

SIMON: Tippi Hedren was all right. But those birds were not just stuffed props⁵. And the real menace might have been the film's eminent⁶ director. After a life in films and animal activism, Tippi Hedren has written a memoir⁷. It's called "Tippi." And Tippi Hedren joins us now. Thanks so much for being with us.

TIPPI HEDREN: Well, I'm delighted. Thank you.

SIMON: I hope you don't mind if we begin with that scene. Those were supposed to be mechanical birds, weren't they?

HEDREN: Yes, they were. And they didn't tell me that until the morning we were - we started to film. I mean, it was really so deviously⁸ plotted out. It was really terrifying. That morning, the assistant director stepped up into my dressing⁹ room. And he couldn't look at me. He was looking at the floor and the walls and the ceiling.

And I said, what's the matter with you, Jim? And he said, the mechanical birds don't work. We have to use real ones. And out the door he sailed. Sure enough, there was a chain-link fence around the door that I came in.

Inside that chain-link fencing was four boxes of raven¹⁰ and gull¹¹ and a few pigeons thrown out and four prop⁴ men who had gauntlets up to their shoulders, ready to hurl¹² them at me. Surprise.

SIMON: You were a young model who got a call to meet the great Hitchcock. What did that lead to?

HEDREN: Oh. Well, I was a model in New York. And, you know, things were kind of waning¹³ a little bit. And I thought, well, what am I going to do now? So I moved back to California with my daughter Melanie and the dog and the cat and the bunny.

And, all of a sudden, I'm thinking, oh, this isn't going as I planned. And I thought, what am I going to do? And on Friday the 13 of October in 1961, I received a call asking if I was the girl in the seagull commercial. I said, why? And he said, well, there's somebody who's interested in seeing you. And I knew that they were involved with doing this movie called "The Birds." And I really didn't think that I would even be included.

But I was asked to go to Chasen's Restaurant for dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Hitchcock. And he presented a very beautifully wrapped package. And I opened it. And it was a pin of three birds in flight. And he said, we want you to play Melanie Daniels in "The Birds."

SIMON: I'm afraid I have to get to the part that becomes timely in this season, when we're talking about women putting up with unwanted advances.

HEDREN: Oh, this has been a legion. And I think, probably, almost every woman in this world has been affected¹⁴ by some sort of an advance by somebody in the workplace.

SIMON: Well - but specifically Alfred Hitchcock...

HEDREN: Yes.

SIMON: ...Because he - I mean, he stalked you.

HEDREN: He did.

SIMON: Yeah.

HEDREN: It became such a problem for me that I demanded to get out of the contract. And he said, well, you can't. You have your daughter to support. And your parents are getting older. And I said, they wouldn't want me in a situation in which I'm not happy.

And he said, well, I'll ruin your career. And then he did. He just kept me under contract, paying me my salary. A lot of directors and producers wanted me for their film. But to get to me, they had to go through him.

SIMON: On one occasion, he even, in the back of a limo, assaulted you, didn't he?

HEDREN: (Laughter) Well, I can't call it an assault. But it was very unpleasant. And it was just as we had arrived at the hotel. And, all of a sudden, he comes at me like he wanted to kiss me. And, you know, it was an unpleasant situation and very embarrassing for me. And then there were about three more of those incidences. And I said, I want to get out of the contract.

SIMON: Yeah. You, of course, are the mother of Melanie Griffith, which makes you the grandmother of Dakota Johnson. What have you told them about Hollywood?

HEDREN: Oh, I think they just learned from living with me. And, actually, my experiences with Hollywood were really wonderful, except for that. So I'm very happy and very busy.

SIMON: Tippi Hedren - her book, "Tippi: A Memoir." Thanks so much for being with us.

HEDREN: Well, it was my delight. Thank you so much.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

3 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

4 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

5 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。

6 eminent   

adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的

参考例句：

• We are expecting the arrival of an eminent scientist.我们正期待一位著名科学家的来访。
• He is an eminent citizen of China.他是一个杰出的中国公民。

7 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

8 deviously   

弯曲地，绕道地

参考例句：

• He got the promotion by behaving deviously. 他通过不正当手段才获得了这次晋升。

9 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

10 raven   

n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的

参考例句：

• We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
• Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。

11 gull   

n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈

参考例句：

• The ivory gull often follows polar bears to feed on the remains of seal kills.象牙海鸥经常跟在北极熊的后面吃剩下的海豹尸体。
• You are not supposed to gull your friends.你不应该欺骗你的朋友。

12 hurl   

vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂

参考例句：

• The best cure for unhappiness is to hurl yourself into your work.医治愁苦的最好办法就是全身心地投入工作。
• To hurl abuse is no way to fight.谩骂决不是战斗。

13 waning   

adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• Her enthusiasm for the whole idea was waning rapidly. 她对整个想法的热情迅速冷淡了下来。
• The day is waning and the road is ending. 日暮途穷。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。