Tippi Hedren

Nathalie “Tippi” Hedren (New Ulm, Minnesota, January 19, 1930) is an American actress best known for her image in Hitchcock's film The Birds.

She was discovered by Alfred Hitchcock, who spotted her in a diet soda commercial while searching for a blonde actress with an unusual look who resembled Grace Kelly. Their relationship cooled after their successful work together on classics such as Rear Window (1954) and Dial M for Murder (1954). Hedren went on to star in Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). Until then, she made her living as a commercial model.

Nathalie Hedren is the daughter of a Swedish father and a German-Norwegian mother. Her father gave her the nickname “Tippi,” which comes from the Swedish “tupsa” (sweetheart). She is the mother of the well-known actress Melanie Griffith, and therefore the former mother-in-law of actors Don Johnson, Steven Bauer and Antonio Banderas, as well as the grandmother of actress Dakota Johnson (50 Shades of Grey).

As a teenager, Hedren worked as a model in department store fashion shows. Her parents moved to California around that time. As soon as she turned 20, she moved to New York and began her professional modeling career. In less than a year, she made her film debut as an extra in the musical *The Petty Girl* (1950), although in interviews she always says her first film was *The Birds*. During her time in New York, she met and married her first husband, Peter Griffith.