She was attacked by a lioness during filming, and received 50 stitches in her face to repair the damage. During the filming of the movie Roar, the Fifty Shades star’s mother, actress Melanie Griffith, then just 14 years of age, was viciously attacked by an actual lion. Now that was a wild childhood: Amazing photos from 1971 show actress Melanie Griffith lounging by the pool and playfighting with huge African LION … The following year, Hedren and Marshall split up. On another occasion, a lion grabbed her hair and wouldn't let … In the 1970s, the The Birds actress shared her Sherman Oaks, California, home with a full grown lion named Neil. The attack resulted in 50 stitches to her face. [20] Also in 1981, Griffith appeared as a Women's Army Corps recruit in the made-for-television movie She's in the Army Now (1981) with Jamie Lee Curtis and Steven Bauer . Hedren has since acknowledged that it was “stupid beyond belief” to put her family at risk by allowing an animal with “no conscience or remorse genes” to roam free. NEWS: Hilary Swank Celebrates Man's Best Friend In another shot, Hedren's daughter and Johnson's mother, Melanie Griffith, is being nearly bitten by a lion as she jumps into a pool. Her famous parents are Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, ... Tippi Hedren and Neil the lion at her home in Sherman Oaks, California, in 1971 Michael Rougier/Getty Images. A housekeeper steps over Neil. Bagged awards which not many celebrities could dream of and went on progressing further up the ladder. You’ve been looking at the home of actress Tippi Hedren in California, photographed by LIFE magazine during the early 1970s. She wasn’t the only one to come off second best for the film. Melanie Griffith was mauled by a lion during filming, and required plastic surgery. Yes, Hitchcock’s murderous birds had nothing on the hundreds of lethal lions, tigers, and other exotic predators who co-starred with Hedren and Griffith in 1981’s Roar, the most dangerous movie ever made. Melanie Griffith jumping in a swimming pool while pet lion Neil grabs her leg in Sherman Oaks, California May 1971 (Image: Time & Life Pictures) 5 of 16 Melanie in a swimming pool with Neil (left) and a child playing with Neil (right) Tippi Hedren resting her back on Neil while reading a newspaper. It grossed $2 million. On one occasion during the shoot, Griffith was mauled by a lion and had to undergo facial reconstructive surgery. Melanie Griffith had a seriously wild childhood!The actress grew up with a pet lion, and this king of the jungle wasn't kept in a cage!. Travel back in time with treasured photos and stories, sent right to your inbox, Mane Event: LIFE’s 25 Most Memorable Horses. “I have to tell you we were stupid beyond belief. [16] She married her the… Also in attendance: Neil, a 400-pound mature lion, who occasionally slept in the same bed as Griffith and, as these pictures attest, had the run of the … Melanie Griffith’s childhood home was a lion’s den — literally.. Norton also brought up an infamous photo of Griffith jumping into her family pool while a lion named Niel had her leg in his mouth. Best-known for her role in Hitchcock’s The Birds, Tippi is also the mother of actress Melanie Griffith (Working Girl), who is the little girl you just saw lying in bed with a lion, and also above with her head in its mouth. In 1981, Melanie Griffith and Tippi Hedren starred in the motion picture "Roar." and she memorized and read lines extraordinarily well.”. But her role as an animal-rights activist and conservationist might well be Hedren’s most lasting legacy. The brainchild of Hedren and then-husband Noel Marshall, her business manager and a producer on The Exorcist, was a wild idea, indeed: Inspired by the sight of a house overrun with lions the Hollywood couple came across during a trip to Africa, Roar would star Marshall as an animal researcher living among lions and tigers. lion named Neal — … . Also in attendance: Neil, a 400-pound mature lion, who occasionally slept in the same bed as Griffith and, as these pictures attest, had the run of the house, from the kitchen to the living room to the swimming pool. The LIFE Picture Collection via Hedren recounted in her … We should never have taken those risks. In many ways, Hedren treated the 400-pound lion -- which she originally encountered while on-set in Africa -- like any other pet, with Hedren writing in a memoir that he would sleep in daughter Melanie Griffith's bed. The film featured Hedren’s daughter by her first marriage, Melanie Griffith, also pictured here. These animals are so fast, and if they decide to go after you, nothing but a bullet to the brain will stop them.”. She displayed jaunty assuredness . On that, at least, we can all agree even if these pictures make Neil look like the world’s biggest pussycat. Griffith reportedly received 50 stitches to her face. “I cringe when I see those pictures now,” Hedren said last year. At Home With Tippi Hedren, Melanie Griffith and a 400-Pound Lion, Michael Rougier / The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images, Tippi Hedren, perhaps most famous for her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, is an actress of formidable gifts. Mar 19, 2020 - Explore Nikki Austen's board "Neil the lion", followed by 101 people on Pinterest. Tippi Hedren, Melanie Griffith and a 400-Pound Lion -- at Home Photos of Tippi Hedren, her teenage daughter, Melanie Griffith, and Neil, a 400-pound mature lion who had the run of their California home. While filming in 1977, Melanie Griffith was mauled by a lion. Watch an exclusive clip of Melanie Griffith’s very real lion attack from the film Roar, the most dangerous movie ever made. Griffith suffered a clawing to the face during filming so bad it required reconstructive surgery, and the future Working Girl Oscar nominee had another harrowing run-in on set while shooting this scene in the clutches of a very determined lion. Life magazine stopped by in 1971 to snap a series of shocking photos of the family living with a 400-pound lion named Neil, the first of a swelling coterie of lions they eventually collected during the 1970s. Everyone who worked on Roar was traumatized from the experience, John Marshall told me, which resulted in several bites, clawings, maulings, and near-death injuries to the cast and crew. Talking about her plastic surgery deeds, she got one to hide the scars by the lion and she’s into some serious affair with collagen lip injections . These pictures, taken in 1971 by LIFE photographer Michael Rougier, show how Hitchcock’s “The Birds” star and animal rights activist Tippi Hedren, her daughter actress Melanie Griffith, and her husband Noel Marshall lived day-to-day together with Neil the lion. Griffith had a promising career at the time, appearing in the films Night Moves, The Drowning Pool, and Smile (all made in 1975). Melanie Griffith, an American actress, earned a name for herself through her work in movies. The Bizarre Tale Of Melanie Griffith And Her "Pet" Lion "It was stupid beyond belief," admitted Melanie Griffith, who as a teenager owned a pet lion. See more ideas about pet lion, melanie griffith, lion. Hitch said, when directing her in that classic film, that Hedren had “a faster tempo, city glibness, more humor [than another frequent Hitchcock heroine, Grace Kelly]. The photographs were sensational—and, years later, came to haunt Hedren, who divorced Marshall a year after Roar’’s disastrous release, when the overbudget and overschedule $17 million feature the couple had sunk their own finances into only brought in a reported $2 million. It will be re-released in theaters this week. Melanie Griffith gets mauled by a lion. Her parents' marriage ended when she was four years old and Tippi brought Melanie to Los Angeles to get a new start. Referencing a series of 1970's photographs — which included a photo of Johnson’s mother, Melanie Griffith, with a 400 lbs. While Melanie Griffith was in high school in the 1970s, she and her family owned a pet lion (seriously). During the making of Roar the entire clan caught Big Cat Fever, inviting full-grown lions into their home. … Terror pierces Tippi Hedren’s voice as she screams and pulls at the lion mauling Melanie, who lies sobbing in the big cat’s clutches: “Get off of her!”. For decades, her Roar Foundation and the animal sanctuary, Shambala Preserve, in California have advocated for big (and not so big) cats from lions and leopards to bobcats and servals and she’s been honored with a host of humanitarian and conservation awards through the decades. . MELANIE GRIFFITH was clawed in the face by a lion during the filming of Roar (1981), a jungle adventure that also starred her mother Tippi Hedren.At a 2000 news conference in favor of laws regulating wild animal sales, Griffith said she had 50 stitches after the attack and feared she would lose an eye. And now photos have emerged of their amazing home life together. This is not a staged photoshoot, but a series of photos documenting the real life of a family living with a lion. During the filming of the movie Roar, the Fifty Shades star’s mother, actress Melanie Griffith, then just 14 years of age, was viciously attacked by an actual lion. She left the film after a fight between two lions, saying that she did not want to "come out of this with half a face." Melanie Griffith as Melanie, the daughter of Hank and Madeleine. Hedren, Griffith, and Marshall’s sons Jerry and John would play the unwitting family who came to visit dad only to be terrorized and hunted by hordes of lions, tigers, and in a few harrowing scenes, one pissed-off elephant. Her mother, Tippi Hendren, and stepfather, Noel Marshall, made a film about big cats after a trip to Africa. “No blood was drawn, but the lion grabbed her hair and pulled her back,” explained Marshall, who said he was able to make the lion let Griffith go in the scene by throwing himself onto the floor as a distraction after his father refused to yell “Cut.”. Actress Melanie Griffith lived with a pet lion in the early 1970s when she was a teenager. Actress Melanie Griffith jumps into a swimming pool as her pet lion Neil grabs her leg and goes to bite her leg, Sherman Oaks, California, May 1971. Melanie Griffith was born on August 9, 1957 in New York City, to then model/future actress Tippi Hedren and former child actor turned advertising executive Peter Griffith. "Everybody in the family had been injured by the cats, and that included Melanie, who was clawed across the face by a young lion and needed plastic surgery," John … Cinematographer Jan de Bont had to have his scalp sewn back on, and over 70 people were injured during the making of the movie. Tippi caught the eye of the great director Alfred Hitchcock, who gave her starring roles in The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). In 1971, LIFE photographer Michael Rougier spent time with Hedren; her teenage daughter, Melanie Griffith (from Hedren’s first marriage, to Peter Griffith), her then-husband, the agent and movie producer, Noel Marshall; and others at their home in California. It was feared she would lose an eye, but she recovered and was not disfigured. Her attack and injury is visible in the finished film. Neil the lion sleeping with Melanie Griffith in their home in Sherman Oaks, California, 1971. In 1971, LIFE photographer Michael Rougier spent time with Hedren; her teenage daughter, Melanie Griffith (from Hedren’s first marriage, to Peter Griffith), her then-husband, the agent and movie producer, Noel Marshall; and others at their home in California. At age 14, Melanie Griffith (Tippi Hedren’s daughter, and the mother of Fifty Shades star Dakota Johnson) was mauled by a lion — an event captured on camera and shown in … Tippi Hedren takes a dip with Neil the lion at home in Sherman Oaks, California, in 1971.