Melanie Griffith shares rare glimpse of mom Tippi Hedren as she turns 95
Melanie Griffith celebrates mother Tippi Hedren‘s 95th birthday!
Griffith, 67, took to Instagram late Monday, January 20, to share a rare glimpse of her retired actress mother, who turned 95 on Sunday, January 19.
In a video shared by Griffith, Hedren can be seen blowing out her birthday candles and waving at the camera. The legendary actress had her hair in a sleek bob cut and wore red lipstick for her birthday celebrations.
“My beautiful mom turned 95 yesterday! 🥰♥️🥰♥️🥰 She is happy, healthy and feisty!!” Griffith captioned the video.
Hedren was famously discovered by horror director in the 1960s Alfred Hitchcockwho brought her in The Birds. She also appeared in Hitchcock’s thriller Marnie (1964) and, more recently, in the 2004 comedy I heart Huckabees.
Hedren shares Griffith with her first husband, Peter Griffithand is the grandmother of actress Dakota Johnson.
Last week, Jennifer Lopez made headlines with her response to an interviewer who brought up her age. “Listen, I can’t believe it’s been thirty years since Selena. I can’t believe that in 30 years we’ll be doing the retrospective on this and you’ll be 60 by then,” Clayton Davis, Variety’s Senior Awards Editor, said on Sunday: […]
In addition to acting, Hedren is a passionate animal rights activist. In the 1970s she had a 400-pound lion, Neil, with whom she and a teenage Griffith were famously pictured for a To live photo shoot in magazine. Hedren has since expressed regret over allowing Neil to roam freely around her home, admitting it was ‘incredibly stupid’.
In a 2020 interview, Johnson, 35, revealed that at age 90, her grandmother was still caring for big cats at her Shambala Preserve in California.
“She has thirteen or fourteen,” Johnson said on The Graham Norton Show. “There used to be about 60 cats, and now there are only a few.”
When asked if she too grew up with lions and tigers, Johnson said: “By the time I was born they were all in huge complexes and it was a lot safer. It wasn’t as psychological as when they first started.”
Hedren founded her own animal charity, the Roar Foundation, in 1983 after producing and starring in the film. Roarappearing opposite several African lions. The foundation exists to support its animal sanctuary and, according to Hedren, its “mission is to educate the public about the dangers of private ownership of exotic animals.”
