Casting couch tales: what’s an actress to do?

Leading ladies have had to put up with unacceptable behaviour from men on the casting couch, writes Victoria Mary Clarke ‘Gwyneth Paltrow talked about how, early in her career, one film executive suggested that they should finish a business meeting ‘in th

AN iconic blonde of immigrant descent shocked the world last week. And, no, it was not Donald Trump. It was the actress Tippi Hedren, who, at the age of 86, has published her memoir.

Hedren, the mother of actress Melanie Griffith and grandmother of Fifty Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson, is an animal rights activist — but most of all she is known as the ice-cool star of Alfred Hitchcock’s thrillers The Birds and Marnie.

Many people (myself included) think that birds are beautiful creatures and their innocent twittering makes the world a sweeter place. But once you’ve seen The Birds you cannot help but fear what they could do if they turned nasty. The same might also be said for movie directors.

Like a lot of girls and boys, the young Hedren initially adored the prospect of being a movie star. She became a model at the age of 15 and in her book she said that she was “stunned, ecstatic, flattered, giddy” when this happened — partly because she got to wear gorgeous clothes and look pretty.

“I don’t think my feet touched the ground,” she said. She had huge success with the Eileen Ford agency, and when the modelling jobs started to dwindle she was equally thrilled to be asked to meet an unnamed film director for lunch.

When she discovered that the director (who had spotted her in a commercial for a diet drink) was Hitchcock — one of the most famous and respected film-makers in the world — and that he wanted to cast her in a leading role, she was “stunned”, and cried tears of joy. She was never trained to act, and was completely unknown in that world.

But the tears of joy turned into the other kind of tears during filming of The Birds when she walked onto the set to discover that real, live birds were going to be used — not mechanical ones as was originally agreed.

After five days of filming, during which the birds flew at her face and almost pecked her eyes out — putting millions of people off birds forever — Hedren collapsed in a heap on the set, sobbing helplessly and wanting to quit.

The torment Hedren described at the hands of Hitchcock included physical cruelty, such as shooting a scene in which the birds shattered the glass of a phone box she was supposed to be sheltering in, resulting in shards of glass cutting her face.

She said she also suffered emotional cruelty, which included being given the cold shoulder by Hitchcock when she failed to respond to his sexual advances; being banned from social contact with men; being told what to TARGETED: Hitchcock star Tippi Hedren. Above, from left, Charlize Theron and Gwyneth Paltrow wear, who to see and where to go when not filming; stalking; and sexual harassment.

When he eventually lunged at her in a manner that she described as “sexual, perverse and ugly” she said she “couldn’t have been more shocked and repulsed”.

When she tried to quit, Hitchcock refused to let her out of her contract and she claimed he managed to sabotage the rest of her career.

While Tippi’s torture is something we already knew of, her decision to write about it is new — and this makes us think of the implications.

Hedren maintained that she still admired the director for his genius, as do most of his fans. But Hitchcock is not alone in Hollywood in his unacceptable behaviour.

Cecil B DeMille was regarded by Orson Welles and Ingmar Bergman as the greatest director who ever lived. He was also known as a tyrant, who demanded that his leading man wrestle a live lion and joked that he would like to use real bullets to cut the cost of extras. Stuntmen and horses were casualties during filming of his movie The Crusades.

Stanley Kubrick had Shelley Duvall redo a single shot in The Shining 127 times. She later claimed the stress was so great that her hair fell out.

John Ford won seven Oscars, four for directing — but he also made John Wayne cry and was known as one of the most sadistic directors that ever lived.

Howard Hughes, whose film won the first Academy Award for comedy direction, punched Ava Gardner in the face and dislocated her jaw, but she still carried on working with him.

When Martin Sheen had a heart attack during the making of Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola was said to have been more concerned about his shooting schedule than the health of the actor.

Not only is Hollywood synonymous with cruelty, but sexual harassment is also rife, even for the major stars.

Shirley Temple claimed that, when she was 12, a famous producer exposed himself to her. Susan Sarandon said that she had a “really disgusting” casting couch experience when she went to audition “and a guy practically threw me on the desk”.

Charlize Theron said that when she was 18 she was propositioned at an audition by a pyjama-clad movie director. Although she thought it was a little odd that the audition was on a Saturday night at his Hollywood home, she reasoned that maybe that was normal.

Gwyneth Paltrow talked about how early in her career a film executive suggested that a business meeting should finish “in the bedroom”.

Just this month, Cher tweeted she had a “scary experience” with an unnamed and now deceased “rich, important film producer”, but left “before it got uncomfortable”.

So Hedren is not alone in her experiences with the dark side of the Hollywood dream. But what does that mean for Hitchcock fans who love his films — made with real blood, sweat and tears?

Do we boycott them? Or do we accept, like little children who love to play games that often turn nasty and sadistic, that the obsessive, controlling, narcissistic traits some of our greatest directors display are often accompanied by childlike enthusiasm and imagination and a devotion to their craft?