HITCHCOCK NOTES

'THE BIRDS'

In the 1963 film The Birds, Tippi Hedren was required to really slap Doreen Lang, who played the hysterical mother that called Melanie “evil.” Hedren was hesitant, having never slapped anyone before but Lang convinced her to do it. I find that rather endearing. Hedren had difficulties which are well documented elsewhere but that icy coldness in her character seems to bely her true nature from this anecdote . . . . .