The new play “Double Feature” about the working relationship between Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren has premiered at the Hampstead Theatre in London and is already perpetuating the myth about the famous director and his protege.

While scriptwriter John Logan in The Times says he believes Hedren’s story that Hitchcock assaulted her, many of the cast and crew interviewed deny the veracity of the allegations, especially physical abuse. You can read many of their interviews on this site and in Tony Lee Moral’s books The Making of Hitchcock’s The Birds and Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie.

Hitchcock did believe that actresses under contract should be committed to their craft which may be an old school way of thinking under the studio system, but cast and crew deny witnessing any physical abuse during the filming of The Birds and Marnie. All due care was given to Hedren during the filming of The Birds according to bird handler Gero Gerry, hairdresser Virginia Darcy and wardrobe mistress Rita Riggs.

The myths were also perpetuated by Donald Spoto, biographer of The Dark Side of Genius, whose research and motivations have come into question, not only in his biography on Hitch, but also James Dean, Audrey Hepburn and others.

Official Hitchcock biographer John Russell Taylor who knew both Hitchcock and Hedren in the 1970s, describes the allegations and dramatisations as “a tissue of melodramatic invention”.

It also just been reported that Tippi Hedren, 94, is battling dementia according to Spanish Media Reports. Apparently Tippi can’t remember her career.

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