Out of anything Hitchcock ever directed, The Birds remains one of my top favorites. And one of the reasons was Tippi Hedren, who had a certain, undefinable "something."

Tippi was damn good in The Birds! She made the movie! I thought she was so beautiful in that film! I was in Boston when it came out. Great film from Hitchcock.

He is an actor improvising in the role of a creepy pig. Notice when Hitchcock yells 'cut' they both laugh as the tension of the unpleasant contrived scene is relieved. It is called acting.

Classy lady

Tippi certainly knows how to cast a spell with her voice, eyes and mannerisms. A star in every sense.

Took a trip up to Bodega and saw a sign saying Tippi Hendron was here. I promptly made a u-turn, stood in line for a while and met Tippi who signed a glossy 8 by 10 with her and Hitch. So lucky.

If this was 'off the cuff' I mean without a script Ms Hedren is brilliant, thinking on her feet, she has an answer for everything that is thrown at her, one classy lady then and NOW.

You're right! I liked The Girl mostly because I love Tippi dearly and I would love to see any movie about her. The problem there is that she seems to be "scared" all the time and we can see here, on the real screen test, how comfortable Hedren was in front of the camera and how great at improvising she was.

Even though she was one of the most beautiful women in film ever, what really made her a star was the voice.

For being a publicity model she was incredibly poised and self-assured. She was more laid-back than her sparring partner.

She's magnificent and that dress...

I saw her in “Marnie” when I was 10. I wanted to look just like her when I grew up. I’m a short brunette!

A lot of Hollywood glamor nowadays is contrived and "forced" - but Tippi Hedren is an absolute natural. She has poise, sophistication, class, and mesmerizing allure. It is almost impossible to believe that she (in 2017) is now 87 years old. These screen tests are fantastic.

man, so many requests for turns and walks she had to endure from this lot! wonder if they all would`ve felt as comfortable being in her shoes. so glad these situations don`t happen anymore, or do they?

Tippi was a model of the 60’s- classy, sophisticated, poised, alluring. Notice how gracefully she crossed her legs.

Thanks for posting this! I just saw "The Girl" with Sienna Miller. It was an interesting take on Hitchcock! I tend to believe Tippi Hedren regarding their relationship!

No way could I ever see Tippi Hedren having Martin Balsam as a love interest . He's more suited for a middle age house wife type

For my money, Tippi Hedren is the most beautiful actress EVER. As a teen, I fell in love with her when I saw her in film The Birds. She was incredible then, and still incredible.

What a graceful, elegant, beautiful and self assured woman Ms. Tippi Hedren was and still is. Looking at this, it is fascinating to see how brilliant and gorgeous this woman was working with a brilliant and tyrannical man like Hitchcock. As charming as her audition, it is brimming underneath with creepiness. Hitch and Martin are toying with her. I love and respect how Tippi stuck to being a lady and also remained true to her morals and standards.

Tippi was gorgeous and Hitchcock knew he found his one and only Marnie.Her career wasnt that lengthy but she certainly was impressive.

this is amazing. A real piece of cinema history.

Incredible screen test. You could see at that very moment that she had STAR written all over here. She had a screen presence that just blasted out of the screen

Am I the only one who is totally under the spell of her voice? And the way she fingers her nails while smoking a cig in The Birds. I've been in love since the age of 5...

Screen tests might seem a bit strange. They are designed for a number of purposes, like seeing what an actor will look like with different costumes, hairstyles, lighting, lenses, movements, etc. Another thing, quite usually, is to do a small scene to see how an actor might respond. Major actors may seem egotistical...but its for a purpose. In order to get a "performance" from an actor, the direct might have to do many things to achieve this, cajoling, threatening, praising, etc. Actors have to feel they are "the greatest" or that they can do "great acting" in order to achieve the same. The studio or production company is spending a lot of resources to make a film and can't really afford an actor or actress to freeze up during filming. These tests might seem harsh to some...but Ms Hedren knows how to handle it. Also, we don't know what Hitch might have told Martin Balsam, a great character actor, going into the the test.

Miss Tippi Hedren!

Stunning actress, underrated.

Well....Tippi hasn't changed in nearly 60 years...😘

Tippi appeared on Gilbert Gottfried's podcast and spoke about this video. She said she ended up leaving the room and slamming the door "the hardest I ever have in my life." She was not happy with their suggestions and innuendo.

So classy 😉 !

Both Tippi and Sienna are incredibly beautiful women. I think Sienna did a great job at conveying Hedren's elegant body movements and gorgeous voice.

this was....awkward. i get that this was most likely for costume/hair/makeup departments as much as anything else, so "the scene" probably didn't matter much, but still.. between hitch barking inarticulate directions and balsam's cringey 'improving', tippi handled herself pretty well all things considered. imagine what she could have done if she'd been treated with a little dignity.

Just went to Barnes and Noble and purchased her book, "Tippi"... What a beautiful and fascinating lady. She managed to make a fascinating life and career for herself. Can't wait to find the time to read it.

In the movie "The Girl" I would have cast Sarah Michelle Gellar as Tippi , I know it sounds weird but if you watch Sarah you'll see what I mean . Great footage of Tippi who was and still is a great actress . Thanks for posting .

Such a cool lady.

They say that the big screen makes people seem larger than life. Watching these clips, seems to me that Tippi is even larger in life than she is on the screen.

Martin Balsam who appears in theses tests played the detective in "Psycho". Interesting to watch Tippi Hedren as both actress and model at the same time. I can see what she meant about having to learn to walk a different way, what with those long, confining skirts. People have made comments below about how creepy, etc. Martin Balsam was but, and as someone else said, he was playing a character or type of character in these tests.

I am Swedish and I have never heard of that nick name for a lil girlie.

I think she was a natural actress of that time. Her poise and her voice, idk she feels very natural

Stunning! There's a quality i see in the late Farrah Fawcett, of the "Tippi Hedren" look and personality.

Tippi had the most beautiful face of the decade.

Necrophilia?That's kind of WARPED.....

Trouble is, by 1963, the whole Grace Kelly ice queen look was on the verge of going out of fashion. It explains why Hitchcock went through a dry spell after THE BIRDS.

Watch Tippi's feet once in a while. They can act too.

Fabulous

Dark, with hindsight. Hitchcock became obsessed with Tippi Hedren, and ruined her career because she set boundries. Here Hedren is not aware of the trap that has been set... Very Hitchcock.

Great Legs !!

Wish they made clothes like that again. So simple and classy. Only Tippi could walk so elegantly in them. She MADE the clothes. The clothes did not make her.

No one has a speaking voice equal to ‘Tippi’

Beautiful!

She doesn't look as uncomfortable as Siena in the movie enactment of this screen test.

She had Beauitful Legs too!

What a beautiful lady!

*magnifique personne!*

Strange they did all this clothing samples for her. In The Birds. All she wears. Is a simple grey suit skirt outfit

I do agree 100% with you about the chemistry between Miss Hedren and Martin Balsam. The way they play with each other is very sensual, yet poised and classy. That's the combination of the two that makes the scenes so interesting. And with Hitchcock filming, at some point, it gives the feeling of a "ménage à trois"

Edith Head

Yes. And yes :)

First... I loved Tippi in the birds. but she cant act er way out of a paper bag... until she gets mad...

One of the most beautiful women in the planet

Goddess! My fave Hitchcock movie! :-)

Tippi looked like a young Jessica Tandy.

:53..."there are moments"...listen close🤭

Are guys put through all this in a screen test?

This is late 1961

As a woman in the film industry this is so painful to watch. I feel so bad for her , it is so degrading. I am very proud of her for coming out with the truth of what her experience was with that man. I love his movies but it is forever tainted in my mind to think of how he treated women in the industry.

Hitchcock had a big fixation on her. He watched her. He loved. Blondes

I couldn't agree more with your comments. Miss Hedren is a true class act; in my eyes, her presence and charisma on screen equal, sometimes even surpass, Miss Grace Kelly's. No wonder Hitchcock was obsessed with her.

No wonder Hitchcock fell in love with her. She’s beautiful and elegant.

In terms of the potential innuendo Hitchcock is making, I don't know what part of the anatomy the "Tippi" would be in, it sounds more out of place than perverted, but when you point out "paroxysms" and "necrophilia" I don't know what they're getting at but you do? In this "screentest" I definitely do feel an air of perversion from the both of these men, and watching Tippi's measured reaction I want to say they're poking fun at her so Hitchocock's screentest won't be so serious on her 1rst film.

And then her granddaughter stars in Fifty Shades of Grey... trilogy.

I think these are screentests for Marnie. Sean Connery eventually played the male protagonist.

Why all the hate for Grace?

( I thought that you were talking about the first screen test...... )

She must have studied ballet, her feet positions are perfect when she walks.

That's MARTIN Balsam!? I didn't recognize him.....Can't see him that well.

I realize this is just a normal screen test, but there is an underlining creepiness to how this 'little girl' is strutting back and forth following an older mans voice for another older man, especially knowing the back-story. The scenes have her playing a kept woman and an adulterer. Necrophilia is even brought up. They felt they had to hit you over the head with the ‘she’s being harassed!’ plot line and made her more timid. Yes, this is all from Hedren's view, agreed.

Even John f. Kennedy was attracted to Tippi!

Sienna's walk in the casting scene is a bit weird though IMO. Where Tippi moved with grace and elegance, Sienna walks as she had something itching in the back. Way too much swinging.

Hollyweird

:)

Because of Hitchcock, is why she was always dressed so conservative and no passionate scenes. I believe because hitch was very jealous.

What a flirt.

Marnie was a great Hitchcock film. After that ...

How about some credit to Martin Balsam?

wow i didnt know that , as you have said that might be the reason for the obsession

I think the film purposely exaggerates her uneasiness in this and several other scenes so we can see what is going on inside her head, as well as for dramatic purposes. Had she always seemed poised and confident it wouldn't seem as such a big deal, nor could we see the transformation of her into a 'statue' as stated at the end of the film.

Balsam was a great character actor. knowing what we know about Hitch now , this test is almost pornographic

These days a man wouldn't dare sit and chat like that with today's women. What women had to put up with. I miss the good old days and the ole films. But, not the way men treated women. The Birds is my favorite Hitchcock movie. And, The Girl second best. And, Marnie the 3rd best.

A time when ladies and gentlemen actually existed in society. Devolution is real, folks.

Tippi is much more beautiful than Sienna Miller.

Knowing the story behind it, it seems like hungry cats playing with a little mouse. They make her sell herself in a sexual way, which is so humiliating, I can only imagine what became after that, when he was openly expressing his sexual appetite for her.

I find these screen tests kinda sinister and weird.

So very creepy.

In the movie The Girl its totally different from this. This leads me to believe the whole story that Tippi is telling is all in her head as to what actually happened. My dad use to manage the Ambassador Hotel in Hollywood back in the 60's when The Birds came out and he use to come home and tell my mom stories of things he would hear . My mom always told me that Tippi and Hitch had an affair. As for her acting she was an awful actress. She couldnt act. Her daughter could.

I agree so, so much. She's pretty but doesn't have half of Miss Hedren's charisma.

Feminist would criticise the crap out of Tippi here. A seemingly independent, confident woman completely controlled - like a puppet - by a man's voice.

In other words he's bald. If he was handsome you wouldn't find him creepy.

The movie was about Tippi Hedren, not Martin Balsam-- (hence, they called it 'The Girl', not 'The Boy') and I'm glad she finally got the chance to tell her story of what a creeped-out situation she was in with Hitchcock. P.S. Actually met Ms. Hedren when she visited Chicago area a few years ago; super nice and still beautiful. I'll never forget it.

She stands up for herself which makes Hitchcock chase and order her around - he’s a creep and she knows it here - what a balancing act . I don’t find her features attractive , it’s her deportment

She doesn't seem uncomfortable at all. They really made hitch a monster in the movie.