One Of The Most Iconic Directors Is Latest Sexual Harassment Claim
One of Hollywood’s most iconic directors was just accused of sexual harassment after an actress tells the story of how she stood up to him.
By nowproducerdave on December 14, 2017
The latest director to be entangled into the web of Hollywood executives and directors who have been accused of sexual harassment is one of the most iconic, trend-setting, and innovative directors in history – Alfred Hitchcock.
Tippi Hedren has accused Hitchcock of sexual harassment before, but sadly the accusations never really “stuck,” since, well, he passed away in 1980, and there were no other “active” sexuall harassment claims happening at the time. But she’s speaking out again, and this time because of all the other claims against directors and producers, it’s getting some attention.
Tippi only appeared in two of Hitchcock’s movies, and that was enough for her. She says that Hitchcock would often “get jealous” when she would speak with male castmates, and he made several advances towards her. She told the story about how they were in the back of a limo once, and he “lunged” towards her trying to kiss her. In another story, she told about working on her second film (“Marine”) with him when he “asked her to “touch him,” then shared “romantic fantasies” with her. She firmly kept saying no, and she says he sort of turned cold towards her. “It was absolutely awful, and as soon as the movie was over, I was out of there. That was the end of the Hitchcock relationship. I finished the movie and didn’t have any other contact.”
She says that he once threatened her, saying “he told me that he would ruin me,” adding that she told him to “do what he had to do.”
That’s a serious “stand up for yourself” moment for sure. And of course she went on to star in a ton of other movies and have a very successful career anyway, whether or not she worked with Hitchcock again, or if he did in fact try to “Ruin” her career. “I never feared speaking up, because I knew I was right,” she says. Good for her, and we’re glad this story has got some more attention now that so many other directors and executives are being accused of the exact same sort of “power-plays.” And now that there is a ton of attention being drawn to it, she says “It’s demeaning, it’s disgusting and it’s a good thing it’s all coming to light, because I think everybody is very put off by it. The more that people are aware that this is happening, maybe the more that parents will start teaching their children that this is an inappropriate way to behave. Then it will stop happening.” Hopefully so.
