On this date in 1963, Alfred Hitchcock‘s The Birds was first released in New York. Star Tippi Hedren had many terrible experiences while filming the movie (both from birds actually attacking her during stuntwork and from Hitchcock mistreating her in many ways).
Of course, Hedren didn’t really know that when she filmed this screen test for Hitch before he cast her in The Birds. In this clip, Hedren runs through scenes from three of Hitchcock’s biggest hits, Rebecca (1940), Notorious (1946), and To Catch a Thief (1955). It’s easy to see why Hitchcock was so infatuated with Hedren’s beauty, grace, and style. Hedren would work with Hitchcock one more time on his next film, Marnie, and then would struggle as an actress for several years as the relationship between her and Hitchcock soured.
