12 Creepiest Stories About Famous Movie Directors

6. Alfred Hitchcock Was Obsessed With Leading Lady Tippi Hedren

The Story: Much has been written about Alfred Hitchcock's movies representing his own sexual repression, but surely the most bizarre tale involves his obsession with Tippi Hedren, who starred in the director's The Birds and Marnie. A prototypical Hitchcockian blonde, Hedren deemed Hitch "too possessive and too demanding", and noted that he made "an overt sexual proposition" during filming of The Birds.

Apparently, the director wanted to control what Hedren wore, ate and drank, and he had people report on what she did when off the set. In addition, he reportedly tried to kiss Hedren in the back of a car once, but Hedren kept quiet on all of this for years due to Hitch's reputation and her (at the time) utter lack of one.

During Marnie, things worsened, as Hitch tried to isolate Hedren from the rest of the cast and crew, and apparently requested that Hedren make herself sexually available to him whenever he wished. Hedren eventually called him out on his behaviour, resulting in the two breaking contact, and Hitch holding Hedren to her contract for its remaining two years, denying her parts in a number of lucrative productions.

Creep-O-Meter: 8/10

Alright, what filmmaker wouldn't be smitten with Tippi Hedren in the 1960s? Seriously though, this is a professional area and should be treated as such. As brilliant a filmmaker as Hitch was, it's easy to believe the actress' claims when so many other members of the production have recounted similar stories about how besotted with her he was. A director likely wouldn't get away with this sort of thing now, but back then, Hitch knew he had her in a bind, and totally exploited that for his own undeniably creepy desires. Not that he ever got what he wanted out of it.