as a young adult, and was good natured because Oxley had put a huge effort into training and bonding with him.Īccording to Hedren, during training Oxley would sit outside Neil’s cage almost every day for three or four hours at a time, before finally going inside the cage.
#MAW CAT GOES FISHING SERIES#
Born in Africa, Neil used to play ‘baddie’ lions on screen in the 1960s TV series Daktari. It might have sounded like an invitation to an early and painful death, but Oxley insisted he had just the sweet-natured lion for them, which had been trained to interact with humans. She now says she regrets letting the huge animal stay in her home admitting 'we were stupid beyond belief' Grappling: Hedren takes on Neil in a dangerous-looking wrestling match on the floor of their California home. Sensibly, Ron Oxley, who ran a business training and renting animals to film studios in Los Angeles, advised the couple that if they really hoped to understand these deeply individualistic creatures, they must first live with one.
Nobody had ever attempted this before – and with good reason, animal experts warned them, because big cats will instinctively fight each other unless they know each other well. The encounter gave the two animal-lovers an idea for a feature film about a family who share their house with scores of lions, tigers and panthers. Tippi Hedren had been filming in Africa in 1969 when she and her husband Noel Marshall - a Hollywood agent who would go on to produce the horror film The Exorcist - stumbled across an abandoned game warden’s house in Mozambique. It had been taken over by a pride of 30 lions who regarded it as their home. The answer is pure Tinseltown eccentricity. She is now trying to push through another bill that will stop the breeding of these animals for personal exploitation or their sale as pets.īut how on earth did two generations of Hollywood royalty come to be sharing a sofa - and a swimming pool and bedroom - with the king of the jungle?
As an activist she was successful in lobbying Congress to pass a 2003 bill ending the traffic between states of big cats. Now 84, she runs a sanctuary, California’s Shambala Preserve, for some 32 big cats, and is an outspoken critic of the practice - still legal in much of the U.S.
#MAW CAT GOES FISHING FULL#
Indeed, after she, Melanie and the rest of their family suffered a string of serious injuries inflicted by the big cats they went on to adopt after Neil, Hedren has turned full circle in her attitude to such exotic pets. She also revealed that their extraordinary experience with Neil lulled them into a false sense of security which was to have disastrous, almost fatal, consequences. Most important, they were warned to take care the lion didn’t become possessive about anything, even a chair, which is when they are at their most dangerous.Ĭasual: Neil is seen above bothering Hedren's then-husband Noel Marshall at work, and enjoying a session by the pool with Griffith Other advice included not turning one’s back on him as he loved to come and trip people, knowing that if you move quickly he will want to play and he plays ‘rough’ and to pet him under his chin or deep in his mane but not on his face. She adds: ‘He taught us, and Melanie especially, to respect the animal and not do anything that might annoy him, like scratch his nose or suddenly run up and put your arms around him.’ Ron told us exactly what we could do and what we couldn’t do. ‘No, it’s not good to be scared around lions. But wasn’t she scared that she or her daughter would be injured or killed? ‘She was the talk of her school, it was fun for her,’ explains Tippi Hedren. And she clearly loved being photographed with him. Though Melanie Griffith became a classic Hollywood wildchild - who was going out with Miami Vice actor Don Johnson by the time she was 14 - she says Neil was her ‘best friend’. ‘They have no conscience or remorse genes, and they will kill you for their dinner.’ ‘We’re dealing with animals who are psychopaths,’ says Hedren now.
Slumberland: A remarkable image of Melanie sharing her bed with a snoozing Neil the lion, who would often sleep in her bedroom
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