Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith: A Look at Their Mother-Daughter Relationship

Melanie Griffith and Tippi Hedren have one of the sweetest mother-daughter relationships in Hollywood

Hollywood is made up of a number of acting dynasties, and the names Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith are certainly counted among those numbers.

Griffith is the daughter of Hedren and her first husband, Peter Griffith, though they split up when Griffith was young.

Throughout the years, Griffith and The Birds actress have maintained a close relationship, even sharing the screen on occasion and attending red carpet events together. When Griffith was awarded the timeless beauty award at the 2nd Annual Hollywood Beauty Awards in Los Angeles in 2016, she dedicated the honor to her mother.

"Really, I would like to say that this should be for my mom, who’s right there,” Griffith told the audience. “She is the timeless beauty. So mom, I’m going to take this on your behalf. I love you.”

Hedren is also a grandmother to Griffith's three children: daughters Dakota Johnson and Stella Banderas and son Alexander Bauer.

From their early years as mother and daughter to their most recent birthday tributes to each other, here's a look at Tippi Hedren and Melanie Griffith's sweet relationship.

Hedren gave birth to Griffith in 1957

Hedren welcomed her only child, a daughter she and ex-husband Peter Griffith named Melanie, on Aug. 9, 1957.

"Melanie was always such a fun little person to have around; she was a very wise little girl," Hedren told PEOPLE in 2000. "We just enjoyed having things in common."

When asked by The Guardian what her most treasured possession was in 2014, Hedren had a clear reply: “My beautiful child Melanie, and grandchildren Alexander, Dakota and Stella.”

Hedren raised Griffith around animals

Hedren has nurtured a strong passion and love for animals for her entire life, and she raised Griffith alongside a number of lions, tigers and elephants.

"It was a crazy, beautiful, and dangerous time," Griffith later said of her childhood in a 2020 Instagram post. She also revealed that her then-90-year-old mother still had some big cats.

"The cats now live in the beautiful sanctuary my Mom has for them. People can not go in their compounds. You cannot physically touch them. But they are magnificent to behold," she added.

10 years prior, Griffith had told PEOPLE, “Being around all kinds of animals has greatly enhanced my life."

Related:Tippi Hedren's Life in Photos

When Griffith was just 17 years old, she began filming the 1981 film Roar, which was produced by Hedren's second husband Noel Marshall and took five years to make. In the movie, Hedren and Griffith, as well as Marshall and his sons from a previous relationship, play a fictional family living with tigers, cheetahs, lions, leopards and more.

“We wanted to do a movie about various aspects of this subject, and while we were on a game preserve in Africa, we saw an abandoned house where 25 to 30 lions of all sizes were living,” Hedren told PEOPLE of the film's origins. “They were sitting in the windows, napping on the veranda, walking around the yard. It was an incredible scene.”

Although filming Roar proved to be incredibly dangerous as several members of the cast and crew, including Griffith, were injured by the wild animals.

Two years after the film's release, Hedren went on to create the Roar Foundation, which aims to “educate the public about the dangers of private ownership of exotic animals.” The non-profit supports her California-based animal sanctuary, Shambala Preserve.

Hedren supported Griffith's first marriage to Don Johnson

Griffith was only 14 years old when she met her first husband, Don Johnson, who was 22 at the time. Johnson gifted Griffith with a ring when she was 18, and the pair eventually got married for the first time in 1976.

"No two people were ever more in love in the world," Hedren had told PEOPLE of her daughter and Johnson the year prior.

They later divorced but remarried and welcomed their first and only child together, actress Dakota Johnson, in 1989. However, Griffith and Johnson divorced again in 1996.

Hedren's favorite movie of Griffith's is 1988's Working Girl

While both Hedren and Griffith have been in their fair share of Hollywood films, Hedren revealed that her daughter's best performance was in Working Girl.

Griffith starred alongside several famous actors in the 1988 movie, including Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver and Joan Cusack.

“You were brilliant,” Hedren told Griffith in a 2017 video for The Hollywood Reporter.

Griffith celebrates her mom often

In 2003, Griffith was on hand to celebrate her mom’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Seven years later, she praised Hedren as she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the U.S. Humane Society's 24th Genesis Awards. “My mom is receiving this award for her work as a champion to animals,” Griffith told PEOPLE in a statement. “The award is for her efforts in saving the abused and those without a voice to defend themselves. She is an exceptional woman, mother and friend. My mom rocks!!”

More recently, in January 2022, Griffith toasted her mom on her 92nd birthday. She shared a sweet photo of Hedren on Instagram and wrote, “Happy Birthday Mom!! You are so beautiful, tenacious, gracious, elegant and YOU ARE 92!! Happy happy birthday. ... I love you very much! 💙♥️💛🌈.”

Months later in November 2022 she shared a photo of the actress on Instagram with the caption, “Thankful that my Mom is still here with us.”

Hedren and Griffith are part of a Hollywood dynasty

Hedren and Griffith are well-known for their tremendous acting talent, and they aren’t the only members of the family who are stars. Griffith’s daughter Dakota also has a thriving acting career of her own.

In November 2016, the trio were interviewed together by Vanity Fair in honor of Hedren’s memoir Tippi. Griffith told the magazine, “The three generations just made me think about Mom, born in 1930, and me, in the ’50s, and Dakota, in the ’80s. The progression of life is really beautiful.”

Griffith says Hedren is her role model

In 2017, Griffith and Hedren were joined by Dakota and Don for an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The wide-ranging conversation covered plenty of topics, including Hedren’s experience with director Alfred Hitchcock, whom she has accused of assault.

Griffith told the outlet that her mother’s experience inspired her. She said, “She became an example of what to never let happen in my life. Hopefully, I've passed that on to Dakota — to be strong in your work and in yourself.”

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