Alfred Hitchcock York when Hitchcock saw her, in October 1961, in an NBC television ad for Sego, a diet drink: "I signed her because she is a classic beauty. Movies don't have them any more. Grace Kelly was the last." He insisted, without explanation, that her first name be written in single quotation marks: 'Tippi'. In "The Birds", Melanie Daniels, a young socialite, meets lawyer Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a bird shop; Jessica Tandy plays his possessive mother. Hedren visits him in Bodega Bay (where "The Birds" was filmed) carrying a pair of lovebirds as a gift. Suddenly waves of birds
The Birds (film) and invites her to dinner; she hesitantly agrees. Melanie gets to know Mitch, his domineering mother Lydia (Jessica Tandy), and his younger sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). She also befriends local school teacher Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette), Mitch's ex-lover. While spending the night at Annie's house, she and Annie are startled by a loud thud: a gull kills itself by flying into the front door. At Cathy's birthday party the next day, the guests are attacked by seagulls. The following evening, sparrows invade the Brenner home through the chimney. The next morning, Lydia, a widow who still maintains the family farmstead,