(The LIFE Picture Collection: Gett Michael Rougier)
Many of you may know this story, but the images are too crazy to ignore. Like most people, when you go on vacation you become enamored with the surroundings and think to yourself, “If only I could live here every day.” Most people can’t, so, they bring something back from that trip that touched a nerve with them. When actress Tippy Hedren and her husband, director Noel Marshall went on a safari in Africa in the 1970s, they became enamored with the land’s big cats and decided to make a film around them. An animal trainer suggested that in order to make a movie about them, they should get to know them better and let one live in their home for a while.
Most people who have a teenager or any child in the house would think the animal trainer was crazy. Tippi Hedren and Noel Marshall were not most people. They didn’t think twice about bringing a Lion named Neil home to live with Tippi’s daughter future actress Melanie Griffith.
I mean… look at these three photos. The lion tries to bite Melanie’s leg off as she’s jumping in the pool, so, Melanie does what most sane people would do and spit water in the lion’s face, and then lion tries to drown her.
(The LIFE Picture Collection/Gett Michael Rougier)
(The LIFE Picture Collection/Gett Michael Rougier)
(The LIFE Picture Collection/Gett Michael Rougier)
What about the poor lady who works for them? Not only does she have to bear the indignity of wearing a uniform like she works in the laundry room of a Howard Johnson’s, but she has to step over a friggin’ lion just to get a bottle of juice.
(The LIFE Picture Collection/Gett Michael Rougier)
So, the whole family lived with a full grown male lion for years… like it was a dog.
(The LIFE Picture Collection/Gett Michael Rougier)
(The LIFE Picture Collection/Gett Michael Rougier)
(The LIFE Picture Collection/Gett Michael Rougier)
(The LIFE Picture Collection/Gett Michael Rougier)
Did all of that time spend with the lion pay off? Did it help them make their movie ROAR a huge success? No. No, it didn’t.
According to Wikipedia the most reliable source on the internet:
“Roar became notorious for its troubled 11-year production, which resulted in 70 members of its cast and crew being injured by the many predatory animals used in the film, including its main stars sustaining life-threatening injuries ranging from bone fractures to scalpings and gangrene. Much of the footage capturing the injuries was included in the final cut of the film, resulting in real blood on screen. It has been considered the most dangerous film shoot in history.”
So the next time an animal trainer tells you that you should live with a lion for a while… change professions.
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