Alfred Hitchcock gifted Melanie Griffith creepy mum doll

The filmmaker directed Tippi Hedren in The Birds and thought he’d found the perfect Christmas present for her daughter.

Griffith recalls, “It was, like, a coffin box… and I opened it up and in it was a doll of my mother from The Birds… It was, like, made by the studio.

“Can you imagine the psychological effect (of that)… He was a very weird guy.”

She was reminded of the weird gift while she was shooting a recent appearance on sitcom Raising Hope: “The weirdest thing was when I walked on the set I was asking where my mum was… and they said, ‘She’s over there in the coffin,’ and she’s laying in a coffin.

“I was, like, kissing her and talking to her and then all of a sudden I realised that she was in a coffin and it was sorta creepy.”