Fifty shades of MELANIE

She steamed up the big screen before her daughter was born and married the same man twice – welcome to Mel’s world!

She’s the middle link in a dynasty of Hollywood sirens! Her mother Tippi Hedren was discovered by legendary director Alfred Hitchcock and her eldest daughter Dakota Johnson turned heads in Fifty Shades of Grey. Former wild child Melanie Griffith turns 64 on August 9 and we take a look at some of the most memorable parts of her life.

1 Lions have loomed large in her life

When Melanie was 12, her mother and stepfather Noel Marshall adopted a pet lion. The 180kg feline, whom they named Neil, lived in their house, hung out by their pool, napped on the shag pile rug and slept in Melanie’s bed. Tippi and Noel later made a movie called Roar about a family encountering big cats on an African game reserve. Melanie was cast in the movie and was mauled by a lion during filming. She needed 50 stitches to her face and it was initially feared she would lose an eye. “It was a crazy, beautiful and dangerous time,” says Melanie. “I am, however, very grateful for the strength it gave me.”

2 Alfred Hitchcock once sent her a creepy gift

In 1963, Melanie’s actress mum Tippi began working with Psycho director Alfred Hitchcock. Tippi spurned Alfred’s sexual advances and months later, on Melanie’s sixth birthday, he sent her an eerie gift – a small wooden coffin containing a wax replica of her mother wearing her costume from The Birds.