In 1971, actress Tippi Hedren and her husband, director Noel Marshall, decided to make a movie about lions. Their decision came after a trip to Africa, where they saw big cats in the wild. An animal trainer gave them some advice: to truly understand lions, they should live with one.
Following this suggestion, the couple welcomed a fully grown, 400-pound male lion named Neil into their Los Angeles home. Living with them was Hedren’s teenage daughter, Melanie Griffith. The family’s daily life with the lion was documented in a series of photographs for LIFE magazine.
The images show Neil being treated like a large house cat. In one photograph, he is seen lounging by the family’s swimming pool while Tippi Hedren dangles her feet in the water just inches from his face. Another picture captures Neil and Noel Marshall wrestling playfully on the floor of their living room study. The lion is shown opening his massive jaws near Marshall’s head.
One of the most well-known photographs from the series features a 14-year-old Melanie Griffith in her bedroom. The lion is stretched out on her bed, and she rests her head against his body as if he were a pillow. In another shot from the same day, Griffith playfully grabs Neil’s paws as he lies on top of her.
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The family’s kitchen was also shared with the big cat. Neil would often sit on the kitchen counters and drink water directly from the faucet. The family integrated the lion into every aspect of their domestic routine.
While Neil lived with the family, an incident occurred during a dinner party. Neil’s owner and trainer, Ron Oxley, was at the house with some British guests. In the kitchen, Neil suddenly turned on Oxley, beginning a fight for dominance. The lion snarled and swiped at the trainer with his huge paws. Oxley fought back by raising his arms to appear larger and more threatening. The confrontation ended when Neil tossed his mane in a gesture of surrender and began to make subdued noises. Oxley and the lion then walked out of the house together.
The experience with Neil gave the family a false sense of security about living with big cats. For the movie they planned, which would eventually be called Roar, they went on to adopt more than 100 other untrained big cats, including tigers and cougars. During the filming of the movie, the family and crew suffered numerous serious injuries. Tippi Hedren fractured a leg. Noel Marshall was bitten so many times that he developed gangrene. Melanie Griffith was mauled by a lioness and required 50 stitches to her face.
