Lick: How did you transition from Hollywood .. Well actually the way Harlan ( Harlan Boll Tippi’s PR agent) posed the question.. Which I thought was very cute.. He said “ How did you go from Acting to Acton”? Tippi: Laughter.. He is truly brilliant. Lick: Cause I was like, how did you transition from the hub bub of Hollywood to Acton. I’ve been to Acton and it’s out there! Tippi: (laughter) Lick: Very funny! Tippi: After I got married it was after “Marni” and that was the end of the whole thing (with Hitchcock). Lick: Right Tippi: Anyway, my husband and I did 2 fifilms in Africa. Lick: Wow Tippi: During those years environmentalists from all over the world were telling people of the world that if we didn’t do something right then to save the animals in the wild by the year 2000 they would be gone-- all the wild animals, so there was a lot of awareness going on and we decided to do a fifilm about the animals in the wild. Kicking around ideas we chose the big cats! Lick: Right Tippi: Because they were so endangered in the 70’s and in order to do the movie we hired several trainers. Because of the numbers of cats we had in the movie everyone said this is going to cost you too much. Why don’t you acquire your own animals? That’s a romantic notion! Anyway, we started rescuing big cats and we had a facility we were going yo do the fifilm on and we were leasing it and pretty soon the mortgage was more than we could handle so we bought the place. Lick: That’s great! Tippi: So anyway that’s how it all started and we bought the place in “76” (1976, that is) and we’ve been here ever since.. Yeah.. There were huge lions and tigers Lick: Wow, it is amazing cause my friend lives up there so the first time I went there (and I’m from NY) I followed him off the freeway and I’m thinking OMG !! “Where am I?” And this is (chuckle) how many years later? So I can’t even imagine how remote it was in 1976! So it really is an appropriate and funny thing “Acting to Acton” cause Acton is a whole different world!!
Tippi: Really funny.. Lick: How did you get this incredible affifinity with animals.. I mean, is it just one of those things that the story you told me led up to or did you always love animals..? Tippi: Yes, I was always an animal lover. I was born with it Lick: Did you have any favorite animals in your life? Tippi: I had a little dog named “Corky” my fifirst pet and a cat named “Peter”when I was young and I’ve had lions and tigers. Lick: And bears!! (laughs)! Tippi: I adopted a whole litter of 6 kittens 20 years ago and of course they are now gone. Lick: Of course Tippi: The last one that appeared .. He chose me.. How he got into the Preserve I don’t know, but he was living under the house and I had 3 kitties left from the 6 and I knew there was this other cat under the house because the kittens would go to the end of the porch and do this “sing song thing” like when they know another cat is around .. And I thought, well.. We have a kitten under there and pretty soon he’ll show himself so I walked out the door one day and this black and white cat came strolling up and said “ Hold the door open cause I’m going to live in there..” Lick: Ahhh.. Hahaha so sweet.. Tippi: : I had named all of my cats after actors I had worked with.. Lick: That’s hysterical hahaha Tippi: : yeah Rod Taylor, Sean Connery, Marlon Brando, Antonio Banderas, Melanie Griffifith .. And so when he walked in
I said “ Hello, Come on in Johnny Depp” Lick: That’s so cute.. Really really cute!
Lick:: You know I realize your personal interaction with wild animals changed a lot through the years because I mean I didn’t even know to be honest with you; I had gone on line and I saw those rather amazing photographs .. Especially I saw one of you in the pool with this lion (what was his name?) Tippi: Oh, well that was a trained animal that was before we had acquired any of them.. Lick: Ok
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