While she was incomparable as Emily Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show, her most profound impact on the collective unconscious came with her portrayal of Annie Hayworth in Hitchcock's The Birds.
The human race can be dichotomized along many different lines: Dog people vs. Cat people. Rollercoaster freaks vs. Ferris Wheel junkies. Carrot eaters vs. Celery fans. People who melt at the sound of Karen Carpenter's voice vs. People who just don't get it.
In The Birds two archetypes meet: Tippi Hedren's icy blond ... vs. Suzanne Pleshette's smoldering brunette.
The odds were against Pleshette. Annie Hayworth is Bodega Bay's schoolteacher, a single woman headed for spinsterhood - dumped by Rod Taylor's Mitch Brenner. (Taylor's cleft chin actually received a special Oscar that year, presented by Kirk Douglas.) Mitch takes up with Melanie Daniels (Tippi) soon after she drives up from San Francisco with a pair of lovebirds, no doubt signaling to the audience Hitchcock's preference.
Yet Pleshette subverts all expectations by simply out-sexying Tippi Hedren. If the world can be divided between Suzanne Pleshette people and Tippi Hedren people, then the former group is surely larger. No contest. I combed YouTube for video proof of my unarguable thesis. Here's a remix of the scene where Annie and Melanie chat about Mitch and Mitch's mother in Annie's cottage:
I can't tell what Annie is serving. (Port? Sherry? Scotch?) Clearly she's a good host. More importantly, look at the way she smokes!
To be sure, I am NOT using the death of Suzanne Pleshette as an excuse to bash Tippi Hedren. As readers of this blog know, it's not anti-Tippi Hedren to be pro-Suzanne Pleshette. In fact in 1996 I had the pleasure of meeting Tippi Hedren on a special tour of her California nature preserve Shambala. (My friend Richard was working at Fox Television and his boss Trevor took him and a group of friends, including me, on a tour.) After the psychological torment Tippi underwent at the hands of Hitchcock, it's remarkable that she maintains the presence of mind to interface with cheetahs and pumas on a daily basis.
I'm merely paying tribute to the achievements of actress (and unwitting brunette activist) Suzanne Pleshette, in a culture that worships blonds.
Look at this scene from The Birds:
At 3:00, Annie takes the information that Melanie has given her and, without missing a beat, takes control. Witness her calm during crisis. (Annie Hayworth for FEMA chief!)
I drove up to Bodega Bay in 2004 and had my picture taken in front of that schoolhouse. Sadly I can't find it now. Here's a picture of the mouse pad I bought, though:
By the way the scene in the diner in The Birds is my favorite. Mrs. Bundy, in the center of the mouse pad, is the elderly ornithologist who doubts Melanie's claims about the murderous birds.
I have long hated Mrs. Bundy. The character, played by English stage actress Ethel Griffies, is perhaps the greatest portrait of a know-it-all in cinema history. I can still hear my grandmother scowling at the TV when Mrs. Bundy lectures Melanie about birds being on "this planet since archeopteris, 140 million years ago." Meanwhile the seaside town is on the verge of catastrophe!
When the town needs action, Mrs. Bundy is the opposite, an ineffectual eggheady wonk. Frankly she is the reason that I would have had to vote for Eisenhower over Adlai Stevenson. She is imprisoned in her own ivory tower, completely detached from reality. Mrs. Bundy prattles while Bodega Bay burns.
I'm convinced that if Annie Hayworth's eyes hadn't been plucked out by this part of the movie, then the gas station never would have blown up.
Do you have any thoughts on the passing of Suzanne Pleshette? Or opinions on Mrs. Bundy?
Reader Comments ( Page 5 of 5)
61. Hey!
How about those debates last night! What a cat fight! I thought Obama and Hillary were gonna throw down. Poor Edwards, did anybody ever get around to calling him an ambulance chaser? My kids commandeered the TV right after the slumlord comment.
Also, I was not a fan of Hillary's pantsuit. They kept filming her from the back, which was not the most flattering angle.
Can anyone sum it up for me?
Gabrielle at 1:41PM on Jan 22nd 2008
62. Gaby,
Nice call.
I too am tired of being down.
I need to get my "wise-ass" on.
Mo, could you delete this after Gaby reads it and post something that is not important?
JG
John Giza at 3:05PM on Jan 22nd 2008
63. I just want to know why Marlene Dietrich and Katherine Hepburn (she was always hep) could wear pants suits, but not Laura Bush and Hillary, etc. hitting the same watermark....is the answer...synthetic materials?
Andrea...we need some help.
How's that much beloved J.G. ?(I'm in the mood for pampering, my son is well and the momentum for care giving still continues!)
ah, clem at 3:22PM on Jan 22nd 2008
64. Speaking of sexy smokey voiced brunettes...our J.Q. hopefully isn't still working open to close is she?
rest up as well!
I've been prattling more than Mrs Bundy!!! Got to practice my derisive smirk.....are there birds congregating on the monkey bars!!!!?
ah, clem at 3:33PM on Jan 22nd 2008
65. Ah, Clem,
I wasn't suggesting we give up on the tribute.
I was just suggesting an alternative room in the house.
From past experience,when you go to the familiy's house, you have some food and drink, and you try to make light conversation.
It is just another way of dealing with things.
Maybe is isn't the best way, but it has worked for me.
JG
John Giza at 3:42PM on Jan 22nd 2008
66. Sorry for my absence!
I'm still trying to figure out why Mo's camera takes backwards pictures...
80' etov eht accoR
P.S. - Fallen movie stars are always a sentimental time for cinematic and social reflection... but we've got a campaign to report on! Thompson has dropped out! Obama battles both Clintons! Come on Mo! Let's get political!
FINN at 3:52PM on Jan 22nd 2008
67. Ah, The Birds...
Here's a long way to a short point:
I have an African Grey parrot (Cyrano). I am currently teaching him to say, "I love Mo Rocca" - mostly in homage & gratitude to this past weekend's Wait... Wait... He has the "I love" part down, because I taught him that Knock-Knock joke w/ "Olive" - except he has only ever said, "Olive... Olive... Olive *you*" - totally skips the knock, the who's there, etc... I figure adding "Mo Rocca" to the end shouldn't be too much of a stretch, though. I managed to get him to add "Jay" to "Shut up" last year, so he could tell my friend Jay to - well - *Shut up* (Jay is problematic in that way).
Believe me - this all comes full circle, eventually.
Cyrano is a picky eater. He eats only the sunflower seeds, peanuts, & some smaller tidbits from his food - leaving behind perfectly good cracked corn, pumpkin seeds, & some Fruit Loopy colored stuff that resembles dry catfood... I supplement his diet w/ fresh fruits & veggies. Not being 1 to tolerate wasted food in our household, I toss his "leftovers" into the circular driveway outside my kitchen door. The wild birds are stoked, as well as the squirrels, chipmunks (insert 'Snow White' theme here), etc...
Normally, everyone gets along fine... The titmouse(s, mice?!), the cardinals (who bring their own incense), the mourning doves (who seem pretty happy, despite circumstances), & even the bluejays, though they are a bit highly strung. The crows stay away, unless I throw something more substantial out, such as an entire loaf of Kalamatta olive bread that turned south on me last week - & if you've ever seen a crow flying w/ a whole bagel in its mouth - well, that IS a sight, & don't be standing under them, in case they drop it - & they do...
Oh.. So, a few days ago, the damned starlings showed up. Starlings are evil. They bully the other birds, & are total chowhounds. An entire flock of them beset the Cyrano "Feed The Hungry" offering, & dashed off all other critters, while I was getting The Bean (my daughter) ready for school. I said aloud, "Ouch... This is just like 'The Birds'."
Bean said, "Okay, Mom... I have no idea what you're talking about. They *are* birds." Then I had to have one of those moments of Nostalgia that was not *just* for HER benefit, but mine also, because 'The Birds' was before MY time as well. I take such discussions *very* seriously, because I may well be messing up details, or omitting something of great importance that *my* elders would see fit to illustrate.
... & I DID.
When I heard (yesterday) that Suzanne Pleshette died, I realized that, a mere couple days prior, I had failed to mention her in my Kitchen Theater re-enactment of 'The Birds'.
As a "smoky voiced brunette" myself, I am a tad ashamed, & yet contemplating the coincidence of that reference coming up in our daily life routine & Suzanne's subsequent passage.
Well done in posting about it, Mr. Rocca.
Sherry
S.L. at 4:20PM on Jan 22nd 2008
68.
Adorable post Sherry- fun to read. (I had an Ecletus,(male) what a toot.)
ah, clem at 4:52PM on Jan 22nd 2008
69. Clem...
Thank you.
Your #68 post was the first time anyone here has "spoken" to me since I started posting here.
Granted, I rarely offer anything of substance, but please know I am blushing (in the good way).
-(;o)~
Sherry
p.s. Eclectus' are *beautiful* - definitely in my Top 5 birds.
S.L. at 5:19PM on Jan 22nd 2008
70. While, of course, like everyone else I LOVED Pleshette as Emily Newhart, (and even more recently as Karen "Kiki" Walker's con-artist Mom on "Will & Grace: Pleshette: "Where you got that voice from, I'll never know!") it was her indelible performance as Annie Hayworth in the last great Hitchcock thriller, "The Birds" that will forever remain in my mind. As any Hitchcock devotee knows, the Blonde is the Heroine in his movies. The Brunette ALWAYS dies! Suzanne Pleshette, more than ANY other Hitchcock Anti-Heroine, made audiences grieve the loss of the dark-haired Beauty. Every other analysis of the 1963 classic focusses on the relationship between a son, the lone Rooster (Rod Taylor) and the Mother Hen (Jessica Tandy) and the conflict that arises with the introduction of the Chicks, or as they're called in England, "Birds" (here emboidied by Tippi Hedren and Suzanne Pleshette). Annie Hayworth tells Melanie Daniels of her past history with the Man and his Mother and concludes, "Now that I'm no longer a threat to her, we're very good friends."
But only an actress of Pleshette's smoldering sexuality, whether clad in capri pants and garden gloves or a chennille robe and little else, could justify Hitchcock's need to 'off' her before the Hero gets to make a side-by-side comparison between the Model Perfect Blonde he's falling for and the Hot, Hot, Hot Schoolmarm who's been waiting for him to cut the apron strings and take her right there on the Jungle Gym! Rarely has one of Hitchcock's 'disposable' secondary female characters been able to challenge the audiences' opinion of whether or not the Hero made the right/wrong choice. I doubt that Hitchcock himself, having so meticulously dressed, groomed and photographed the ravishing young newcomer, Hedren, ever even imagined that Suzanne Pleshette would infuse the minor character of Annie Hayworth with so much rich and seductive detail that critics, students, film scholars and fans alike, would continue to debate, argue and offer opinions about the deep psycho-sexual subtext of "The Birds" nearly half a century after its release.
Lovers of the film will ALWAYS be enamored of Hitchcock's "Discovery", 'Tippi' Hedren. We will forever remain in awe of her Icy Blonde Beauty, her Classic Untouchable Manner, her Perfect Poise, Charm and Unflappable Grace. But it is doubtful that the iconic star of "The Birds" would ever have achieved such imortal film status were it not for the sharp visual, sexual, emotional and societal contrast between Hedren's 'Melanie Daniels' and Pleshette's 'Annie Hayworth'.
I'm soooo glad other people recognize the importance of Suzanne Pleshette's contribution to one of the most classic thrillers ever produced. I'm sure there can be arguements made about the greatness of Miss Pleshette's many other career achievements. But for me, "The Birds" is where my adoration of her began. I'll miss her, just as I missed her the first time I saw Mitch Brenner carry her body inside that Bodega Bay schoolhouse and close the door while Cathy and Melanie wept.
Paul at 7:27AM on Jan 23rd 2008