As
this incredible series of photographs shows, while her peers were
growing up, fighting with their parents and doing everything else a
normal teenager does, the 14-year-old Griffith had an extra influence at
home - her enormous, live-in pet lion.
Pictured
in 1971 lounging by the pool, playfighting, and even in bed together,
Melanie and Neil, as the hulking African big cat was known, can be seen
sharing a touching bond.
Neil
came to live with the family in bizarre circumstances, after they
adopted him from Anton Lavey, High Priest of the Church of Satan, who
was told he could no longer keep him in his small San Francisco
apartment.
Wild
child: Melanie Griffith, aged just 14, leaps into the swimming pool in
her Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, home as she playfights with her enormous
pet lion, Neil
Better than a teddy bear: In the intimate set of photographs, Griffith is seen relaxing in bed with the huge lion
Mom's pet too: Tippi Hedren, muse to
the famed director Alfred Hitchcock, also had lots of fun with Neil, as
shown in this playful image
In
one photograph Griffith looks completely carefree even as Neil grapples
her leg with his paws as she jumps into the water at their home in
Sherman Oaks, a suburb of Los Angeles.
Griffith, the daughter of starlet and Hitchcock muse Tippi Hedren, lived with her mother and her then-husband Noel Marshall, a Hollywood agent.
In
the series of pictures, first published in LIFE Magazine, Marshall and
Hedren are also seen happily co-existing with Neil. In one, the lion
tries to get the attention of Marshall by roaring in his face as he sits
- entirely nonplussed - at his typewriter.
Casual:
Neil, whom the family adopted from Church of Satan founder Anton Lavey,
is seen above bothering Hedren's then-husband Noel Marshall at work, and
enjoying another session by the pool with Griffith
Plush sofa: Hedren uses Neil as an oversized pillow while catching up on the news. Now aged 84, she still keeps lions
Non-plussed: Noel Marshall, a major Hollywood agent, tries to get some work done despite Neil roaring in his face
+11
Grappling: Hedren takes on Neil in a dangerous-looking wrestling match on the floor of their California home
The
majestic beast was adopted by the family after they took a trip to
Africa and decided to make a movie about lions, Roar, which would take
11 years to complete.
Sadly, the movie was a box office flop,and the production was plagued by injuries resulting from working with lions.
Griffith
herself required 50 stitches at one point after being bit by one of the
cats, and cinematographer Jan de Bont had to have his scalp sewn back
on after being attacked.
In
total, despite its $17million price-tag, the film only made $2million
at the box office. But the movie stands as a testament to the family's
love of lions - which Hedren still keeps at her home on a wildlife
reserve in California.
Today:
Griffith (pictured left in 2014, now aged 57), had the lion in her life
thanks in part to Anton Lavey (right), High Priest of the Church
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