Bored Panda works better on our iPhone app
Continue in app Continue in browser

Add post form topAdd Post
Tooltip close

The Bored Panda iOS app is live! Fight boredom with iPhones and iPads here.

This Family Lived With A Real Lion Back In 1971
User submission
21.2K
231.6K

This Family Lived With A Real Lion Back In 1971

ADVERTISEMENT

This series of intimate photographs from the 1970s of Neil the lion carries a chilling backstory that should remind us all that, no matter how much we might love them or feel close to them, we will never truly understand the mind of a wild animal.

After a trip to Africa, actress Tippi Hedren, her husband Noel Marshall, and their actress daughter Melanie Griffith, wanted to make a movie about lions. At the advice of Ron Oxley, an animal trainer who said that “to get to know about lions, you’ve got to live with them for a while,” they had Neil the lion live with them. Their life was documented by LIFE photographer Michael Rougier.

Their life with Neil seems to have been nice, but their movie, Roar, didn’t go quite so well. Melanie required 50 stitches after being attacked by a lioness that was part of the film, and cinematographer Jan de Bont had to have his scalp sewn back on. 70 people wound up being injured by the movie’s cast of 150 large predatory cats. The movie cost more than 17.5 million and made 2 million.

(h/t: mashable, guardian)

RELATED:

    Neil the lion sleeping with Melanie Griffith in their home in Sherman Oaks, California, 1971

    Melanie in a swimming pool with Neil (left) and a child playing with Neil (right)

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Tippi Hedren resting her back on Neil while reading a newspaper

    ADVERTISEMENT

    A housekeeper steps over Neil

    Noel Marshall tries to work in his study with Neil on his desk

    Tippi wrestling with Neil

    Tippi raids the fridge and reads a newspaper with Neil

    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Melanie jumping into a swimming pool while Neil grabs her leg

    Tippi playing with Neil

    Neil in bed with Melanie

    “Tiger Attack” from the movie “Roar

    232Kviews

    Share on Facebook
    Dovas

    Dovas

    Author, Community member

    Read more »

    There is a beast with heart of cold stone that dashes like lightning, shreds flesh from bone. // Bewitched by this beast, I fell to my knees. My mouth babbled madness and mumbled soft pleas. // I stared down the ravenous, gnashing dark maw of a cute cuddly kitten with yarn in its paw

    Read less »
    Dovas

    Dovas

    Author, Community member

    There is a beast with heart of cold stone that dashes like lightning, shreds flesh from bone. // Bewitched by this beast, I fell to my knees. My mouth babbled madness and mumbled soft pleas. // I stared down the ravenous, gnashing dark maw of a cute cuddly kitten with yarn in its paw

    What do you think ?
    Add photo comments
    POST
    Usagi
    Community Member
    10 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It is cruel.... It is a WILD lion and a lion must live with a pack of lions not with humans like a kitten!

    AďoMúdry
    Community Member
    10 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    cats were wild, dogs(wolves) were wild, hamster, rabbits, birds were wild... that lion seems to be happy, so whats your point

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
    Usagi
    Community Member
    10 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It is cruel.... It is a WILD lion and a lion must live with a pack of lions not with humans like a kitten!

    AďoMúdry
    Community Member
    10 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    cats were wild, dogs(wolves) were wild, hamster, rabbits, birds were wild... that lion seems to be happy, so whats your point

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
    Related on Bored Panda
    Related on Bored Panda
    Trending on Bored Panda
    Also on Bored Panda