Man, Beast See Eye-to-Eye at Fund-Raiser

Man met beast in a scenic and shady canyon near Acton Saturday afternoon, where friends of actress Tippi Hedren lightened their pockets at a benefit for her Shambala wild animal preserve and for the Maryott Performing and Visual Arts Center of Palmdale.

The guests, who plunked down $50 apiece to attend the benefit, were slightly outnumbered but seemingly not much intimidated by the 86 lions and other big cats that make the preserve their home.

Proceeds from the affair, which will be repeated this afternoon, will be split between the Maryott arts center project and Hedren’s Roar Foundation--which the blond actress has created to help raise the $4,000 a week it costs to feed and house her menagerie.

“It’s the national debt,” joked Hedren, who starred in the 1960s in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and “Marnie.”

“They eat just raw meat,” she said of her lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards and “tigons”--which are what you get when a lion and tiger mate. The cats were all in cages, with the exception of a few who were let out for the party. The preserve also has two African elephants, which “have to eat 500 pounds of food a day, each,” Hedren said.

Location for Movie

Hedren’s fascination with the jungle cats began when she and her former husband bought the property in the 1970s as a filming location for their movie “Roar.”

“It’s a great honor to be a friend of a lion or tiger, and to have them be pretty genuinely happy to see you,” Hedren said.

The 180-acre preserve along Soledad Canyon Road is traversed by the Santa Clara River, a lovely, tree-lined stream that tumbles down man-made waterfalls into a couple of small lakes. But the idyllic scene resounds with menacing roars, and is guarded by a sign warning that “Trespassers May Be Eaten or Stomped.”

In a fund-raising brochure, Hedren spoke of her “commitment to provide a dignified life for our precious wild friends.”

She said the animals, kept “in a secluded riverine setting, not open to the public, . . . are afforded a protected life of serenity and good health.”

On top of the ticket price, visitors were invited to take part in a celebrity auction, featuring such treasures as a T-shirt autographed by Cher, and a script of the film “Prizzi’s Honor” autographed by John Huston, who directed the film, and by his daughter, Anjelica Huston, one of the stars.

‘Police Woman’ Script

Bidders could also vie for a script from “Police Woman,” signed by the television program’s stars, Angie Dickinson and Earl Holliman.

Holliman, president of Actors and Others for Animals, attended the benefit, and drew winners in a $5-a-ticket raffle to see who would be photographed with a leopard or tiger.

Several people won a photo opportunity with Buster, a leopard.

Winners in the second group of winners were able to mug with a cat named Natasha.

Natasha is a tiger. A really big tiger.

As they walked her from her cage, one raffle contestant muttered: “I don’t think I want to be in this one.”