Donald Spoto, who wrote so glowingly of Hitchcock’s films and life while he was alive, told the darker tales once the director died in 1980 in books like “The Dark Side of Genius” and “Spellbound by Beauty.” Those are source materials for the new HBO film “The Girl,” about his menacing of Tippi Hedren on the set of “The Birds” and “Marnie.” But Hedren is also around to advise on recounting the shameful tale.

An unknown model at the time, Hedren was selected from a TV commercial appearance because she fit the mold of icy blondes Hitchcock had been using in his suspense films, from Grace Kelley to Kim Novak to Janet Leigh, who had just appeared in his biggest hit, “Psycho.” To follow that with an unknown in “The Birds” meant mentoring the single mother, teaching her film acting and her way around a major Hollywood set. Then he pounced.

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