Tippi Hedren and her family pet ‘Neil the Lion’ (1971)

In 1971, photographer Michael Rougier spent time with Hedren and her family in California.

Also in attendance was Neil, a 400-pound mature lion, who occasionally slept in the same bed as her kids and, as these pictures attest, had the run of the house, from the kitchen to the living room to the swimming pool.

She has since acknowledged that it was “stupid beyond belief” to put her family at risk by allowing an animal with “no conscience or remorse genes” to roam free.