As the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock had one of the quickest minds in Hollywood, but let's face it – physically, he was never the most animated of directors. Maybe that's why the wax figure of Hitchcock revealed today at Grauman's Chinese Theatre looks so amazingly lifelike. It was certainly lifelike enough for veteran Hitchcock blonde Tippi Hedren, who starred for Hitch in The Birds and Marnie. Hedren unveiled the statue in a little ceremony topped off by a contest to find L.A.'s "Best Scream", with the winner's scream to be immortalized in a Hitchcock vignette featured alongside the figure (at Madame Tussauds Hollywood beginning August 1st). I spoke with Hedren after the ceremony, and she shared her thoughts on what's sure to become a must-see for film lovers. Hit the jump to see what she said.

I asked the actress how close the figure's appearance is to that of the man she knew.

"It's absolutely, frighteningly good," she said. "The skin, it looks so real that it kind of takes you back a little bit, to see that reality and that perfectionism. It's up to the Hitchcock standards. He was a perfectionist, and this is perfect. This is almost really frightening – to know somebody so well, the good and the bad, and then to see the likeness, it's very eerie.

"By the time I did The Birds and Marnie, he had been around for a long time, and had been so successful with his films that you just kind of took it for granted, that this would be a talent that would be around forever. And of course nothing goes on forever. He didn't. But his films will, which is a very exciting thought."

"And now he lives at Madame Tussaud's," she laughed.

As one of the judges of the Scream Contest, Hedren, I thought, would be something of an expert on the subject. But  she confessed that, at his insistence, she didn't do her own screaming for Hitchcock.

"Screaming can be very had on your throat, and he wouldn't let me do the screaming. He had a screamer. There are people who are screamers, and they have developed some kind of ability to be able to do this without hurting their vocal cords. I would assume it's very, very similar to an operatic singer or some of the kids who call their sounds singing, all the rappers and rocks stars. I heard one rock star who was asked to sing a normal song, and he said, ‘I can't sing.' All he did was scream. I thought that was pretty interesting."

Hedren may not have done much screaming, but like everyone, she's got her share of fears, and she admitted for me her greatest…

"Getting old," she laughed. "I don't mind getting older, but I don't want to get old. Do you know what I mean?"