Hayley Mills
Encyclopedia
Hayley Mills is an English actress. The daughter of John Mills
and Mary Hayley Bell
, and sister of actress Juliet Mills, Mills began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising newcomer, winning the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for Tiger Bay
(1959), the Academy Juvenile Award
for Pollyanna
(1960) and Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress in 1961. During her early career, she appeared in several films for Walt Disney
.
During the late 1960s she began performing in theatrical plays, and played in more mature roles. The age of contracts with studios soon passed. Although she has not maintained the box office success nor the Hollywood A-list she experienced as a child actress, she has continued to make movies and TV appearances, having two movies in post-production in 2010.
In 2007 Mills became a main character in the ITV Series Wild at Heart
.
, England, the younger daughter of actor Sir John Mills
and playwright Mary Hayley Bell
. She is also the younger sister of actress Juliet Mills and the second cousin of Susie Blake
.
Mills was 12 when she was discovered by J. Lee Thompson
, who was initially looking for a boy to play the lead role in Tiger Bay
. Walt Disney
's wife, Lillian Disney
, saw her performance and suggested that Mills be given the lead role in Pollyanna
. The role of the orphaned "glad girl" who moves in with her aunt catapulted Mills to super-stardom in the United States
and earned her a special Academy Award.
Disney subsequently cast Mills as twins Sharon and Susan who reunite their divorced parents in The Parent Trap. In the film, Mills sings the hit song "Let's Get Together
." She made four additional films for Disney in a four-year span, including In Search of the Castaways
and Summer Magic
. The advent of the British Invasion
in popular music in 1964, courtesy of The Beatles
, allowed the maturing Mills to maintain her popularity. Her final two Disney films, The Moon-Spinners
and That Darn Cat!, did very well at the box office, aided by a well-publicized meeting between Mills and Beatle George Harrison
in March 1964.
During her six-year run at Disney, Mills was arguably the most popular child actress of the era. Critics noted that America's favourite child star was, in fact, quite British and very lady-like. The success of "Let's Get Together" (which hit No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100
singles chart) also led to the release of a record album on Disney's Buena Vista label, Let's Get Together with Hayley Mills, which also included her only other hit song, "Johnny Jingo" (Billboard No. 21, 1962).
In addition to her Disney movies, Mills starred in several other films, notably Whistle Down the Wind
1961, (based on the book of the same title written by her mother, Mary Hayley Bell
), with Alan Bates
. The Truth About Spring
(with her real father, John Mills
, cast as her father and James MacArthur
as the love interest), and The Chalk Garden
, 1964 from the play by Enid Bagnold
Mills was considered for the role of Lolita Haze in Stanley Kubrick
's 1962 film version of Lolita
. However, Walt Disney discouraged the casting, feeling the role was not up to Disney's wholesome standard, and the part eventually went to Sue Lyon
.
In 1962 Disney announced plans to film I Capture the Castle, from the novel by Dodie Smith, with Hayley Mills in the role of Cassandra. However, Disney never produced the film.
. Looking to break from her girl-next-door image, Mills returned to England to appear as a mentally challenged teenager in the film Sky West and Crooked
, which was directed by her father and written by her mother. Shortly thereafter, Mills was persuaded by her father and director Roy Boulting to star in The Family Way
, a comedy about a couple having difficulty consummating their marriage, featuring a score by Paul McCartney
and arrangements by Beatles producer George Martin
. She then starred as the protagonist of Pretty Polly
, opposite famous Indian film
actor Shashi Kapoor
in Singapore
. In 1972 she made Endless Night
with Britt Ekland, Per Oscarsson, Hywel Bennett and George Sanders.[1] It is based on the novel Endless Night
by Agatha Christie. After her appearance in The Kingfisher Caper
in 1975, Mills dropped out of the film industry for a few years.
's memoir of her childhood in East Africa
. The series was well-received, prompting Mills to accept more acting roles. She then returned to America, and made two appearances on The Love Boat
.
Always welcomed at Disney, Mills narrated an episode of The Wonderful World of Disney, sparking renewed interest in her Disney work. In 1986 she reprised her roles as twins Sharon and Susan for a trio of Parent Trap television movies: The Parent Trap II
, The Parent Trap III
, and The Parent Trap IV: Hawaiian Honeymoon
. Mills also starred as the title character in the Disney Channel
-produced television series Good Morning, Miss Bliss
in 1987. The show was cancelled after 13 episodes, and the rights were acquired by NBC
, which reformatted Good Morning, Miss Bliss into Saved by the Bell
. In recognition for her work with The Walt Disney Company
, Mills was awarded the prestigious Disney Legends
award in 1998.
Mills recalled her childhood in the 2000 documentary film Sir John Mills' Moving Memories
which was written by her brother Jonathan. In 2007 she began appearing (alongside her sister Juliet) as Caroline in the ITV1
African vet drama, Wild at Heart
.
In 2005 Mills appeared in the acclaimed short film, Stricken, written and directed by Jayce Bartok.
In 2010 Mills appeared in Mandie and the Cherokee Treasure, based on one of the popular Mandie novels of Lois Gladys
. In 2000 she made her Off Broadway debut in Sir Noel Coward
's Suite in Two Keys, opposite American actress Judith Ivey
, for which she won a Theatre World Award
. In 1991 she appeared as Anna Leonowens
in the Australian production of The King and I
. In December, 2007, for their annual birthday celebration to "The Master", The Noel Coward Society invited Mills as the guest celebrity to lay flowers in front of Coward's statue at New York's Gershwin Theatre, thereby commemorating the 108th birthday of Sir Noel.
. They then went on to purchase Cobstone Windmill
in Ibstone
, Buckinghamshire. Their son, Crispian Mills
, achieved recognition as the lead singer and guitarist for the psychedelic rock
band Kula Shaker
. The couple divorced in 1977. Mills currently lives in New York City.
Mills later had a second son, Jason Lawson, during a relationship with British actor Leigh Lawson
.
Mills has had involvement with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
(the "Hare Krishna" movement). She wrote the preface to the book, The Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking, published in 1984.
In 1988 she co-edited, with Marcus Maclaine, the book My God, which consisted of brief letters from celebrities on their beliefs (or lack thereof) regarding God and the life to come.
John Mills
Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
and Mary Hayley Bell
Mary Hayley Bell
Mary Hayley Bell, Lady Mills was an English actress, writer and dramatist.Mary Hayley Bell was born in Shanghai, China, where her father served in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, and the family later moved to Tianjin . It was there that she first met John Mills, although exactly when is not...
, and sister of actress Juliet Mills, Mills began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising newcomer, winning the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for Tiger Bay
Tiger Bay (film)
Tiger Bay is a 1959 British crime drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson and produced and co-written by John Hawkesworth. It stars John Mills as a police superintendent who investigates a murder, his daughter Hayley Mills, in her first major film role, as a girl who witnesses the murder, and Horst...
(1959), the Academy Juvenile Award
Academy Juvenile Award
The Academy Juvenile Award, also known as the Juvenile Oscar, was a Special Honorary Academy Award bestowed at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to specifically recognize juvenile performers under the age of eighteen for their "outstanding...
for Pollyanna
Pollyanna (1960 film)
Pollyanna is a Walt Disney Productions feature film starring child actress Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman, Karl Malden and Richard Egan in a story about a cheerful orphan changing the outlook of a small town. Based upon the novel Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter, the film was written and directed by David...
(1960) and Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress in 1961. During her early career, she appeared in several films for Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
.
During the late 1960s she began performing in theatrical plays, and played in more mature roles. The age of contracts with studios soon passed. Although she has not maintained the box office success nor the Hollywood A-list she experienced as a child actress, she has continued to make movies and TV appearances, having two movies in post-production in 2010.
In 2007 Mills became a main character in the ITV Series Wild at Heart
Wild at Heart (TV series)
Wild at Heart is a current ITV television drama series about a Bristol-based vet and his family emigrating to start a game park in South Africa. The show premiered in January 2006 and has recently finished screening its sixth series...
.
Early life and career
Mills was born Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England, the younger daughter of actor Sir John Mills
John Mills
Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
and playwright Mary Hayley Bell
Mary Hayley Bell
Mary Hayley Bell, Lady Mills was an English actress, writer and dramatist.Mary Hayley Bell was born in Shanghai, China, where her father served in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, and the family later moved to Tianjin . It was there that she first met John Mills, although exactly when is not...
. She is also the younger sister of actress Juliet Mills and the second cousin of Susie Blake
Susie Blake
Susie Blake is a British actress.-Personal life:Blake trained at the Arts Educational School and LAMDA in London. She is the granddaughter of the actress Annette Mills and a great - niece of the actor Sir John Mills...
.
Mills was 12 when she was discovered by J. Lee Thompson
J. Lee Thompson
John Lee Thompson , better known as J. Lee Thompson, was an English film director, active in England and Hollywood.- Early years :...
, who was initially looking for a boy to play the lead role in Tiger Bay
Tiger Bay (film)
Tiger Bay is a 1959 British crime drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson and produced and co-written by John Hawkesworth. It stars John Mills as a police superintendent who investigates a murder, his daughter Hayley Mills, in her first major film role, as a girl who witnesses the murder, and Horst...
. Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
's wife, Lillian Disney
Lillian Disney
Lillian Disney was the wife of Walt Disney. She was married to him from 1925 until his death in 1966.-Early years:...
, saw her performance and suggested that Mills be given the lead role in Pollyanna
Pollyanna (1960 film)
Pollyanna is a Walt Disney Productions feature film starring child actress Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman, Karl Malden and Richard Egan in a story about a cheerful orphan changing the outlook of a small town. Based upon the novel Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter, the film was written and directed by David...
. The role of the orphaned "glad girl" who moves in with her aunt catapulted Mills to super-stardom in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and earned her a special Academy Award.
Disney subsequently cast Mills as twins Sharon and Susan who reunite their divorced parents in The Parent Trap. In the film, Mills sings the hit song "Let's Get Together
Let's Get Together (Hayley Mills song)
"Let's Get Together" was a popular song written by the songwriting team of brothers Robert and Richard Sherman for the 1961 Disney film, The Parent Trap. It was sung in the film by teen actress Hayley Mills as a duet with herself. This is because she played twin sisters, which was a technical feat...
." She made four additional films for Disney in a four-year span, including In Search of the Castaways
In Search of the Castaways (film)
In Search of the Castaways is a 1962 Walt Disney Productions feature film starring Hayley Mills and Maurice Chevalier in a tale about a worldwide search for a shipwrecked sea captain. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson from a screenplay by Lowell S. Hawley based upon Jules Verne's 1868...
and Summer Magic
Summer Magic
Summer Magic is a 1963 Walt Disney Productions feature film starring Hayley Mills, Burl Ives, and Dorothy McGuire in a story about a Boston widow and her children taking up residence in a small town in Maine. The film was based on the book "Mother Carey's Chickens" by Kate Douglas Wiggin and was...
. The advent of the British Invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
in popular music in 1964, courtesy of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, allowed the maturing Mills to maintain her popularity. Her final two Disney films, The Moon-Spinners
The Moon-Spinners
The Moon-Spinners is a 1964 American Walt Disney Productions feature film starring Hayley Mills in a story about a jewel thief hiding on the island of Crete. The film was based upon a suspense novel by Mary Stewart and was directed by James Neilson...
and That Darn Cat!, did very well at the box office, aided by a well-publicized meeting between Mills and Beatle George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
in March 1964.
During her six-year run at Disney, Mills was arguably the most popular child actress of the era. Critics noted that America's favourite child star was, in fact, quite British and very lady-like. The success of "Let's Get Together" (which hit No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
singles chart) also led to the release of a record album on Disney's Buena Vista label, Let's Get Together with Hayley Mills, which also included her only other hit song, "Johnny Jingo" (Billboard No. 21, 1962).
In addition to her Disney movies, Mills starred in several other films, notably Whistle Down the Wind
Whistle Down the Wind (film)
Whistle Down the Wind is a 1961 British film, directed by Bryan Forbes, screenplay by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, from the novel by Mary Hayley Bell.-Plot:...
1961, (based on the book of the same title written by her mother, Mary Hayley Bell
Mary Hayley Bell
Mary Hayley Bell, Lady Mills was an English actress, writer and dramatist.Mary Hayley Bell was born in Shanghai, China, where her father served in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, and the family later moved to Tianjin . It was there that she first met John Mills, although exactly when is not...
), with Alan Bates
Alan Bates
Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE was an English actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he demonstrated his versatility in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving...
. The Truth About Spring
The Truth About Spring
The Truth about Spring is a 1965 film released by Universal. It stars Hayley Mills, her father Sir John Mills and James MacArthur It is a romantic comedy adventure.-Plot:...
(with her real father, John Mills
John Mills
Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
, cast as her father and James MacArthur
James MacArthur
James Gordon MacArthur was an American actor best known for the role of Danny "Danno" Williams, the reliable second-in-command of the fictional Hawaiian State Police squad Hawaii Five-O.-Early life:...
as the love interest), and The Chalk Garden
The Chalk Garden
The Chalk Garden is a play by Enid Bagnold that premiered on Broadway in 1955. The play tells the story of Mrs. St Maugham and her granddaughter Laurel, a disturbed child under Miss Madrigal's care. The setting of the play was inspired by Bagnold's own garden at North End House in Rottingdean, near...
, 1964 from the play by Enid Bagnold
Enid Bagnold
Enid Algerine Bagnold, Lady Jones, CBE , known by her maiden name as Enid Bagnold, was a British author and playwright, best known for the 1935 story National Velvet which was filmed in 1944 with Elizabeth Taylor....
Mills was considered for the role of Lolita Haze in Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's 1962 film version of Lolita
Lolita (1962 film)
Lolita is a 1962 comedy-drama film by Stanley Kubrick based on the classic novel of the same title by Vladimir Nabokov. The film stars James Mason as Humbert Humbert, Sue Lyon as Dolores Haze and Shelley Winters as Charlotte Haze with Peter Sellers as Clare Quilty.Due to the MPAA's restrictions at...
. However, Walt Disney discouraged the casting, feeling the role was not up to Disney's wholesome standard, and the part eventually went to Sue Lyon
Sue Lyon
- Lolita :Sue Lyon was 14 years old when she was cast in the role of Dolores "Lolita" Haze, the sexually charged adolescent and the object of an older man's obsessions in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 film, Lolita. She was chosen for the role partly because her curvy figure suggested an older adolescent...
.
In 1962 Disney announced plans to film I Capture the Castle, from the novel by Dodie Smith, with Hayley Mills in the role of Cassandra. However, Disney never produced the film.
Post-Disney film career
After her contract with Disney expired in 1965, Mills starred in the enduring comedy The Trouble with Angels, opposite screen veteran Rosalind RussellRosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...
. Looking to break from her girl-next-door image, Mills returned to England to appear as a mentally challenged teenager in the film Sky West and Crooked
Sky West and Crooked
Sky West and Crooked is a 1966 film, starring Hayley Mills, directed by her father John Mills, and co-written by her mother Mary Hayley Bell. It was released in the US as Gypsy Girl.-Plot summary:...
, which was directed by her father and written by her mother. Shortly thereafter, Mills was persuaded by her father and director Roy Boulting to star in The Family Way
The Family Way
The Family Way is a 1966 British comedy-drama film based on Bill Naughton's play All in Good Time . It began life in 1961 as a television play entitled Honeymoon Postponed....
, a comedy about a couple having difficulty consummating their marriage, featuring a score by Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
and arrangements by Beatles producer George Martin
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
. She then starred as the protagonist of Pretty Polly
Pretty Polly (film)
Pretty Polly, also known as A Matter of Innocence, is a 1967 British film, directed by Guy Green and based on the short story, Pretty Polly Barlow, by Noël Coward. It stars Hayley Mills, Shashi Kapoor, Trevor Howard, Brenda De Banzie...
, opposite famous Indian film
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...
actor Shashi Kapoor
Shashi Kapoor
Shashi Kapoor , born Balbir-Raj Prithviraj Kapoor on 18 March 1938 in Calcutta , is an award-winning Indian film actor and film producer. He has also been film director and assistant director in Hindi Films. He is a member of the Kapoor family, a film dynasty in India's Bollywood cinema...
in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. In 1972 she made Endless Night
Endless Night (1972 film)
Endless Night is a 1972 British crime film directed by Sidney Gilliat and starring Hayley Mills, Britt Ekland, Per Oscarsson, Hywel Bennett and George Sanders. It is based on the novel Endless Night by Agatha Christie.-Plot:...
with Britt Ekland, Per Oscarsson, Hywel Bennett and George Sanders.[1] It is based on the novel Endless Night
Endless Night
Endless Night is a work of crime fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on October 30, 1967 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at eighteen shillings and the US edition at $4.95...
by Agatha Christie. After her appearance in The Kingfisher Caper
The Kingfisher Caper
The Kingfisher Caper is a 1975 South African film directed by Dirk DeVilliers. It stars Hayley Mills, David McCallum, Jon Cypher, Volente Bertotti and Barry Trengove.-Production notes:...
in 1975, Mills dropped out of the film industry for a few years.
Television resurgence and reception
In 1981 Mills returned to acting with a starring role in the UK television mini-series The Flame Trees of Thika, based on Elspeth HuxleyElspeth Huxley
Elspeth Joscelin Huxley CBE was a polymath, writer, journalist, broadcaster, magistrate, environmentalist, farmer, and government advisor. She wrote 30 books; but she is best known for her lyrical books The Flame Trees of Thika and The Mottled Lizard which were based on her experiences growing up...
's memoir of her childhood in East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
. The series was well-received, prompting Mills to accept more acting roles. She then returned to America, and made two appearances on The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...
.
Always welcomed at Disney, Mills narrated an episode of The Wonderful World of Disney, sparking renewed interest in her Disney work. In 1986 she reprised her roles as twins Sharon and Susan for a trio of Parent Trap television movies: The Parent Trap II
The Parent Trap II
The Parent Trap II is a 1986 television film. It is a continuation to the Walt Disney Pictures 1961 film, The Parent Trap. It aired on July 26, 1986 on The Disney Channel as a part of the channel's "Sunday Night Movie". Hayley Mills is the only actor who returned from the original film...
, The Parent Trap III
The Parent Trap III
The Parent Trap III is a 1989 television movie. It is the second sequel to the 1961 film The Parent Trap. It was released by The Wonderful World of Disney in 1989...
, and The Parent Trap IV: Hawaiian Honeymoon
The Parent Trap IV: Hawaiian Honeymoon
The Parent Trap IV: Hawaiian Honeymoon is the fourth made-for-TV sequel of The Parent Trap. It aired November 19, 1989, Hayley Mills reprises her role as Susan Wyatt and Sharon Grand. Also returning from The Parent Trap III is Barry Bostwick and the Creel triplets: Joy, Leanna, and Monica...
. Mills also starred as the title character in the Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
-produced television series Good Morning, Miss Bliss
Good Morning, Miss Bliss
Good Morning, Miss Bliss is an American teen sitcom that aired on the Disney Channel from 1988 to 1989 , starring Hayley Mills as a teacher at John F...
in 1987. The show was cancelled after 13 episodes, and the rights were acquired by NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, which reformatted Good Morning, Miss Bliss into Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell
Saved by the Bell is an American television sitcom that aired between 1989 and 1993. The series is a retooled version of the 1988 series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, which was itself later folded into the history of Saved by the Bell...
. In recognition for her work with The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
, Mills was awarded the prestigious Disney Legends
Disney Legends
Established in 1987, the Disney Legends program recognizes people who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company. The honor is awarded annually during a special ceremony....
award in 1998.
Mills recalled her childhood in the 2000 documentary film Sir John Mills' Moving Memories
Sir John Mills' Moving Memories
Sir John Mills' Moving Memories is a British documentary film featuring 16mm color home movies shot by the actor Sir John Mills. It documents his life between 1946 and 1969, directed by Marcus Dillistone and written by his son Jonathan Mills. Commentary was provided by Sir John , Hayley Mills,...
which was written by her brother Jonathan. In 2007 she began appearing (alongside her sister Juliet) as Caroline in the ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
African vet drama, Wild at Heart
Wild at Heart (TV series)
Wild at Heart is a current ITV television drama series about a Bristol-based vet and his family emigrating to start a game park in South Africa. The show premiered in January 2006 and has recently finished screening its sixth series...
.
In 2005 Mills appeared in the acclaimed short film, Stricken, written and directed by Jayce Bartok.
In 2010 Mills appeared in Mandie and the Cherokee Treasure, based on one of the popular Mandie novels of Lois Gladys
Stage career
Mills made her stage debut in a 1966 West End revival of Peter PanPeter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
. In 2000 she made her Off Broadway debut in Sir Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Suite in Two Keys, opposite American actress Judith Ivey
Judith Ivey
Judith Lee Ivey is an American actress and director.-Personal life:Ivey was born in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Dorothy Lee , a teacher, and Nathan Aldean Ivey, a college instructor and dean. She spent 1965-1968 in Dowagiac, Michigan, where she attended Union High School through tenth grade...
, for which she won a Theatre World Award
Theatre World Award
The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
. In 1991 she appeared as Anna Leonowens
Anna Leonowens
Anna Leonowens was an English travel writer, educator, and social activist. She worked in Siam from 1862 to 1868, where she taught the wives and children of Mongkut, king of Siam. She also co-founded the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design...
in the Australian production of The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
. In December, 2007, for their annual birthday celebration to "The Master", The Noel Coward Society invited Mills as the guest celebrity to lay flowers in front of Coward's statue at New York's Gershwin Theatre, thereby commemorating the 108th birthday of Sir Noel.
Personal life
While filming The Family Way, the 20-year-old Mills met 53-year-old director Roy Boulting. The two married in 1971, and owned an apartment in London's KensingtonKensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
. They then went on to purchase Cobstone Windmill
Cobstone Windmill
Cobstone Mill was built around 1816 and is located in the civil parish of Ibstone in Buckinghamshire, England, and overlooks the village of Turville. It is sometimes referred to as Turville Windmill. It is a smock mill that replaced the original mill that had stood there since the 16th century...
in Ibstone
Ibstone
Ibstone is a village and civil parish within Wycombe district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills on the border with Oxfordshire, about two miles south of Stokenchurch....
, Buckinghamshire. Their son, Crispian Mills
Crispian Mills
Crispian Mills is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is the son of actress Hayley Mills and director Roy Boulting, the grandson of John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell , nephew of Juliet Mills and Jonathan Mills, and half-brother to Jason "Ace" Lawson...
, achieved recognition as the lead singer and guitarist for the psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
band Kula Shaker
Kula Shaker
Kula Shaker are an English psychedelic rock band. Led by outspoken frontman Crispian Mills, the band came to prominence during the Post-Britpop era of the late 1990s. The band enjoyed great commercial success in the UK between 1996 and 1999, notching up a number of Top 10 hits on the UK Singles...
. The couple divorced in 1977. Mills currently lives in New York City.
Mills later had a second son, Jason Lawson, during a relationship with British actor Leigh Lawson
Leigh Lawson
Leigh Lawson is a film and stage actor, director, and writer.-Career:Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Lawson has acted in film and television since the early 1970s, directed plays in the West End and on Broadway...
.
Mills has had involvement with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...
(the "Hare Krishna" movement). She wrote the preface to the book, The Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking, published in 1984.
In 1988 she co-edited, with Marcus Maclaine, the book My God, which consisted of brief letters from celebrities on their beliefs (or lack thereof) regarding God and the life to come.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | So Well Remembered So Well Remembered So Well Remembered is a 1947 British film starring John Mills, Martha Scott, and Trevor Howard. The film was based on the James Hilton novel of the same name and tells the story of a reformer and the woman he marries in a fictional Lancashire mill town. Hilton also narrated... |
Infant (uncredited) | |
| 1959 | Tiger Bay Tiger Bay (film) Tiger Bay is a 1959 British crime drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson and produced and co-written by John Hawkesworth. It stars John Mills as a police superintendent who investigates a murder, his daughter Hayley Mills, in her first major film role, as a girl who witnesses the murder, and Horst... |
Gillie | Won–Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at Berlin 9th Berlin International Film Festival The 9th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from June 26 to July 7, 1959.-Jury:* Robert Aldrich * Johan Jacobsen* Charles Ford* John Bryan* Ignazio Tranquilli* Shigueo Miyata* Wali Eddine Sameh* O. E... Won–BAFTA Film Award |
| 1960 | Pollyanna Pollyanna (1960 film) Pollyanna is a Walt Disney Productions feature film starring child actress Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman, Karl Malden and Richard Egan in a story about a cheerful orphan changing the outlook of a small town. Based upon the novel Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter, the film was written and directed by David... |
Pollyanna | Won–Academy Juvenile Award Academy Juvenile Award The Academy Juvenile Award, also known as the Juvenile Oscar, was a Special Honorary Academy Award bestowed at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to specifically recognize juvenile performers under the age of eighteen for their "outstanding... Nominated–BAFTA Film Award |
| 1961 | The Parent Trap | Susan Evans / Sharon McKendrick | Nominated–Golden Globe Nominated–Golden Laurel Laurel Awards The Laurel Awards were cinema awards to honor pictures, actors, actresses, directors and composers. This award was created by Motion Picture Exhibitor magazine, and ran from 1958 to 1968, then 1970 and 1971.... |
| 1961 | Whistle Down the Wind Whistle Down the Wind (film) Whistle Down the Wind is a 1961 British film, directed by Bryan Forbes, screenplay by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, from the novel by Mary Hayley Bell.-Plot:... |
Kathy Bostock | Nominated–BAFTA Film Award |
| 1962 | In Search of the Castaways In Search of the Castaways (film) In Search of the Castaways is a 1962 Walt Disney Productions feature film starring Hayley Mills and Maurice Chevalier in a tale about a worldwide search for a shipwrecked sea captain. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson from a screenplay by Lowell S. Hawley based upon Jules Verne's 1868... |
Mary Grant | |
| 1963 | Summer Magic Summer Magic Summer Magic is a 1963 Walt Disney Productions feature film starring Hayley Mills, Burl Ives, and Dorothy McGuire in a story about a Boston widow and her children taking up residence in a small town in Maine. The film was based on the book "Mother Carey's Chickens" by Kate Douglas Wiggin and was... |
Nancy Carey | Nominated–Golden Globe |
| 1964 | The Chalk Garden The Chalk Garden (film) The Chalk Garden is a 1964 British-American film directed by Ronald Neame. It stars Deborah Kerr and Hayley Mills and is an adaptation of the 1955 play of the same name... |
Laurel | |
| 1964 | The Moon-Spinners The Moon-Spinners The Moon-Spinners is a 1964 American Walt Disney Productions feature film starring Hayley Mills in a story about a jewel thief hiding on the island of Crete. The film was based upon a suspense novel by Mary Stewart and was directed by James Neilson... |
Nikky Ferris | |
| 1965 | The Truth About Spring The Truth About Spring The Truth about Spring is a 1965 film released by Universal. It stars Hayley Mills, her father Sir John Mills and James MacArthur It is a romantic comedy adventure.-Plot:... |
Spring Tyler | |
| 1965 | That Darn Cat! | Patti Randall | 2nd Place–Golden Laurel Laurel Awards The Laurel Awards were cinema awards to honor pictures, actors, actresses, directors and composers. This award was created by Motion Picture Exhibitor magazine, and ran from 1958 to 1968, then 1970 and 1971.... |
| 1966 | Sky West and Crooked Sky West and Crooked Sky West and Crooked is a 1966 film, starring Hayley Mills, directed by her father John Mills, and co-written by her mother Mary Hayley Bell. It was released in the US as Gypsy Girl.-Plot summary:... |
Brydie White | USA title: Gypsy Girl |
| 1966 | The Trouble with Angels | Mary Clancy | |
| 1966 | The Daydreamer | The Little Mermaid (voice) | |
| 1966 | The Family Way The Family Way The Family Way is a 1966 British comedy-drama film based on Bill Naughton's play All in Good Time . It began life in 1961 as a television play entitled Honeymoon Postponed.... |
Jenny Fitton | |
| 1967 | Africa: Texas Style | Blonde girl at airport (uncredited) | |
| 1967 | Pretty Polly Pretty Polly (film) Pretty Polly, also known as A Matter of Innocence, is a 1967 British film, directed by Guy Green and based on the short story, Pretty Polly Barlow, by Noël Coward. It stars Hayley Mills, Shashi Kapoor, Trevor Howard, Brenda De Banzie... |
Polly Barlow | USA title: A Matter of Innocence |
| 1968 | Twisted Nerve Twisted Nerve Twisted Nerve is a 1968 British psychological thriller film about a disturbed young man, Martin, who pretends, under the name of Georgie, to be mentally retarded in order to be near Susan, a girl he has become infatuated with, killing those who get in his way.-Plot:The film opens with Martin... |
Susan Harper | |
| 1970 | Take a Girl Like You Take a Girl Like You (film) Take a Girl Like You is a 1970 British comedy film directed by Jonathan Miller and starring Hayley Mills, Oliver Reed, Sheila Hancock, Ronald Lacey, John Bird, Noel Harrison, Aimi MacDonald and Penelope Keith. It was based on the 1960 novel Take a Girl Like You by Kingsley Amis, and was adapted by... |
Jenny Bunn | |
| 1971 | Mr. Forbush and the Penguins Mr. Forbush and the Penguins Mr. Forbush and the Penguins, also known as Cry of the Penguins, is a 1971 British film, directed by Arne Sucksdorff, Alfred Viola and Roy Boulting. It stars John Hurt, Hayley Mills, Dudley Sutton and Tony Britton.-Cast:... |
Tara St. John Luke | USA title: Cry of the Penguins |
| 1972 | Endless Night Endless Night (1972 film) Endless Night is a 1972 British crime film directed by Sidney Gilliat and starring Hayley Mills, Britt Ekland, Per Oscarsson, Hywel Bennett and George Sanders. It is based on the novel Endless Night by Agatha Christie.-Plot:... |
Fenella 'Ellie' Thomsen | |
| 1974 | What Changed Charley Farthing | Jenny | USA title: The Bananas Boat |
| 1974 | Deadly Strangers Deadly Strangers Deadly Strangers is a 1974 film directed by Sidney Hayers and starring Hayley Mills , Simon Ward and Sterling Hayden-Plot:A lunatic is on the loose as a salesman... |
Belle Adams | |
| 1974 | Thriller Thriller (UK TV series) Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast... |
Samantha Miller | Episode: "Only a Scream Away" |
| 1975 | The Kingfisher Caper The Kingfisher Caper The Kingfisher Caper is a 1975 South African film directed by Dirk DeVilliers. It stars Hayley Mills, David McCallum, Jon Cypher, Volente Bertotti and Barry Trengove.-Production notes:... |
Tracy | |
| 1979 | The Love Boat The Love Boat The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain... |
Shirley Tyson | 1 episode |
| 1980 | The Love Boat The Love Boat The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain... |
Leila Stanhope | 1 episode |
| 1981 | The Flame Trees of Thika The Flame Trees of Thika The Flame Trees of Thikais a British television mini-series of seven 50-minute episodes made by Euston Films for Thames Television in 1981. It was adapted by John Hawkesworth from the 1959 book of the same title by Elspeth Huxley, and is set in and around the town of Thika in Kenya's Central Province... |
Tilly Grant | TV mini-series |
| 1983 | Tales of the Unexpected Tales of the Unexpected (TV series) Tales of the Unexpected is a British television series originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. Filming began in 1978.The series was an anthology of different tales... |
Claire Hawksworth | Episode: "A Sad Loss" |
| 1984 | Grimm's Fairy Tales and Storybook Series | TV series | |
| 1985 | The Love Boat The Love Boat The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain... |
Dianne Tipton | 2 episodes |
| 1986 | The Parent Trap II The Parent Trap II The Parent Trap II is a 1986 television film. It is a continuation to the Walt Disney Pictures 1961 film, The Parent Trap. It aired on July 26, 1986 on The Disney Channel as a part of the channel's "Sunday Night Movie". Hayley Mills is the only actor who returned from the original film... |
Susan Carey / Sharon Ferris | TV movie |
| 1986 | Murder, She Wrote Murder, She Wrote Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,... |
Cynthia Tate | Episode: "Unfinished Business" |
| 1986 | Amazing Stories Amazing Stories (TV series) Amazing Stories is a fantasy, horror, and science fiction television anthology series created by Steven Spielberg. It ran on NBC from 1985 to 1987, and was somewhat erratically screened in Britain by BBC1 and BBC2 - billed in the Radio Times as "Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories" - with episodes... |
Joan Simmons | Episode: "The Greibble" |
| 1987 | Good Morning, Miss Bliss Good Morning, Miss Bliss Good Morning, Miss Bliss is an American teen sitcom that aired on the Disney Channel from 1988 to 1989 , starring Hayley Mills as a teacher at John F... |
Miss Carrie Bliss | 1987–1989 (14 episodes) |
| 1988 | Appointment with Death Appointment With Death (film) Appointment with Death is a 1988 mystery film, made by Golan-Globus Productions and produced and directed by Michael Winner. It is an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel Appointment with Death featuring the detective Hercule Poirot... |
Miss Quinton | |
| 1989 | The Parent Trap III The Parent Trap III The Parent Trap III is a 1989 television movie. It is the second sequel to the 1961 film The Parent Trap. It was released by The Wonderful World of Disney in 1989... |
Susan Evers / Sharon Grand | TV movie |
| 1989 | The Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon | Susan Wyatt / Sharon Evers | TV movie |
| 1990 | Back Home | Mrs. Peggy Dickinson | TV movie |
| 1990 | After Midnight | Sally Ryan | |
| 1994 | A Troll in Central Park A Troll in Central Park A Troll in Central Park is a 1994 animated feature-length film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, creators of films such as Thumbelina, The Land Before Time, and All Dogs Go to Heaven. It was released on October 7, 1994 by Warner Bros... |
Hilary (voice) | |
| 2000 | Sir John Mills' Moving Memories Sir John Mills' Moving Memories Sir John Mills' Moving Memories is a British documentary film featuring 16mm color home movies shot by the actor Sir John Mills. It documents his life between 1946 and 1969, directed by Marcus Dillistone and written by his son Jonathan Mills. Commentary was provided by Sir John , Hayley Mills,... |
Herself | Interviewed about her childhood memories |
| 2004 | 2BPerfectlyHonest | Terri | |
| 2005 | Stricken Stricken (film) Stricken is an American film that premiered on June 25, 2010, It was directed and written by Matthew Sconce, the movie starred Stephanie French and David Fine of Rent, Sweet November, The Pursuit of Happiness, and many other films... |
Hildy | |
| 2006 | Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema is a feature-length biographical documentary film by Polish-American director Mariusz Kotowski released in 2006... |
Herself | Interviewed in depth about working with silent actress Pola Negri Pola Negri Pola Negri was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles from the 1910s through the 1940s during the Golden Era of Hollywood film. She was the first European film star to be invited to Hollywood, and became a great American star. She... in the film The Moon-Spinners The Moon-Spinners The Moon-Spinners is a 1964 American Walt Disney Productions feature film starring Hayley Mills in a story about a jewel thief hiding on the island of Crete. The film was based upon a suspense novel by Mary Stewart and was directed by James Neilson... (1964) |
| 2007– present |
Wild at Heart Wild at Heart (TV series) Wild at Heart is a current ITV television drama series about a Bristol-based vet and his family emigrating to start a game park in South Africa. The show premiered in January 2006 and has recently finished screening its sixth series... |
Caroline Du Plessis | 2007–present (19+ episodes) |
| 2012 | Foster | Mrs Lange |