The middle child of actor John Mills and writer Mary Hayley Bell, blonde, blue-eyed Hayley Mills became the epitome of English wholesomeness in the early 1960s in a series of Disney films. She first came to attention with a highly-praised turn as a pre-teen murder witness in "Tiger Bay" (1959), opposite her father. Based on this strong debut, Walt Disney signed Mills to a five-year contract, putting her in a series of sweet, ingratiating innocents ranging from "Pollyanna" (1960), for which she earned a special juvenile Academy Award to a dual role of twins trying to reunite their divorced parents in "The Parent Trap" (1961). She also co-starred as one of three children who discover an escaped convict and believe he is Jesus Christ in Bryan Forbes' "Whistle Down the Wind" (1961), adapted from a novel by her mother. After playing a perturbing student at a convent school who reforms in "The Trouble With Angels" (1966), directed by Ida Lupino, Mills shocked the Establishment and shed her pure image with a celebrated nude scene in "The Family Way" (also 1966). That she also married a man three-decades her senior, producer-director Roy Boulting, changed the direction of her career.
By the early 70s, her film career was petering out, but she found renewed success as a stage actress, appearing in the title role of "Peter Pan" (1969-70) and Chekhov's "Three Sisters" (1970). After giving birth to her first child, she returned to the stage in "A Touch of Spring" (1975-76), which introduced her to Leigh Lawson, with whom she had a romantic relationship and a second son. For much of the next two decades, Mills concentrated on stage work winning praise for her work in "Talley's Folly" (1982) and "Toys in the Attic" (1985). She continued to make appearances in small screen productions, notably as the wife and mother of a family growing coffee in Kenya in the acclaimed BBC miniseries "The Flame Trees of Thika" (shown in the USA on PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre" in 1982) as well as guest appearances on such fodder as "The Love Boat" and "Murder, She Wrote". The 90s brought her to Australia, first as Anna in a restaging of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The King and I" (1991) and then opposite her older sister Juliet in a production of Noel Coward's "Fallen Angels" (1992). More recently, Mills traveled across North America headlining a national tour of "The King and I".
Family
FATHER: John Mills. Actor. Won the 1970 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
MOTHER: Mary Hayley Bell Lady Mills. Novelist, playwright. Wrote the novel on which "Whistle Down the Wind' was based.
SISTER: Juliet Mills. Actor. Born on November 21, 1941; best-known for starring in the TV sitcom "Nanny and the Professor"; married to actor Maxwell Caulfield.
BROTHER: Jonathan Mills. Screenwriter, producer. Born in 1949.
SON: Crispian Boulting. Musician. Born on January 18, 1973; father Roy Boulting; lead singer of rock band Kula Shaker.
SON: Jason Lawson. Born c. 1976; father, Leigh Lawson.
Companion
HUSBAND: Roy Boulting. Producer, director. Married in 1971; separated in 1975; divorced in 1977; born in 1913.
COMPANION: Leigh Lawson. Actor. Father of Mills' son Jason; together in the early 1980s; later married actress-model Twiggy.
COMPANION: Marcus Mclaine. Musician. Brother of actor Maxwell Caulfield (who is married to Mills' sister); no longer together; born c. 1963.
Milestone
1959: Feature film debut, "Tiger Bay"
1960: First Disney film "Pollyanna"; received juvenile Academy Award
1961: Played a dual role as twins in "The Parent Trap"
1961: Starred in "Whistle Down the Wind", adapted from a novel by her mother Mary Hayley Bell
1966: Did first nude scene in "The Family Way"
1969 - 1970: Stage acting debut in the title role of "Peter Pan" in London
1972: Last feature for 16 years, "Endless Nights"
Co-starred with Leigh Lawson in the West End production of "A Touch of Spring"
1981: Starred in acclaimed British series "The Flame Trees of Thika" (shown in USA on PBS in 1982)
1982: Starred in the London production of "Talley's Folly"
1986: Reprised her childhood dual role of twins in the Disney Channel TV-movie "The Parent Trap II"
1988: Starred in the Disney Channel series "Good Morning, Miss Bliss"
1988: Returned to features in the ensemble cast of "Appointment With Death"; last onscreen role to date
1989: Again reprised her dual role as twins in "Parent Trap III" and "Parent Trap Hawaiian Honeymoon" (both NBC)
1991: Toured Australia playing Anna in "The King and I"
1992: Appeared with sister Juliet in "Fallen Angels" by Noel Coward; toured Australia, New Zealand, and the UK
1994: Provided a character voice for the animated film "A Troll in Central Park"
Headed a North American touring company of "The King and I"
2000: Made debut Off-Broadway in Noel Coward's "A Suite in Two Keys"
Education
Elmhurst Ballet School - Camberly, Surrey, England
Bibliography
"My God: Letters from the Famous on God and the Life Hereafter collected and edited by Hayley Mills and Marcus Maclaine 1988
Doug Watson
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