“You must be awfully glad… that you’re so very rich!” as Pollyanna Whittier in “Pollyana”
Hayley Mills was born in London, England in 1947 to the actor, Sir John Mills and the playwright, Mary Hayley Bell. Although Hayley made her screen debut while a baby in her father’s film “So Well Remembered” (1947), her first real acting role was as a twelve year old when she took British audiences by storm by her role as a murder withness in the crime thriller “Tiger Bay”. However, it was Hayley’s move to the United States in the 1960’s where Hayley appeared in a series of wholesome family films for Walt Disney where she really became a superstar. Hayley’s good looks and wide-wyed innocence, in addition to her acting talents made her one of the most popular teen stars of the decade, although her career eventually dried up when she attempted to abandon her squeaky-clean image.
It was the film “Pollyanna” where Hayley played Pollyanna that really catapulted Hayley to fame and earned her a special Academy Award. Mills made five more films for Disney in a relatively short space of time including “The Parent Trap” where Hayley played twins who reunite their divorced parents and “In Search of the Castaways”. Mills was without a doubt the most popular child actress of the era while at Disney and although considered America’s favorite child star, Hayley was actually very British and lady-like. Hayley released the song “Let’s Get Together” which she sang in “The Parent Trap” which reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and later released an album, “Let’s Get Together with Hayley Mills” with Disney.
When Hayley’s contract with Disney expired in 1966, she starred in “The Trouble With Angels”. In an attempt to break free of her clean-cut, girl-next-door image, Mills returned to England to star in “The Family Way” which caused a certain amount of controversy when a brief shot of Mills’ bottom appeared. By today’s standards, the film would be considered tame but at the time it damaged Hayley’s career.
Hayley Mills made het stage debut in a 1966 West End revival of “Peter Pan” and has continued to appear on stage over the years, winning a Theatre World Award for her performance in Sir Noel Coward’s “Suite in Two Keys” in 2000. Mills has continued to capitalize on “The Parent Trap” success over the years appearing in a trio of made-for-TV films in the 1980’s: “The Parent Trap II”, “The Parent Trap III” and “The Parent Trap Hawaiian Honeymooners”. Other television productions include “The Flame Trees of Thika” and the telelvision series, “Good Morning Miss Bliss”. Since 2007, Mills has had a prominent role in the African vet drama, “Wild At Heart”.
Offscreen, Hayley Mills married director Roy Boulting when she was 20 and he was 53, with whom she had a son , Crispian Mills who is the lead guitarist for the band Kula Shaker. Mills also had a second son during a a relationship with British actor Leigh Lawson. Mills is involved with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (the “Hare Krishna” movement) and composed the preface to “The Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking” in 1984. In 1998, Hayley was honored as a “Disney Legend” for her contribution to Disney films over the years.
