Hayley Mills was born to actor John Mills and playwright Mary Hayley Bell on April 18, 1946, in London, England. Her full name is Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills. She is the sister of actress Juliet Mills, and of Jonathan Mills. I have heard that Jonathan is a film director now. Juliet is still acting as well. You may have seen her on the American soap opera, "Passions."
Hayley's Family -- (left to right) - Hamlet the Spaniel, Hayley, Jonathan (age 10), Suki the Peke, and her father. Hayley made her acting debut in 1959's "Tiger Bay". In reference to TIGER BAY, did you know that the child lead was originally supposed to be a boy! The director, J.Lee Thompson, was at the Mills' farm in Sussex having lunch. He was telling John Mills about the difficulty he was having finding the right boy for the lead. Looking out the window, he saw a little girl playing in the yard. She was clowning around acting out a tv commercial. At that moment, Thompson decided to change the lead to a girl. Probably, one of the most difficult scenes in the movie (at least for a child) was the part where the police detective asks her a series of questions to which she responded with lies. The director expected that this scene would take about 20 takes. Imagine his surprise when Hayley did it perfectly in just one take! Thompson was ecstatic. His exact words to John Mills were: "This has been the most exciting morning that I've ever had!"
Walt Disney's wife saw Hayley's performance in "Tiger Bay" and immediately fell in love with her. Well, the end result was that Hayley made her American film debut in 1960's "Pollyanna". She won a special Academy Award for her performance as the glad girl. In 1961, Hayley made history in "The Parent Trap." Do you remember these words: "Let's get together, yeah, yeah, yeah; two is twice as nice as one?" Well it wasn't so nice for the wardrobe dept. of the movie set. Oh, they didn't mind making the clothes for the 65 wardrobe changes for Hayley. The problem occurred when Hayley hit her growth spurt during the making of the movie. She actually grew 2 inches, from 5'1" to 5'3". The wardrobe dept. then had to go back to the outfits and lengthen them by two inches. The original costumes where made some time before the movie started shooting.
My twin sister wrote a letter to Joanna Barnes, who is best known as Vicki from "The Parent Trap." On August 28, 1997, she received a hand written letter from Ms. Barnes herself. Here is what the letter said.
In 1971, Hayley Mills was married to film director Roy Boulting. Many did not approve of this marriage because Roy Boulting was 33 years her senior. However, she seemed to be happy. She has one son from that marriage, Crispian (Dodge to his friends) Mills, who was born on January 18,1973, in Hammersmith, West London. Hayley and Roy separated in 1975 and were divorced in 1977. Hayley's second son, Jason ("Ace"), was a result of her relationship with actor Leigh Lawson in the mid 1970's. Sometime in the mid 1990's, Hayley ended a longtime relationship with Marcus Maclaine, a 34-year-old rock musician who is also her brother-in-law (his brother, Maxwell Caulfield, is her sister Juliet's husband). These days, Hayley has been linked to Firdous Bamji, whom she met and fell in love with during the tour of "The King & I."
Today, she is still acting, although not commonly in movies. These days, her interests lie in live theatre. For a year and a half in the late 1990's, Hayley toured in the national production of "The King and I." She starred as Miss Anna Leonowens.
I attended the show on Thursday, July 17, 1997, in Dallas, Texas. You can read all about my stage door encounter be following the link: http://www.oocities.org/Broadway/Stage/5046/.
For many years, Hayley has been a vegetarian. She is listed as a supporter of Viva! (the Vegetarians International Voice for Animals). According to the "International Who's Who", she enjoys scuba diving also. And what music does Hayley listen to in her spare time? None other than Elvis Presley, whom she has admired all of her life. Her favorite song reportedly is "Love Me Tender." For the longest time she lived in Hampton, England with her cat, Tulsi, but these days she calls New York home. Her first son, Crispian Mills, was the lead singer of a British indie-rock band, Kula Shaker, but that particular group disbanded a few years ago. Jason graduated from drama-school and is now working at England's Suffolk Playhouse. In 2003, he shared the stage with his mother in the production of "Wait Until Dark".In recent years, Hayley made her off-Broadway debut in March of 2000 in "Noel Coward's A Suite in Two Keys," an evening of two one-act plays written by The Master himself: ``Shadows of the Evening'' and ``A Song at Twilight.'' Unfortunately, the opening reviews weren't as laudatory as expected, so the show was quickly cancelled. In 2001, Hayley had the lead in "Sister Mozart" at the Museum Theater in Hartford, Connecticut. The play concentrated on her character, Nannerl Mozart, older sister of the late great master, as she ponders her life within the Mozart family in 1806, what would have been her brother's 50th birthday, had he lived to that age. Performances were reportedly sold out!
In addition to those listed above, Hayley has also appeared in numerous other productions, including: "The Vagina Monologues" in New York City in 2001, "A Little Night Music" in Seattle in (2001), "An Evening of Alan Bennett" in NYC in 2002, "Wait Until Dark" in Massachusetts in 2003 (with her son, Jason), the UK national tour of "Humble Boy" in late 2003, and numerous benefits along the way. Most recently, Hayley's latest film, "2B Perfectly Honest", had its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in May of 2004. She played the role of Terri, the mom. And last but not least, in December of 2004, once again Hayley appeared in Connecticut, this time in a production entitled "A Rare Pattern". According to the organization behind the production, the play is set in New York in the 1940’s, where the protagonist (Hayley) looks back over her earlier life in the 1920’s as she comes of age at Vassar College.
Have you ever noticed how many girls named "Hayley" there are these days? Her name has been one of her most enduring legacies. According to an interview she did with the Boston Phoenix in July of 2003, "I was called Hayley because my mother’s surname was Hayley-Bell, and her father was called Hayley for short, and when she was pregnant with me, she desperately hoped for a son. But she was going to call whatever she had Hayley, and it was a girl, so she decided to call it Hayley. So, really, we always maintained that it’s a boy’s name; I don’t know that anyone used it as a girl’s name." She pauses. "This is very convoluted," she laughs. "I obviously brought the name to people’s attention, and then it came to life."
