Hayley Mills was born on April 18, 1946. She was born as Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills in London to the famous British actor John Mills and the playwright Mary Hayley Bell; Hayley and her father later became the first Oscar-winning father-daughter couple. Hayley started acting at a young age alongside her father, and she was discovered by Walt Disney when she was a child. She became a child star and continues to be a working actress. She made her American film debut in the now classic “Pollyanna,” one of her top 5 films.
Pollyanna
Hayley Mills stars as the feisty, kind and irrepressibly optimistic orphan named Pollyanna. After the death of her parents, she goes to live with her Aunt Polly, a lady who is no-nonsense and is seen as a wealthy and well-respected woman in her community. She is not prepared for children, and she placed Pollyanna far up in the house. However, Pollyanna and her kind nature win her friends and admirers everywhere she go.
Memorable scenes from the film include her first hug with Aunt Polly and when the young orphan teaches the workers at house how to play the “glad game,” a game based on stating what you are glad about.
The Parent Trap
Despite the subject matter of divorce, this movie is incredibly upbeat and fun. Hayley Mills plays two roles in this film that exhibits wonderful 1960s creativity and technology in how they were able to make Hayley playing two roles communicate (and even fight) with herself. The soundtrack is mesmerizing, and the storyline draws you in.
You will find you liking both twins. There is the sophisticated, slightly uptight Sharon who was raised by her mother in Boston to be quite proper, then there is Sharon, who was raised on a ranch in California by her father and who is more mellow and relaxed. When the two twins are sent to the same summer camp, yet become instant enemies, they eventually discover that they are long lost twin sisters. The two switch places in a complicated plan at matchmaking their parents, so that they can be a family.
The Trouble With Angels
This film allowed Hayley Mills to depart from her typical roles. She plays a rebel who is sent to a Catholic boarding school. She smokes and gets into all kinds of mischief. When she meets a kindred spirit in a fellow student named Rachel, the two really get into trouble. Her famous phrase in the film, which seems to be a prelude to all of the trouble the girls find themselves in, is, “I have a scathingly brilliant idea.”
Summer Magic
There are few movie musicals as fun and unique as “Summer Magic.” Hayley Mills stars as Nancy Carey, a teenage girl dealing with her father’s death and the immediate reduction in circumstances of her family: her mom, brother Gillie and much younger brother Peter. She has written to the owner of a house in a town that the family vacationed with her father. She remembered how they all admired it, and she is trying to think of anything to keep her family from moving into the horrible neighborhood where they are destined to move. Luckily, a kindly postmaster in town is looking over the house, and he invites the family to stay in the home.
When the family arrives, it’s revealed that Nancy slightly exaggerated the reduced circumstances of her family in order to be able to stay in the home, but that is overlooked by the kindly man, portrayed perfectly by Burl Ives. The family gets close to him and many people in town, and the real surprise occurs when the true owner of the house comes back into town.
Unforgettable songs from the film include “Summer Magic,” “Ugly Bug Ball” and “Flitterin’.
Parent Trap 2
Few movie sequels come close to being as good as the original, but this sequel most definitely is. It originally aired on the Disney Channel in the 1980s, and it’s now available in DVD set with the original. It stars Hayley Mills once again in the double role of Sharon and Susan. This time, however, it’s Sharon that is the subject of a matchmaking scheme.
Sharon and her daughter Nikki live alone in Tampa, Florida. Nikki is distraught over an impending move to New York City, especially when she meets her best friend, Mary Grant (portrayed by the late Bridgette Andersen). In order to prevent the move to New York City–and keep their friendship together–Mary and Nikki scheme a grand matchmaking plot in which Mary’s dad falls in love with Nikki’s mom. They even enlist the reluctant help of Nikki’s Aunt Susan. Fun and madness then ensues. It’s a can’t-miss movie.
Sources cited:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057542/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001539/
http://ricksaphire.com/
