Hayley Mills Biography

Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills was born on 18 April 1946 in London. She grew up at her family home, along with her sister Juliet, and was an outgoing, funny and intelligent child.

When she was sent to boarding school at the age of nine, she became shy and found solace in theatre productions at her school. She was spotted by J Lee Thompson while she was playing at home and she took the lead in the 1959 film 'Tiger Bay'.

This was a success as she won an award at the Berlin Film Festival and Walt Disney noticed her potential, signing her up for a five-year contract. Her first Disney film was 'Pollyanna' in 1960, for which she received rave reviews and a special juvenile Academy Award.

Mills next Disney film was 'The Parent Trap' (1961). She played a pair of twins who reunite their parents after a long time, and her acting earned her a special Oscar. After this she starred in 'In Search For The Castaways' (1962), 'Summer Magic' (1963) and 'The Moon-Spinners' in 1964 for Disney, at which point she began to tire of her sunny, innocent Pollyanna image. Her last film for the studio was 'That Darn Cat!' in 1965.

During this period, she also appeared in an adaptation of her mother's novel 'Whistle Down The Wind' in 1961 and alongside her father in the 1964 film 'The Chalk Garden'.

Her first film post-Disney, Columbia's 'The Trouble With Angels' in 1966 was also a huge success. Mills then starred with her father in 'The Family Way' the same year. She also acted in the film 'Kes', directed by Ken Loach, in 1969.

In 1971, she married Roy Boulting, who had directed her in the film 'The Family Way'. He was 33 years her senior and divorced his wife to be with Mills. They had a child, named Crispian Mills, and divorced in 1977. Crispian later became a singer with the band Kula Shaker, and is now launching a solo career.

Her second son, Jason Lawson, is the product of a 1970s relationship with actor Leigh Lawson. During the 1980s, Mills appeared in three sequels to 'The Parent Trap' and the BBC miniseries 'The Flame Trees of Thika' (1981).

Mills has starred in many shows and plays since, more notably as a teacher in 'Saved By The Bell'(1989), and as Miss Anna Leonowens in the British production of 'The King and I' (1991).

She made her off-Broadway debut in Noel Coward's 'Suite in Two Keys', in 2000.

In 2007, Mills starred in the ITV1 Sunday-night drama 'Wild at Heart' - a show in which she continues to act.

On 18 April 2008, Mills was diagnosed with breast cancer for which she underwent surgery and chemotherapy. In January 2012, she told Good Housekeeping magazine that she had recovered.