Early life

Mills was born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills in Felixstowe, Suffolk, the son of Edith (Baker), a theatre box office manager, and Lewis Mills, a mathematics teacher.

He lived in a modest house in Gainsborough Road Felixstowe until 1929. His older sister was Annette Mills, remembered as presenter of BBC Television's Muffin the Mule (1946-55).

He was educated at Balham Grammar School in London, Sir John Leman High School in Beccles, Suffolk and Norwich High School for Boys, where it is said that his initials can still be seen carved into the brickwork on the side of the building in Upper St. Giles Street. Upon leaving school he worked as a clerk at a corn merchants in Ipswich before finding employment in London as a commercial traveller for the Sanitas Disinfectant Company.

In September 1939, at the start of the Second World War, Mills enlisted in the British Army in the Royal Engineers. He was later commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, but in 1942 he received a medical discharge because of a stomach ulcer.

Career

Mills took an early interest in acting, making his professional début at the London Hippodrome in The Five O'Clock Girl in 1929. He also starred in the Noël Coward revue Words and Music. He made his film début in The Midshipmaid (1932), and appeared as Colley in the 1939 film version of Goodbye, Mr Chips, opposite Robert Donat. In 1942, he starred in Noël Coward's In Which We Serve.

Mills took the lead in Great Expectations in 1946, and subsequently made his career playing traditionally British heroes such as Captain Scott in Scott of the Antarctic (1948). After Morning Departure he made a series of unsuccessful films but bounced back with war dramas, such as The Colditz Story (1954), Above Us the Waves (1955) and Ice Cold in Alex (1958).

From 1959 through the mid-1960s, Mills starred in several films alongside his daughter Hayley. Their first film together was the 1959 crime drama Tiger Bay, in which John plays a police detective investigating a murder that Hayley's character witnessed. Following Hayley's rise to fame in Pollyanna (1960) and the 1961 family comedy The Parent Trap, John and Hayley again starred together, in the 1965 teen sailing adventure The Truth About Spring, the 1964 drama The Chalk Garden (with Deborah Kerr in the lead role), and the 1966 comedy-drama The Family Way, in which John plays an insecure, overbearing father and Hayley plays his son's newlywed wife.

As Colonel Barrow in Tunes of Glory, Mills won the best Actor Award at the 1960 Venice Film Festival. For his role as the village idiot in Ryan's Daughter (1970) — a complete departure from his usual style - Mills won an Best Supporting Actor Oscar. His most famous television role was probably as the title character in Quatermass for ITV in 1979. Also on the small screen, in 1974 he starred as Captain Tommy "The Elephant" Devon in the six-part television drama series The Zoo Gang, about a group of former underground freedom fighters from World War II, with Brian Keith, Lilli Palmer and Barry Morse. Mills also starred as Gus: The Theatre Cat in the filmed version of the musical Cats in 1998.

In 2000, Mills released his extensive home cine-film footage in a documentary film entitled Sir John Mills' Moving Memories, with interviews with Mills, his children Hayley, Juliet and Jonathan and Richard Attenborough. The film was produced and written by Jonathan Mills, directed and edited by Marcus Dillistone, and features behind the scenes footage and stories from films such as Ice Cold in Alex and Dunkirk. In addition the film also includes home footage of many of Mills's friends and fellow cast members including Laurence Olivier, Harry Andrews, Walt Disney, David Niven, Dirk Bogarde, Rex Harrison and Tyrone Power.

Mills's last cinema appearance was playing a tramp in Lights 2 (directed by Marcus Dillistone); the cinematographer was Jack Cardiff. They had last worked together on Scott of the Antarctic in 1948. Their combined age was 186 years, a cinema record.

Personal life

His first wife was the actress Aileen Raymond, who died only five days after he did. They were married in 1927 and divorced in 1941. Raymond later became the mother of actor Ian Ogilvy.

His second wife was the dramatist Mary Hayley Bell. Their marriage, on 16 January 1941, lasted for 64 years, until his death in 2005. They were married in a rushed civil ceremony, because of the war; and it was not until 60 years later that they had their union blessed in a church. They lived in The Wick, London, for many years. They sold the house to musician Ronnie Wood in 1971 and moved to Hills House, Denham.

Mills and Bell had two daughters, Juliet, star of television's Nanny and the Professor and Hayley, a Disney child star who appeared in Pollyanna, The Parent Trap and Whistle Down the Wind, and one son, Jonathan Mills. In 1947, Mills appeared with his daughters in the film So Well Remembered. The three also appeared together decades later, on an episode of ABC's The Love Boat. Mills's grandson by Hayley, Crispian Mills, is a musician, best known for his work with the raga rock group Kula Shaker.

Despite having always voted Conservative, Mills publicly supported Tony Blair's Labour Party in the 2001 General Election.

Death

In the years leading up to his death, he appeared on television only on special occasions, his sight having failed almost completely in 1992. After that, his film roles were brief yet notable cameos.

He died aged 97 on 23 April 2005 in Denham, Buckinghamshire, following a chest infection. Lady Mills died on 1 December 2005. Sir John and Lady Mills are buried in Denham Churchyard.

Honours

Mills was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1960. In 1976 he was knighted by the Queen.

In 2002, he received a Fellowship of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), their highest award, and was named a Disney Legend by the Walt Disney Company.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1932	The Midshipmaid	Golightly
1933	Britannia of Billingsgate	Fred Bolton
	The Ghost Camera	Ernest Elton
1934	The River Wolves	Peter Farrell
	Blind Justice	Ralph Summers
	The Lash	Arthur Haughton
	A Political Party	Tony Smithers
	Doctor's Orders	Ronnie Blake
	Those Were the Days	Bobby Poskett
1935	Car of Dreams	Robert Miller
	Royal Cavalcade	Young Enlistee
	Brown on Resolution	Albert Brown	(later reissued in the UK as Forever England)
	Charing Cross Road	Tony
1936	The First Offence	Johnnie Penrose	alternative title Bad Blood
	Tudor Rose	Lord Guilford Dudley	Released as Nine Days a Queen in USA
1937	O.H.M.S.	Cpl. Bert Dawson
	The Green Cockatoo	Jim Connor
1939	Goodbye, Mr. Chips	Peter Colley - as a Young Man
1941	Cottage to Let	Flt. Lieutenant Perry
	Old Bill and Son	Young Bill Busby
1942	The Big Blockade	Tom
	The Black Sheep of Whitehall	Bobby Jessop
	The Young Mr Pitt	William Wilberforce
	In Which We Serve	Ordinary Seaman Blake
1943	We Dive at Dawn	Capt. Lt. Taylor, R.N.
1944	This Happy Breed	Billy Mitchell
1945	Waterloo Road	Jim Colter
	The Way to the Stars	Peter Penrose
1946	Great Expectations	Pip
1947	So Well Remembered	George Boswell	(with daughters Juliet Mills and Hayley Mills)
	The October Man	Jim Ackland
1948	Scott of the Antarctic	Captain Scott Captain R.F. Scott R.N.
1949	The History of Mr Polly	Alfred Polly
	The Rocking Horse Winner	Bassett	(also produced)
1950	Morning Departure	Lt. Commander Armstrong
1952	Mr. Denning Drives North	Tom Denning
	The Gentle Gunman	Terrence Sullivan
1953	The Long Memory	Phillip Davidson
1954	Hobson's Choice	Willie Mossop	Nominated-BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1955	Escapade	John Hampden
	The Colditz Story	Pat Reid
	The End of the Affair	Albert Parkis
	Above Us the Waves	Commander Fraser
1956	The Baby and the Battleship	Puncher Roberts
	War and Peace	Platon Karataev
	Around the World in 80 Days	London Carriage Driver
	It's Great to Be Young	Mr. Dingle
1957	Town on Trial	Supt. Mike Halloran
	The Vicious Circle	Dr. Howard Latimer
1958	Ice Cold in Alex	Captain Anson
	Dunkirk	Binns
	I Was Monty's Double	Major Harvey	(also titled Hell, Heaven or Hoboken)
1959	Summer of the Seventeenth Doll	Barney	(also titled Season of Passion)
	Tiger Bay	Superintendent Graham	(with daughter Hayley Mills)
1960	Swiss Family Robinson	Father Robinson
	Tunes of Glory	Lt. Col. Basil Barrow (Battalion Commander)	Volpi Cup for Best Actor Nominated-BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1961	The Singer Not the Song	Father Michael Keogh
	Flame in the Streets	Jacko Palmer
1962	Tiara Tahiti	Lt. Col. Clifford Southey
	The Valiant	Captain Morgan
1964	The Chalk Garden	Maitland	(with daughter Hayley Mills)
1965	The Truth About Spring	Tommy Tyler	(with daughter Hayley Mills)
	King Rat	Smedley - Taylor
	Operation Crossbow	Gen. Boyd
1966	The Family Way	Ezra Fitton	(with daughter Hayley Mills) Prize San Sebastián for Best Actor (tied with Maurice Ronet for The Champagne Murders)
	The Wrong Box	Masterman Finsbury
1967	Africa Texas Style	Wing Commander Hayes
	Chuka	Colonel Stuart Valois
1968	A Black Veil for Lisa	Inspector Franz Bulon
	Emma Hamilton	Sir William Hamilton
1969	Oh! What a Lovely War	Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig
	Run Wild, Run Free	The Moorman
1970	Adam's Woman	Sir Phillip MacDonald
	Ryan's Daughter	Michael	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated-BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor
1971	Dulcima	Mr. Parker
1972	Young Winston	General Kitchener
1973	Lady Caroline Lamb	Canning
	Oklahoma Crude	Cleon Doyle
1975	The Human Factor	Mike McAllister
1976	Trial by Combat	Colonel Bertie Cook	(also titled A Dirty Knight's Work)
1977	The Devil's Advocate	Blaise Meredith
1978	The Big Sleep	Inspector Jim Carson
	The Thirty Nine Steps	Scudder
1979	Zulu Dawn	Sir Henry Bartle Frere
	The Quatermass Conclusion	Professor Bernard Quatermass
1982	Gandhi	The Viceroy Baron Chelmsford
1983	Sahara	Cambridge
1986	When the Wind Blows	Jim	(voice)
1987	Who's That Girl	Montgomery Bell	(credited as Sir John Mills)
1993	The Big Freeze	Dapper man
1994	Deadly Advice	Jack the Ripper
1995	The Grotesque	Sir Edward Cleghorn	(also titled Gentleman Don't Eat Poets)
1996	Hamlet	Old Norway
1997	Bean	Chairman	(credited as Sir John Mills)
1998	Cats	Gus the Theater Cat
2003	Bright Young Things	Gentleman
2004	Lights2	The Tramp	Cinematographer Jack Cardiff (previously worked on Scott of The Antarctic)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	Dundee and the Culhane	Dundee	13 episodes
1974	The Zoo Gang	Thomas 'The Elephant' Devon	6 episodes
1978	Dr. Strange	Thomas Lindmer	TV Movie
1979	Quatermass	Professor Bernard Quatermass
1980-82	Young at Heart	Albert Collyer	18 episodes
1987	The Dame Edna Experience		Season 1, Episode 6 (as himself)
1993	Harnessing Peacocks	Bernard Quigley	TV Movie
1994	Martin Chuzzlewit	Mr Chuffey	3 episodes, TV Mini-series

Stage appearances

Year	Title	Role	Theatre
1929	The Five O'Clock Girl		Hippodrome Theatre
1931	The 1931 Revue		London Pavilion, London
	Cavalcade		Drury Lane
1932	Words and Music		Adelphi Theatre
1934	Jill Darling		Savoy Theatre
1936	Aren't Men Beasts?		Strand Theatre
1939	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Oberon	Old Vic Theatre
	She Stoops to Conquer	Young Marlow	Old Vic Theatre
1939-40	Of Mice and Men	George Milton	Old Vic Theatre
1942	Men in Shadow		Lyric Theatre, London
1945	Duet for Two Hands		Vaudeville Theatre
1960-61	Ross		Broadway Theatre
1972	Veterans		Royal Court Theatre
1973	At the End of the Day		Savoy Theatre
1974	The Good Companions		Her Majesty's Theatre
1975	Great Expectations		Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford
1977	Separate Tables		Apollo Theatre
1982	Goodbye, Mr. Chips		Chichester
1983	Little Lies		Wyndham's Theatre
1986	The Petition		National Theatre
1987	Pygmalion		Broadway

Box office ranking

For a number of years, British film exhibitors voted him among the top ten British stars at the box office via an annual poll in the Motion Picture Herald.

• 1945 - 4th
• 1946 - 8th
• 1947 - 4th (6th most popular overall)
• 1948 - 3rd (4th most popular over all)
• 1949 - 3rd (8th most popular over all)
• 1950 - 4th (6th most popular overall)
• 1954 - 10th
• 1955 - 2nd (5th most popular overall)
• 1956 - 10th
• 1957 - 6th
• 1958 - 6th
• 1961 - 5th

[ Source: Wikipedia ]