Medford mail tribune., September 29, 1963, Image 45

I TTiZ
MOVIES
The
Woman
Behind
HAYLEY
MILLS
Mrs. Mary Mills is a
no-nonsense mother who
lets her actress-daughter's
figure blossom but keeps a
tight rein on everything else
By PEER J. OPPENHEIMER
AT 17, hayley mills is the world's
t highest paid teen-age actress, yet
she still has both feet firmly on the
ground. The credit belongs primarily
to her mother.
Actress, authoress, and playwright Mary Hay
Icy Bell Mills is the power behind the throne, the
one-woman fire brigade who makes sure that
every member of the famous Mills family is
properly looked after.
Her down-to-earth attitude toward her brood
can be both shocking and revealing. In speaking
of her older daughter Juliet, who also is an ac
tress, Mary said, "She's married to an American
song writer. She thinks the world of him and
is very happy." But then she added with star
tling frnnkness, "In two years he has sold one
song, and I arranged that."
, Her son Jonathan is in boarding school. Mary
visits him frequently "to make sure he doesn't
feel left out"
Understandably, however, Hayley has de
manded the lion's share of her attention. Be
cause Hayley has turned out to be the most
prominent member of the family (even eclipsing
her actor-father John Mills), she also has be
come the most vulnerable. Success could easily
go to her head and that's one thing Mary won't
stand for. She has a no-nonsense attitude about
Hayley that includes every phase of her upbring
ing, including cooking.
"Hayley is terrible at cooking, but I feel she
ought to know enough to get by," Mary told me
over luncheon at the family's farm south of Lon-
up my eyelids because they look as pink and bare
as a pig's stomach," Hayley elaborated), pay for
visits to the cinema, and take care of other inci
dentals. "But now I've got it licked," she told
me happily. "Two weeks ago Mummy let me have
my first checkbook."
"And all the checks have to be countersigned
by me," Mrs. Mills added.
Mary's biggest problem is to keep a sound
family relationship in the face of Hayley's grow
ing popularity. Father and daughter have made
only two pictures together, five years apart The
first was "Tiger Bay," in which John Mills
starred and Hayley got her start Now, in "The
Chalk Garden," Hayley's name precedes that of
her famous father in the credits.
IT seemed TO ME that this kind of flip-flop could
easily result in Hayley losing respect for her
father or John becoming uneasy about his daugh
ter's success. But Hayley told me, "Daddy's
thrilled by it all, and he's terribly generous.
There's no feeling of competition between us.
Going to work with him is as if we were part
ners in business, and I adore him for it. There's
so much he has taught me already."
During the filming of "The Chalk Garden,"
her father's help took place each morning while
driving to work with his daughter, in the dress
ing room they shared on the set and at night
while returning home. They carefully analyzed
each scene and discussed the motivations for
their performances.
Still, one incident proved that Hayley was
more concerned about her father's feelings than
she admitted. When the reviews of "Tiger Bay"
raved about Hayley while hardly mentioning her
father, Hayley hid the papers because "I couldn't
bear to have him read such nonsense."
(Continued on page 14)
don a few days after her daughter finished her
starring part in "The Chalk Garden" for Universal-International.
"So what happens," Hayley burst out. "The
first time I offered to cook dinner for the family
everybody insisted on cold cuts!"
Mary turned to Hayley good-naturedly. "I
said I wanted you to be able to cook. That doesn't
mean we have to eat what you prepare."
Hayley's allowance amounts to roughly $15 a
week in American money. For a girl who earns
a quarter of a million dollars a year that isn't
very much. Moreover, from this she has to buy
her own stockings and eye make-up, ("I make
Hayley Mills joint her actor-father John in a
family tong feat with playwright-mother Mary.
Family Wrrkly. Snlrmtr 29. IKJ