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Hayley Mills Reflects on Her Time Spent With Walt Disney: ‘Very Genuine Human Being’
One of British actress Hayley Mills’ fondest memories is of spending time at Disneyland with Walt Disney. “He walked everywhere and went on all the rides with us — the bobsled ride, the Peter Pan ride, he even went on the teacups,” Hayley, 77, tells Closer. “It goes round and round, and most adults hate it because it makes them feel sick.”
In 1960, Hayley was chosen by Walt to play the title character in Pollyanna. The film won her a juvenile Academy Award and led to a six-year run of hit Disney films, including The Parent Trap, The Chalk Garden and That Darn Cat!, which helped make her the most popular young actress of the 1960s.
You began your career at 12, acting alongside your father, Sir John Mills. What was the best lesson you learned from him?
He always said, “If you believe, they’ll believe, so just believe it.” I think he trusted my instincts. I also learned about how to behave as a professional by watching him. I learned the importance about learning your lines, turning up on time and treating people with courtesy. He was very pragmatic about it because he was a star all his life.
If you hadn’t started acting as a child, do you think you would have still become an actress?
I think eventually I might well have been an actress. I went through that whole scenario of thinking I wasn’t that good and it was all a terrible mistake to rediscovering it again when I was older and loving it.
You recently published a memoir about your life, Forever Young. Did writing about your early fame give you a different perspective on your life?
One’s childhood impacts you for the rest of your life. To have the opportunity to go back and try to make sense of it was a real gift. I understood more about my parents, my mother, particularly.
Is there anything you wish you’d done differently?
If I could go back, I would make sure that I went back to school. Nobody really took my education terribly seriously. When I was in England in my boarding school, I was doing the British curriculum. When I went to Hollywood and was in the Little Red Schoolhouse with the Mickey Mouse Club — Annette Funicello and all the kids from the Disney lot — I was plunged into the American curriculum, and that was completely different. So it was confusing. Now, a lot of more sensible people like Brooke Shields went back to school and made sure they were really educated. I didn’t do that, I just kept on working.
Do you have any other advice for young aspiring actors?
I recognize that it’s a very different world today. If you feel that acting is your absolute passion, then you must pursue it. But if it isn’t, you must question the reasons why you want to act. Is it because you want to be rich and famous? Then don’t touch it with a barge pole because you won’t be happy. There is an awful lot of disappointment, rejection, and, generally speaking, actors are not treated terribly well by producers and directors.
Do you think you would have endured less struggle in your life if you weren’t famous?
Oh God, yes! But who knows? Life is full of struggles. Nobody escapes it. It would have just been different, that’s all. You won a Juvenile Oscar for Pollyanna but didn’t attend the ceremony. I think my parents thought it was important that things were kept in proportion. I totally understand why they decided this is just too much of a good thing. I was only 14, and they really didn’t want me to get too full of myself. So I didn’t go to the ceremony, I was asleep at school.
Do you still have the award?
Unfortunately, some not very nice person stole it. I was never able to get it back because when they gave me mine in 1961, they broke the mold, literally. From 1962 on, the next child to get an Oscar got a big, full-sized one. When I lost mine, I was desperate and I kept thinking it must turn up.
Did you ever feel guilty about your success?
Yes, I did. It was all tied up with wondering if it had all been a terrible mistake because I felt I hadn’t done anything to earn it. I hadn’t gone to drama school. I hadn’t done endless auditions and been rejected and failed. I was just a child being a child and suddenly this gift was given to me. But I wouldn’t want you to think that I was beating my breast the entire time because, certainly in the early days, I loved what I was doing. I had a wonderful time
What was Walt Disney like?
He was a very genuine human being, a very real, warm, interested, curious, kind human being. He genuinely loved children. He had a lovely sense of humor. He was really easy to talk to because he listened.
You have two sons. Did either of them follow in your footsteps?
Crispian was offered a part in a television series. He and I talked about it, and we both decided that he should finish his schooling first. In the end, he didn’t want to be an actor. He became a musician, a very successful one, with a wonderful band called Kula Shaker. My younger son, Ace, went to drama school, did a few little things but realized it wasn’t for him. So he’s a theater director and also a drama teacher. They’re in the business, but they’re not acting, and I’m very happy about that.
So who is Hayley Mills today?
I’m a mother, a grandmother — I’ve got five grandchildren. I have an amazing partner, we’ve been together 26 years. I look back at my life with a tremendous amount of gratitude. I’ve enjoyed a lot of the work I’ve done. I feel really more comfortable in my own skin now than I ever have. We all rather dread getting older, but the advantages of being the age I am now are enormous. I’ve learned so much in my own life, and I hope I’ve acquired quite a bit of wisdom and a bit of tolerance. I know how important it is not to waste time by being unkind and judgmental. I have a lot of people in my life that I love, and that’s a wonderful gift.
