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John MillsBorn February 22, 1908 in Norfolk, England, the son of a mathematics teacher and a theatre box-office cashier, Lewis Ernest Watts Mills is bettered remembered as the distinguished Oscar winning actor, John Mills.

Interested in acting from an early age, Mills made his professional acting debut in Five O’Clock Girl at the London Hippodrome in 1929 two years after his marriage to actress Aileen Raymond. He made his film debut in Midshipman Gob in 1932, but did not make much of an impression until he played one of Robert Donat’s former students as a young man in 1939’s Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Divorced from Raymond in 1941, he married dramatist Mary Hayley Bell in 1941 with whom he had three children, actresses Juliet and Hayley and son Jonathan Mills.

A standout in 1942’s In Which We Serve co-directed by Noel Coward and David Lean and 1944’s This Happy Breed written by Coward and directed by Lean, Mills achieved major stardom as Pip in Lean’s 1946 film of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Other important late 1940s films included So Well Remembered and The Rocking Horse Winner.

Mills received his first awards recognition with a BAFTA nomination for Best British Actor for 1954’s Hobson’s Choice, another film directed by Lean. His late 1950s films included The End of the Affair, War and Peace, Around the World in 80 Days and Tiger Bay which made a star of his daughter Hayley. 1960’s Tunes of Glory brought him another BAFTA nomination. His early 1960s output included Swiss Family Robinson, The Singer Not the Song, Flame in the Streets and The Chalk Garden while his late 1960s output included Operation Crossbow, The Wrong Box, The Family Way, Oh! What a Lovely War and Run Wild, Run Free.

Mills won an Oscar for 1970’s Ryan’s Daughter, yet another film directed by David Lean. Subsequent work was mostly in cameo appearances, often in prestigious films ranging from 1972’s Young Winston to 1982’s Gandhi to 1996’s Hamlet. His last role was a tramp in a 2005 short, Lights 2 made when he was in his late 90s. The film’s principal cinematographer was then 90-year-old Jack Cardiff was the cinematographer. The two had last worked together in 1948.

Sir John Mills was knighted in 1976. He died on April 23, 2005 at the age of 97, five days before the death of his first wife at the age of 94. His widow, Lady Mills, died the following December 1st, also at the age of 94.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946), directed by David Lean

Mills cut his teeth on such Lean films as In Which We Serve and This Happy Breed before playing his first lead in Lean’s long regarded definitive version of Charles Dickens’ classic novel. Although the adult Pip, played by Mills, is the novel and film’s central character, he is the least interesting of the many characters that populate his life that keep readers and filmgoers in thrall. The actor playing the part has to both blend in and remain visible throughout. Mills does that amidst the unforgettable performances of Finlay Currie as Magwitch, Martita Hunt as Miss Havisham, Alec Guinness as Herbert Pocket, Bernard Miles as Joe Gargary, Freda Jackson as Mrs. Joe, Francis L. Sullivan as Mr. Jaggers, Anthony Wager as young Pip, Jean Simmons as young Estrella and Valerie Hobson as the grown Estella.

HOBSON’S CHOICE (1954), directed by David Lean

Charles Laughton had one of his best roles as the master bootmaker with a fondness for the pub in Lean’s film of Harold Brighouse’s popular play. Laughton was magnificent as expected, but Brenda de Banzie as his strong-willed eldest daughter and Mills as Laughton’s top shoemaker and de Banzie’s choice of a husband were revelations to audiences and critics alike. Both earned BAFTA nominations for their performances.

Mills and de Banzie were reunited seven years later in equally memorable roles as the perplexed father and bigoted mother of an independent daughter (Sylvia Sims) who falls in love with a black man (Johnny Sekka) in Roy Ward Baker’s groundbreaking Flame in the Streets.

TUNES OF GLORY (1960), directed by Ronald Neame

Mills and Alec Guinness received some of the best notices of their celebrated careers in roles the opposite of their usual personas. Guinness this time is the gregarious lower class salt-of-the-earth beloved leader and Mills his tight-lipped, reserved upper class replacement at a military outpost.

Susannah York had one of her earliest roles as Guinness’ daughter with John Fraser, Dennis Price, Gordon Jackson and other British regulars giving their all, but the film is above all an acting triumph for the two British legends at the top of the cast list.

THE FAMILY WAY (1966), directed by Roy Boulting

Mills had one of his best roles as the loutish father of the groom in Boulting’s film of Alfie writer Bill Naughton’s play, All in Good Time.

The film is a comedy about young newlyweds whose honeymoon trip is canceled due to a scam and end up living with his parents and younger brother. Unable to consummate their marriage because of the thin walls and nosy neighbors, the film provided strong roles for Hayley Mills and Hywell as the newlyweds and especially John Mills and Marjorie Rhodes as the groom’s bickering parents. Rhodes is especially memorable as the world-wise mother.

A real-life scandal emerged when 20-year-old Hayley fell in love with her 53-year-old director and moved in with him after he divorced his wife, marrying him five years later but divorcing him five years after that, her once thriving career in the doldrums.

RYAN’S DAUGHTER (1964), directed by David Lean

Lean had enjoyed a storied career as one of the world’s great filmmakers for forty years when mixed notices for Ryan’s Daughter forced him into a fourteen year retirement, emerging to direct his last film, A Passage to India in 1984.

The film itself was beautifully photographed, scored and acted as were all of Lean’s films. The biggest criticism was that the simple story of the betrayed Irish schoolmaster, his wife and her lover did not justify its three and a half hour run time. Despite loftier expectations, the film was only nominated for four Oscars – Best Actress (Sarah Miles), Supporting Actor (John Mills), Cinematography and Sound. It won for Freddie Francis’ cinematography and Mills’ portrayal of the mute village idiot. Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, Christopher Jones and Leo McKern also turned in fine performances.

JOHN MILLS AND OSCAR

  • Ryan’s Daughter (1970) – Oscar – Best Supporting Actor

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