Hayley Mills’ 10 Best Roles, According To IMDb

Hayley Mills was born into a family of British actors and became one of Disney’s biggest stars by the time she was a teenager. In adulthood, Mills continued to act with a return to Disney films and a series of more adult projects on screen and on stage.

Her natural presence as a performer has made Hayley Mills a favorite actress for multiple generations of fans. She turns 75 years old in 2021, and her body of work is impressive and expansive.

10 The Parent Trap (1961): 7.1

Disney’s first version of The Parent Trap is certainly one of Hayley Mills’ most well-known roles. She doubles as Susan Evers and Sharon McKendrick in this adaptation of Erich Kästner’s 1949 novel, Das Doppelte Lottchen.

Sharon and Susan meet while away at summer camp and discover that they are twins, so they secretly trade places when it’s time to go home. As with their song “Let’s Get Together,” the twins devote their time and energy to getting to know each other and getting their parents (Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith) back together.

9 The Chalk Garden (1964): 7.3

The Chalk Garden was adapted from Enid Bagnold’s 1955 play by the same name. The film stars Deborah Kerr as a governess who is responsible for a difficult teenager named Laurel (Hayley Mills).

Kerr’s Miss Madrigal was hired by Laurel’s grandmother, but Laurel takes it upon herself to perform a background check on Miss Madrigal. The governess has a criminal past and tries to use that to encourage Laurel to follow the right path.

8 The Family Way (1966): 7.3

In The Family Way, which is based on Bill Naughton’s 1963 play All in Good Times, Hayley Mills plays Jenny Piper, a young woman who is newly married to Arthur Fitton (Hywel Bennett), but the newlyweds have trouble consummating their marriage. Paul McCartney created the music for the award-winning film with Beatles producer, George Martin.

7 Back Home (1990): 7.3

Back Home was made for the Disney Channel during its era of Premiere Films. Hayley Mills enjoyed great popularity on the channel at that time with many of her classic films airing periodically as well as her then-new series, Good Morning Miss Bliss.

In Back Home, Mills is Peggy Dickinson, the mother of 12-year-old Virginia, nicknamed Rusty (Hayley Carr). Rusty returns home to England after five years in America during World War II. According to IMDb, the film had a U.K. release in 1989 but did not premiere on the Disney Channel until 1990.

6 Pollyanna (1960): 7.4

Eleanor H. Porter’s classic children’s novel came to the screen for the second time with Disney’s Pollyanna. Hayley Mills is the title character, an optimistic 12-year-old orphan who moves in with her wealthy Aunt Polly (Jane Wyman).

An accident starts to dampen Pollyanna’s cheery spirit, but her community encourages her and shows her how much they love her. Hayley Mills won a Juvenile Award and a Golden Globe for her work in the film.

5 The Trouble With Angels (1966): 7.4

Hayley Mills played troublemaker Mary Clancy opposite June Harding, who played Rachel Devery, in The Trouble with Angels. The movie takes place at a parochial boarding school for girls in which Mary and Rachel become fast friends.

At Mary’s behest, the two pull all sorts of pranks on fellow students and on their instructors, the nuns. After having her fun at St. Francis, Mary makes the decision to take after Mother Superior (Rosalind Russell) and become a nun.

4 Wild At Heart (2006 – 2013): 7.4

Wild at Heart was a British television drama about a family who moves from Bristol, England to South Africa. They work to revitalize a game reserve and set up veterinary and hospital services for the animals. For much of Wild at Heart’s run, Hayley Mills played the main character named Caroline du Plessis.

3 Tiger Bay (1959): 7.5

Hayley Mills won a Berlin Silver Bear as well as a BAFTA award for Most Promising Newcomer in Tiger Bay, one of her first films. The work is based on Noel Calef’s short story “Rodolphe et le Revolver.”

The story finds Hayley Mills’ real-life father, John Mills, investigating a murder as Superintendent Graham. Hayley Mills plays Gillie, a young girl who witnessed Bronislaw Korchinsky (Horst Buchholz) commit the murder.

2 Whistle Down The Wind (1961): 7.7

Hayley Mills is Kathy in Whistle Down the Wind, a film based on the eponymous 1959 novel written by Mills’ mother, Mary Hayley Bell. In the movie, Hayley Mills plays Kathy, the eldest of three children to assume that a fugitive is the returning Jesus Christ. More and more children come to visit “Jesus” until he is ultimately taken by the police.

1 The Flame Trees Of Thika (1981): 7.8

The Flame Trees of Thika is a seven-part miniseries that was adapted by James Hawkesworth from Elspeth Huxley’s childhood memoir by the same name. After moving to the town of Thika in Kenya, Tilly (Hayley Mills), Robin (David Robb) and Elspeth Grant (Holly Aird) establish a coffee plantation.

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