The Original Hayley Mills site was set up by Robin White back in 1996. In 2009 Robin lost the hosting of it when Yahoo ceased the Geocities accounts. Robin has kindly let me reproduce that ground breaking site on my own site. Whilst it is not being updated it still has wealth of information and photographs and I'm proud to reproduce it here.

Movie Information


Pictures, Casts, and Summaries

"Tiger Bay"

1959

Cast

Summary

Korchinsky, a young merchant seaman, returns from a trip eager to visit the girl he plans to marry, Anya. When she tells him of her new friend, a "gentleman", Korchinsky shoots her in a blind rage.
Gillie witnesses the murder through the mail slot. She gets hold of the murder weapon because she is convinced that it will make her popular with her peers when they play cowboys and indians. In time, the child is confronted by the police, but she recites a convinving string of lies to protect Korchinsky. He kidnaps the child who proves to be more than a match for him. The bond that develops between the killer and the girl puts the police off the scent and puts the innocent child in danger of losing her own life.
In a dramatic and deeply moving climax, the young, tortured seaman is forced to make the most important decision of his life...

Miscellaneous

Produced by: John Hawkesworth
Directed by: J. Lee Thompson
Written by: John Hawkesworth; Shelley Smith
Made at: Pinewood Studios
Music Composed by: Laurie Johnson
Edited by: Sidney Hayers

Since this film marks Hayley’s debut into show-business, much has been made of the discovery that led to the landing of this role. According to many published sources, this is about how it went.

The Mills family owned a farm in the countryside in Sussex, which they used as a weekend getaway. On the farm, with no girls her own age to play with, Hayley often dressed in old clothes and played parts. In 1957 she went through what the family called “her commercial period,” during which she imitated television advertisements. One weekend, J. Lee Thompson, the director of “Tiger Bay,” visited the farm to talk to John about the film, and he saw a young Hayley out in the yard acting out a commercial while brother Jonathan looked on and shook with laughter.

Originally, Thompson had come to the farm in an attempt to persuade Mr. Mills to take a minor role in the film he was casting. A star of Mr. Mills’ stature did not normally take supporting roles such as this—the plot of “Tiger Bay” centers on a little boy who witnesses a murder. He had already signed popular German actor, Horst Buchholz, but Thompson needed a British star to get the show to open in Britain. There was another problem as well. The director had his doubts that Buchholz would play well opposite a little boy, and he was having trouble finding one suitable for the part. So even before his trip to the farm that day, he had toyed with the idea of changing the little boy witness into a little girl witness. When he saw Hayley acting in the backyard, he knew she was the star he wanted. The rest is history.

Filming took place in early 1958 in Cardiff, Wales. The first scene to be shot was the one in which Mr. Mills as the police detective interrogates Hayley’s character, Gillie. And she did it in one take. If you’ve seen the film, you know that this is a fantastic scene, and it is truly impressive to know that a 12 year old Hayley was able to do her first film scene in a single shot.

When watching the film, look for an appearance by Michael Anderson, Jr., who you may recognize as the young beau in another Hayley film, “In Search of the Castaways.” Apparently, Hayley was quite glad to have someone close to her own age on the set. It rained constantly during the shoot, so Hayley and Michael spent a lot of time playing card games together and dropping water bombs on passers by.


"Pollyanna"

1960

Cast

Summary

Here you'll see Pollyanna, the orphan who brings sunshine into the lives of everyone she meets. But her strict Aunt Polly is too concerned with appearances, propriety, and local politics to appreciate her effervescent niece. It isn't until the town almost loses their "Glad Girl" that Aunt Polly realizes the power of love and lightheartedness.

Pictures

These pictures are from Leonard Maltin's book The Disney Films (1973). - Thanks to Mark Dumesny for the copies.

Pollyanna plays with one of the prisms
Pollyanna with Aunt Polly

Miscellaneous

This was Hayley's American film debut. Walt Disney's wife had seen "Tiger Bay" and immediately fell in love with Hayley Mills. She arranged for her husband and Hayley to meet to discuss possible business. The result: Hayley makes her American debut in "Pollyanna." She received a special Academy Award for her performance as Pollyanna in this timeless Walt Disney tapestry of small-town Americana.


"The Parent Trap"

1961

Cast

Summary

It's two, two, two Mills in one! Hayley stars as twin daughters of a divorced couple. The girls, who have long been separated, meet accidentally for the first time at summer camp. After discovering they are long-lost twin sisters, the two concoct an outrageous scheme to switch places in an effort to get their parents back together.

Pictures

The Parent Trap Gallery

Miscellaneous

Did you know that there was no real ranch house? The exteriors were shot at a place called "Styverson Fish Farm", and the ranch house was a fake front on the Disney lot and the interior was constructed to meet their needs on the sound stage.

In the camp sequence, one of Hayley's friends, Betsy, is played by someone who went on to create a role in one of the most famous Broadway musicals of all time. Who was it and what was the musical and the role she created? The actress who played Betsy (she was barely a teen then) was Kay Cole, who would later go on to create the role of Maggie in A Chorus Line. She's currently a choreographer here in LA and occasionally still performs. - Source: - Stephen Sondheim Stage


"Summer Magic"

1963

Summer Magic - 1963

Cast

Summary

When financial ruin forces the Careys to leave Boston, their teenage daughter Nancy hatches a plan to resettle them in the tiny hamlet of Buellah, Maine, with hilariously delightful consequences for both her family and their new neighbors!

Pictures

Hayley arrives in Beullah
Hayley as Nancy Carey

Miscellaneous

Lyrics - Learn the words to all of those wonderful songs.
Visit the movie sounds page for sounds, songs, & quotes.


"The Truth About Spring"

1964

Cast

Summary

Tommy Tyler, a lazy Caribbean sailor and his tom-boy daughter, Spring, are on a search for buried treasure. Tommy brings aboard William Ashton, a young and wealthy lawyer, to help with the search. Ashton turns out to be handy when they encounter dangerous rivals. Tommy also trys to play match maker between Ashton and Spring--a difficult task indeed. (Summary by Kelly)

Pictures

Spring takes some time out to read
Ashton & Spring


"The Trouble With Angels"

'The Trouble With Angels' - 1966

Cast

Summary

Two mischievous students, played by Hayley Mills and June Harding, turn a convent school upside down with their pranks. Hayley is Mary Clancy, who, with Rachel Devery, succeeds in driving Mother Superior to distraction with an endless number of practical jokes. Just when there appears to be no hope for the school's two most incorrigible students, they get a little help from Sisters Celestine and Constance. During Christmas break, Mary remains at the school and is touched by the Sisters' celebration of the Yule. Rachel first doubts Mary's sincerity, but later follows Mary's example. Their graduation is both a relief and a celebration for the Mother Superior.

Pictures

In trouble...again
Mary & Rachel up to no good
Willow, Willow! Dance lessons with Gypsy Rose Lee
Discount day at the lingerie store

Sounds

Visit the movie sounds page for sounds & quotes.


"Gypsy Girl"

Cast

Summary

According to Leonard Maltin, this movie is "a brooding account of backward Hayley Mills finding her first romance with McShane."

Here is a detailed summary by Amber Womack:

Brydie first meets the Gypsy (McShane) in the cemetery, and he asks about a scar on Brydie's forehead but she doesn't know its origin. Brydie White is seventeen years old. After having a fight with her mother about why Brydie has to shame her all the time, she slaps Brydie across the face. Brydie leaves the house and goes to the cemetery.
While she is sitting beside a familiar gravestone a man approaches her accusing her of killing his son Julian with a gun when they were little and playing in the field. That he explained was how Brydie got the scar on her forehead, from a stray bullet. Brydie runs away, frightened.
In the meantime the man begins chasing her and he falls, cutting open his head. Brydie runs screaming and the gypsy, Roibin, hears her while he is hunting. Brydie is running and jumps into the river where she is swept away. Roibin jumps in after her right before she drowns. He takes her to the gypsy camp where they want him to take her back but he says this is the girl he has been waiting for his whole life. While Brydie is asleep police officers come and ask about her Roibin lies and says he only met her once in the churchyard.
Back in the village Brydie's mother has a heart attack and dies. Brydie wakes up sees Roibin and wants to go back home. Roibin takes Brydie into the forest and explains to her how she could find him if she comes back and they have left. They fall in love, and he asks Brydie to marry him. She says she has to go back and see her mother. Children come to take her home.
Brydie lays on her mother's grave crying and the minister comes and gets her and puts her in bed. She wants to go back to Roibin and the minister tells someone to send a message to Roibin. The man who is asked to do this tells the gypsies a lie, and they pack up and leave. Roibin is forced to leave with them.
The next morning Roibin does not come, so Brydie explains to the minister what he means to her. The minister goes with Brydie to the gypsy camp only to find that they are gone. Brydie finds the signals of where they went, finds them, and they live happily ever after.

Pictures

Ian McShane and Hayley
Hayley and Geoffrey Bayldon
Brydie is struck by her drunken mother
Ian McShane to the rescue
Brydie runs from the cemetary

All "Gypsy Girl" pictures from: Screen World: Volume 18 by John Willis - 1967.

Miscellaneous

Producer: Jack Hanbury
Director: John Mills
Writers: Mary Hayley Bell; John Prebble
Music Composer: Malcolm Arnold
Also known as: Sky West and Crooked

Visit the movie sounds page for sounds, songs, & quotes.

Back to the Original Hayley Mills Fan Page | Back to the Filmography