John Mills

Sir John Mills CBE was born on 22nd February 1908 in North Elmham, UK. He is an actor from Britain and has worked in as many as 120 films in his long career. His father, Edith, was a box office theatre manager and his mother, Lewis Mills, was a teacher. He had an elder sister, Annette Mills, who was an actress, broadcaster, and a dancer. He was married to Aileen Raymond, a television actress, from 1927 to 1941. His second wife was an actress too - Mary Hayley Bell, whom he married in 1941 and the couple remained together until the end. He is the father of actors Hayley Mills, Jonathan Mills, and Juliet Mills. John also has four grandchildren- actress Melissa Caulfield, singer Crispian Mills, Sean Caulfield, and Jason Lawson.

John Mills was a student at the Balham Grammar School, London. He did his high school from the John Leman High School and then joined the Norwich High School for Boys. Post his school life, he also worked as a clerk for a merchant in Ipswich. Later, he found a job in London and became a commercial traveler for a company.

He began his career in acting from 1929 onwards. He debuted in a musical in London called The Five O’Clock Girl. He made his debut in movies as a supporting actor in the year 1932 with the movie The Midshipmaid, in which he played the role of Golightly. He did his first movie as a lead in 1946- Great Expectations.

Apart from movies and theatre appearances, he was a part of many TV series. Some of the shows in which he acted are Dundee and the Culhane, ‘Quatermass’, The Dame Edna Experience, Harnessing Peacocks. He also produced the 1949 drama film, The Rocking Horse Winner and The History of Mr. Polly.

Mills was the recipient of the Commander at the Order of the British Empire, bestowed on him in 1960. He was also one of the few people to be knighted by the Britain Queen in the year 1976. John was honoured by the Walt Disney Company as the Disney Legend. He received a BAFTA by the British Academy in 2002.

He was also a part of the British Army during the time of the Second World War in 1939. He was commissioned in the British Army as the Second Lieutenant and was later discharged from this post due to some stomach problem. John Mills died at the age of 97 due to a chest infection on 23rd April 2005 in Denham, England.