2719 Hyperion sends out very Happy Birthday wishes today to one of our most admired Disney-related personalities. Hayley Mills was born on April 18, 1946, and by age fourteen had become a shining star of Disney Studio live-action productions. Her first Disney film, Pollyanna, would bring international acclaim and a special honorary Academy Award for Best Juvenile Performance of 1960. More enthusiastic notices would follow a year later with her dual performance of twins Susan and Sharon in The Parent Trap.
A wholly fanciful (and largely fictional) newspaper account from 1960 claimed that Mills first met Walt Disney when touring Disneyland with her family (including her father, noted British actor John Mills). But Mills herself once recounted that the actual first meeting occurred a long way away from southern California. According to Mills' biography on her Disney Legends profile, it happened when Walt was actively seeking a young actress for the Pollyanna part. Mills recalled, "I went to Walt's suite at the Dorchester Hotel, in London, along with my parents, my younger brother and our Pekingese, Suki. Walt laughed a lot as he spoke, in rather a shy way, which I found very endearing. I think that's what made me warm to him. That, and the fact that he liked childish things -- I remember he and I were crawling around the floor after Suki, who was eating potato crisps off of the carpet."
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As a youngster, I couldn't appreciate her Disney films but I do now!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to both of her!
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