John Mills

Biography: John Mills

Born in a British seaside resort town, John Mills was the son of a mathematics teacher father. Mills' mother worked as a theatrical box office manager, and it was this world, rather than his father's academic milieu, which most attracted young Mills. After brief employment as a clerk in a corn merchant's office, Mills moved to London, where he enrolled at Zelia Raye's Dancing School. His first professional job was as a chorus dancer in The Five O'Clock Revue in 1929. Making as many contacts as possible, Mills was able to secure work on the legitimate stage, and in 1932 appeared in his first film, the Jessie Matthews vehicle The Midshipmaid. Learning his craft in "quota quickies," Mills rose to leading man in such prestige productions as Brown on Resolution (1935), Tudor Rose (1936), and The Green Cockatoo (1938). In 1939, he appeared in his first American film, Goodbye Mr. Chips, playing student Peter Colley. He starred in a number of morale-boosting World War II films, usually playing the personification of the calm, resourceful young British military officer; any chance for a real life career in uniform, however, was scuttled by Mills' duodenal ulcer. After the war, he starred in such international hits as Great Expectations (1946), Scott of the Antarctic (1949), Hobson's Choice (1954), and Above Us the Waves (1955). In 1970, Mills won a long overdue Oscar for his performance as the village idiot in Ryan's Daughter (1970), directed (as were several of Mills' earlier films) by David Lean. His Broadway work has included Ross, a 1961 dramatization of the life of T.E. Lawrence. In 1966, Mills directed Sky West and Crooked (aka Gypsy Girl), which starred his daughter, Hayley Mills, and was written by his wife, Mary Hayley Bell (Mills' other daughter, Juliet, is likewise an actress of note). One year later, he made his American series-TV debut as British attorney Dundee in the weekly Western Dundee and the Culhane. In 1977, John Mills was made a knight of the British Empire; his very full life, both offscreen and on, was summed up three years later in his autobiography Up in the Clouds, Gentlemen, Please. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide less

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The Garden (1990)
Cast: John Mills Derek Jarman Michael Gough Tilda Swinton Kevin Collins
Tags: Gay & Lesbian Films Drama Art Film Surrealist Film
Length: 90min
Director Derek Jarman takes the viewer for a walk around his own garden in rural England for this non-narrative film. Many of the scenes depict the Passion of Christ, but the sufferings are instead visited upon a gay couple. Jarman then assaults the...
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Best of British Cinema: Five Decades of Classic British Films (1988)
Cast: John Mills
Tags: Film, TV & Radio
Length: 125min
This documentary, narrated by Sir John Mills, looks back at the history of the British film industry, and features clips from many of the most memorable films to come from England, beginning with 1933's The Private Life Of Henry VIII and following...
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When the Wind Blows (1986)
Cast: Peggy Ashcroft John Mills David Bowie Jimmy T. Murakami
Tags: Drama
Length: 80min
In this animated film, based on the novel by Raymond Briggs, an older English couple must struggle to deal with their altered reality when a nuclear war strikes, destroying their peaceful lives. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
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Frankenstein (1993)
Cast: John Mills Randy Quaid Patrick Bergin Lambert Wilson David Wickes
Tags: Creature Film Costume Horror Horror Thriller
Length: 117min
Filmed in Eastern Europe, this direct-to-cable adaptation of Mary Shelley's iconographic monster tale features Patrick Bergin as Victor Frankenstein, a medical genius obsessed with the secret of creating life, who uses a bizarre cloning apparatus to...
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Zulu Dawn (1979)
Cast: Burt Lancaster Peter O'Toole John Mills Simon Ward Elmer Bernstein
Tags: Adventure Drama Historical Film British Empire Film
Length: 117min
This film depicts the events prior to the devastating conflict that occurred in 1879 when British soldiers were held siege by thousands of Zulu warriors. Fifteen hundred soldiers were killed in the epic battle. This film portrays the tensions existing...
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The Masks of Death (1984)
Cast: Anne Baxter Peter Cushing Ray Milland John Mills Roy Ward Baker
Tags: Detective Film Mystery
Length: 80min
Twenty-seven years after Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), Peter Cushing makes a belated return to the role of Sherlock Holmes in the made-for-television Masks of Death. Befitting his age, Cushing plays Holmes in retirement, content to play his violin...
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The Thirty-Nine Steps (1978)
Cast: John Mills David Warner Eric Porter Don Sharp Robert Powell
Tags: Action Thriller Spy Film Action
Length: 98min
This 1978 re-remake of The 39 Steps adheres more closely to the source novel by John Buchan than Alfred Hitchcock's better-known original, restoring the pre-World War I time frame of the Buchan story. Hannay (Robert Powell) is an innocent bystander,...
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Quatermass (1979)
Cast: John Mills Margaret Tyzack Simon MacCorkindale Piers Haggard Barbara Kellerman
Tags: Alien Film
Length: 105min
The Quatermass Conclusion is comprised of highlights from the 1979 British TV serial of the same name. Like the earlier Quatermass projects of the 1950s and 1960s, the guiding force behind Conclusion was prolific screenwriter Nigel Kneale, though the...
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Murder With Mirrors (1985)
Cast: Bette Davis Helen Hayes Leo McKern John Mills Dorothy Tutin
Tags: Detective Film Whodunit Mystery
Length: 100min
Helen Hayes makes her second TV appearance as Agatha Christie's female sleuth Miss Marple in Murder with Mirrors. Marple has been summoned to the lavish country estate of her old friend Carrie Louise Serrocold (Bette Davis). Carrie's stepson has been...
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Dr. Strange (1978)
Cast: John Mills Jessica Walter Paul Chihara Clyde Kusatsu Philip Sterling
Tags: Superhero Film Supernatural Horror Drama Fantasy Horror
Length: 94min
Dr. Steven Strange, the Marvel Comics magician/superhero created in 1963 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, made his long-awaited screen debut in this 1978 TV pilot film. Peter Hooten plays Strange, while Sir John Mills portrays the doctor's sorcerer...
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John Mills

Biography: John Mills

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