Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Grand Central Publishing (2021), 384 pages
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Performing Arts. Nonfiction. HTML:Iconic actress Hayley Mills shares personal memories from her storied childhood, growing up in a famous acting family and becoming a Disney child star, trying to grow up in a world that wanted her to stay forever young. The daughter of acclaimed British actor Sir John Mills was still a preteen when she began her acting career and was quickly thrust into the spotlight. Under the wing of Walt Disney himself, Hayley Mills was transformed into one of the biggest child starlets of the 1960s through her iconic roles in Pollyanna, The Parent Trap, and many more. She became one of only twelve actors in history to be bestowed with the Academy Juvenile Award, presented at the Oscars by its first recipient, Shirley Temple, and went on to win a number of awards including a Golden Globe, multiple BAFTAs, and a Disney Legacy Award. Now, in her charming and forthright memoir, she provides a unique window into when Hollywood was still 'Tinseltown' and the great Walt Disney was at his zenith, ruling over what was (at least in his own head) still a family business. This behind-the-scenes look at the drama of having a sky-rocketing career as a young teen in an esteemed acting family will offer both her childhood impressions of the wild and glamorous world she was swept into, and the wisdom and broader knowledge that time has given her. Hayley will delve intimately into her relationship with Walt Disney, as well as the emotional challenges of being bound to a wholesome, youthful public image as she grew into her later teen years, and how that impacted her and her choices�??including marrying a producer over 30 years her senior when she was 20! With her regrets, her joys, her difficulties, and her triumphs, this is a compelling read for any fan of classic Disney films and an inside look at a piece of real Hollywood histo… (more)
Media reviews
Mills can be tart about her former employer: “When it came to dealmaking, the Mickey Mouse Club took no prisoners.” She can also be refreshingly honest about her mother’s alcoholism, her own bulimia and her troubled first marriage to Roy Boulting, a film director 32 years her senior. (“I
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had merely substituted one straitjacket for another.”) About later relationships and struggles, Mills remains mostly mum for, as the title suggests, this is the story of a girl. ...it’s instructive to sit down once more with “Pollyanna,” which earned Mills the last Juvenile Oscar ever presented.... Never cloying, she comes at her role simply and without affectation, and suggests that happiness is less birthright than stubborn spiritual discipline.... Show Less
With a novelistic eye for detail and a disarming sense of humor, Mills illuminates her extraordinary past while evoking the lost empire of mid-20th-century Hollywood. Along the way, she underscores how there was a price to be paid in family tensions; public growing pains; missed
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opportunities—including the title role in Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita (“to be a Disney Star meant being family friendly”)—and fraught relationships, such as her romance with the much older producer-director Roy Boulting. The result is a luminous work commensurate with the unforgettable movies that made Mills an icon. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member briandrewz
This was book was lovely and an absolute charmer. Hayley Mills tells the story of her early life and career. Brilliant. If you are a Disney fan, this book is for you. If you are a Hollywood fan, this book is for you. If you just love a good story, this book is for you. Hayley takes us on a journey
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from England to Hollywood and back again. She tells of growing up with Walt Disney as her mentor and finding her place in Hollywood all while on the cusp of womanhood. This was one of my favorite books of the year. Show Less
LibraryThing member basilisksam
Hayley Mills was the first girl I fell in love with. I was only 7 years old at the time but I’ve always had a soft spot for her ever since. It’s difficult, even now, to shake off the impression of her as a perpetual Pollyanna, never growing old and never suited to more mature film roles. Her
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memoir has the sobering effect of showing her other sides and the often difficult times she had with her early life. I found the book immensely likable and my only complaint is that it stops before she is 30 years old, apart from a too brief sketch of what happened after. Surely a second volume is in the works? Show Less
LibraryThing member gpangel
Forever Young by Hayley Mills is a 2021 Grand Central Publication.
Hayley Mills came from a family of actors and grew up, rubbing elbows with her parent’s friends and colleagues- like Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, for example.
While her older sister did some stage acting, when Hayley was
I was a huge fan of Pollyanna. The cast was stellar and of course Hayley personified that role. I’m hazy on some of the other movies she did for Disney, except for “The Parent Trap” and her last one- ‘That Darn Cat’.
I hate to admit this, but once I had outgrown Disney movies, I never thought about Hayley again until I had children of my own, and I found myself re-watching some of her Disney films.
There is only one post- Disney movie sticks in my mind now- “The Trouble with Angels”.
I didn’t know one thing about her personally, except her father was in ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ and I’d seen a few of her sister’s movies over the years.
In some ways, Hayley appeared to live a charmed life while growing up, but of course, there were issues. Still, she approaches the darker side of fame and her tough experiences candidly, without sounding embittered, excepting some resentful sounding passages about her alcoholic mother.
Many of Hayley’s experiences sound so typical of Hollywood and the pressure that is placed on young performers, which takes its toll on their health.
Hayley stayed in line a lot longer than most before finally going a little wild. A chance at playing Lolita, a controversial marriage to a much older man, and a religious epiphany, are among some of the surprises in the book, I knew nothing about. Her juxtapositions about losing that role, feeling pigeonholed as a Disney star, with Sue Lyons- who got the part- was interesting… and true.
The book trails off when Hayley is pregnant with her first child- which might have been by design as the book’s intent was to focus on her life up until she is firmly cemented into adulthood- a plateau she struggled to obtain after her childhood was immortalized on film for many generations.
Hayley’s life has encompassed so much more than what is etched in our childhood memories of her, but she is for many of us, despite all her efforts to be otherwise…
Forever young.
4 stars
Hayley Mills came from a family of actors and grew up, rubbing elbows with her parent’s friends and colleagues- like Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier, for example.
While her older sister did some stage acting, when Hayley was
Show More
growing up, acting never really crossed her mind. In fact, she was pretty a normal kid, doing normal kid things- and was a bit of a tomboy. In what was more a fluke, than anything else, she was cast in one movie, but that appeared to be a one-off thing, which was fine with her, until she caught the eye of Walt Disney… and the rest- as they say is history. I was a huge fan of Pollyanna. The cast was stellar and of course Hayley personified that role. I’m hazy on some of the other movies she did for Disney, except for “The Parent Trap” and her last one- ‘That Darn Cat’.
I hate to admit this, but once I had outgrown Disney movies, I never thought about Hayley again until I had children of my own, and I found myself re-watching some of her Disney films.
There is only one post- Disney movie sticks in my mind now- “The Trouble with Angels”.
I didn’t know one thing about her personally, except her father was in ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ and I’d seen a few of her sister’s movies over the years.
In some ways, Hayley appeared to live a charmed life while growing up, but of course, there were issues. Still, she approaches the darker side of fame and her tough experiences candidly, without sounding embittered, excepting some resentful sounding passages about her alcoholic mother.
Many of Hayley’s experiences sound so typical of Hollywood and the pressure that is placed on young performers, which takes its toll on their health.
Hayley stayed in line a lot longer than most before finally going a little wild. A chance at playing Lolita, a controversial marriage to a much older man, and a religious epiphany, are among some of the surprises in the book, I knew nothing about. Her juxtapositions about losing that role, feeling pigeonholed as a Disney star, with Sue Lyons- who got the part- was interesting… and true.
The book trails off when Hayley is pregnant with her first child- which might have been by design as the book’s intent was to focus on her life up until she is firmly cemented into adulthood- a plateau she struggled to obtain after her childhood was immortalized on film for many generations.
Hayley’s life has encompassed so much more than what is etched in our childhood memories of her, but she is for many of us, despite all her efforts to be otherwise…
Forever young.
4 stars
Show Less
LibraryThing member clue
When I was a girl my friends in the neighborhood loved nothing more than to go together to a Haley Mills movie. The Parent Trap , Pollyanna and The Swiss Family Robinson I remember well. So of course when I read Mills had written a memoir I wanted to read it.
She was the daughter of the famous
Walt Disney was at the zenith of his career when he convinced her father to let Hayley star in her first movie with Disney, [Pollyanna] . A large portion of the book is about her relationship and work with Disney whom she writes about with fondness though they had some differences as she grew older. Growing older, wanting control of career decisions, and the effort to grow up when the world wanted her to stay young are covered in depth.
Mills was not the first or last child star to be taken advantage of. Her earnings as a child were put in trust but when she turned twenty-one and thought they were hers, she learned her earnings would be taxed at over 90%. Basically nothing became hers.
The memoirs focus on her childhood and her work during those years. She doesn't use the book as a platform for gossip or intimate adult reveals. She does discuss the fallout from her marriage at twenty to a producer thirty years older and their subsequent divorce. One of her two children is from that marriage, she doesn't divulge the father of the second.
Mills has continued to act but doesn't seem the least interested in celebrity. My impression is that she is intelligent, thoughtful and likeable. I'm one that still likes her.
She was the daughter of the famous
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actor John Mills and her mother the writer Mary Haley Bell. Haley worked with both parents, she and her father worked in several movies together including her first one and she starred in the adaptation of her mother's novel Whistle Down the Wind in 1961. That's one I have no memory of. Walt Disney was at the zenith of his career when he convinced her father to let Hayley star in her first movie with Disney, [Pollyanna] . A large portion of the book is about her relationship and work with Disney whom she writes about with fondness though they had some differences as she grew older. Growing older, wanting control of career decisions, and the effort to grow up when the world wanted her to stay young are covered in depth.
Mills was not the first or last child star to be taken advantage of. Her earnings as a child were put in trust but when she turned twenty-one and thought they were hers, she learned her earnings would be taxed at over 90%. Basically nothing became hers.
The memoirs focus on her childhood and her work during those years. She doesn't use the book as a platform for gossip or intimate adult reveals. She does discuss the fallout from her marriage at twenty to a producer thirty years older and their subsequent divorce. One of her two children is from that marriage, she doesn't divulge the father of the second.
Mills has continued to act but doesn't seem the least interested in celebrity. My impression is that she is intelligent, thoughtful and likeable. I'm one that still likes her.
Show Less
LibraryThing member fromthecomfychair
A surprisingly honest and un-selfaggrandizing (surely there's a better word but I can't think of it at the moment) memoir of Hayley Mills' career as a young actress. I needed something to read that did not contain any anxiety or revulsion-triggering revelations, and I read with interest about how
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Hayley Mills came to be a Disney actor. I mean, it wouldn't have happened without her famous father, John Mills, but still...I guess acting is just in some people's genes. Sure she had a privileged childhood, but she seemed to remain unspoiled through her early life, which is what I suppose shines through in her portrayal of Pollyanna, my first encounter with Hayley. Later in life she would discover the extent to which her early career had been controlled by Walt Disney (and her parents) but she doesn't seem to blame him or them. And when the family accountants failed to protect her childhood earnings from being taxed into oblivion by the British government, she just went back out to work, like everyone else. Although she did not continue to be a star, but a working actress, she does not seem bitter, but is a contented and loving parent and grandparent. Worth reading, if you're interested in Hollywood in the 60's, and the making of movies. Show Less
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
Forever Young by Hayley Mills is a memoir that mostly covers her younger years. I listened to an audio version read by Mills herself and hearing the actress recount her personal stories from her childhood and on into her twenties was both entertaining and enlightening.
She really had nothing bad to
I was a huge fan of Haley Mills and found this book a treat as she came across pretty much as I expected. She is close to her family, enthusiastic about life, and enjoyed the acting profession but was not obsessed with fame or fortune. Although I thought she was very careful in revealing anything about other famous people that she knew, she was very honest about her mother’s alcoholism and her own bout with bulimia. I was surprised at her deep spirituality but this and her love for her children has guided her through life’s ups and downs.
She really had nothing bad to
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say about Walt Disney and her treatment at that studio. She felt protected and secure there and enjoyed acting in the various films that she was given. Her difficulties mostly came when she had left the studio and was on her own. She faced a world that didn’t want to see her grow up or to take on more challenging roles. Her fans wanted to see her as the young ingenue but she did manage a number of interesting films and she particularly liked working on the stage. She also had legal battles to fight as she came of age and found that most of her Disney money was being taken by the Revenue Service. She was married to Roy Boulting from 1971 until 1977 and has one son with him, it was a difficult marriage as he was 32 years her senior. She never remarried but went on to have a second son with Leigh Lawson and has now been with her current partner Firdous Barnji since 1997. I was a huge fan of Haley Mills and found this book a treat as she came across pretty much as I expected. She is close to her family, enthusiastic about life, and enjoyed the acting profession but was not obsessed with fame or fortune. Although I thought she was very careful in revealing anything about other famous people that she knew, she was very honest about her mother’s alcoholism and her own bout with bulimia. I was surprised at her deep spirituality but this and her love for her children has guided her through life’s ups and downs.
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Language
Original language
English
Physical description
384 p.; 9.3 inches
ISBN
1538704196 / 9781538704196
Local notes
Signed