I'm So GRATEFUL

The former child star looks back at the long road she's traveled

- Fortune Benatar

One of British actress Hayley Mills’ fondest memories is of spending time at Disneyland with Walt Disney. “He walked everywhere and went on all the rides with us — the bobsled ride, the Peter Pan ride, he even went on the teacups,” Hayley, 77, tells Closer. “It goes round and round, and most adults hate it because it makes them feel sick.”

In 1960, Hayley was chosen by Walt to play the title character in Pollyanna. The film won her a juvenile Academy Award and led to a six-year run of hit Disney films, including The Parent Trap, The Chalk Garden and That Darn Cat!, which helped make her the most popular young actress of the 1960s.

You began your career at 12, acting alongside your father, Sir John Mills. What was the best lesson you learned from him?

He always said, “If you believe, they’ll believe, so just believe it.” I think he trusted my instincts. I also learned about how to behave as a professional by watching him. I learned the importance about learning your lines, turning up on time and treating people with courtesy. He was very pragmatic about it because he was a star all his life.

If you hadn’t started acting as a child, do you think you would have still become an actress? 

I think eventually I might well have been an actress. I went through that whole scenario of thinking I wasn’t that good and it was all a terrible mistake to rediscovering it again when I was older and loving it.

You recently published a memoir about your life, Forever Young. Did writing about your early fame give you a different perspective on your life?