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49-746: That Darn Cat! was Hayley Mills ' last film of the six she appeared in for the Walt Disney Studios until she returned in 1986 for three Parent Trap films. Mills later said it was a mistake to leave Disney. It was Dean Jones ' first film for Disney. A remake of the film was released in 1997, and features a cameo appearance by Jones. "Darn Cat" or "DC" is a wily, adventurous Siamese tomcat, who lives with young suburbanite sisters Ingrid "Inky" and Patricia "Patti" Randall. He enjoys an evening route wandering through town, which includes teasing local dogs, swiping food, and marking vehicles with muddy paws. One night, DC follows bank robber Iggy into

98-561: A flat in London's Chelsea and Cobstone Windmill in Ibstone , Buckinghamshire , which was later sold. Their son, Crispian Mills , is the lead singer and guitarist for the raga rock band Kula Shaker . The couple divorced in 1977. Mills had a second son, Jason Lawson, born in July 1976, during a relationship with actor Leigh Lawson . She and Lawson split up in the early 1980s. In

147-467: A "studio asset". For Universal, Mills made another film with her father, The Truth About Spring (1965), co-starring Disney regular James MacArthur as her love interest. It was mildly popular. However The Trouble with Angels (1966), was a huge hit; she played a prankish Catholic boarding school girl with "scathingly brilliant" schemes, opposite screen veteran Rosalind Russell , and directed by another Hollywood veteran, Ida Lupino . She then provided

196-641: A 1969 West End revival of Peter Pan . In 1991 she appeared as Anna Leonowens in the Australian production of The King and I . In 1997, Mills starred in the U.S. national tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I . In 2000 she made her Off-Broadway debut in Sir Noël Coward 's Suite in Two Keys , opposite American actress Judith Ivey , for which she won a Theatre World Award . In 2001, Mills starred as Desiree Armfeldt in

245-543: A change of pace with Sky West and Crooked (1965), set in the world of gypsies, written by her mother and directed by her father, but it was not commercially successful. In contrast, her last film with Disney, the comedy That Darn Cat! (also 1965), did very well at the box office. During her six-year run at Disney, Mills was arguably the most popular child actress of the era. Critics noted that America's favourite child star was, in fact, quite British and very ladylike. The success of "Let's Get Together" (which hit No. 8 on

294-519: A holiday park in Wales. In 2021, Mills played Michael Sheen 's mother in the film Last Train to Christmas , and in 2022 she had a recurring role in the television thriller series Compulsion . In February 2023 she appeared in the fifth series of the ITV crime drama Unforgotten as Lady Emma Hume. In September 2023, Mills appeared in an episode of The Wheel of Time . Mills made her stage debut in

343-544: A memoir about her life and career, Forever Young: A Memoir, in September 2021. Let's Get Together with Hayley Mills , released in 1962, was Mills' only solo album. It had the million-selling song " Let's Get Together " and "Johnny Jingo". Richard L. Coe Richard Livingston Coe (New York City, November 8, 1914 – Washington, D.C., November 12, 1995) was a theater and cinema critic for The Washington Post for more than forty years. Coe became known as one of

392-522: A new Disney contract. She felt her character castings led to her "repeating herself" with the studio. She also detailed, how at age 21, she lost most of her Disney fortune to a 90% tax rate implemented by the Inland Revenue in England. Her appeal to regain her funds was eventually shot down, with Mills admitting that at that time, she was worried about going the path of Judy Garland and becoming

441-523: A number of false scents till he and we finally barge in on the criminals." Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post declared: " That Darn Cat is a dandy Christmas present for everyone except the Scrooges. Children will enjoy its pranks, adults its whimsy, cat-lovers its Siamese and even J. Edgar Hoover won't mind this use of the FBI." Brendan Gill of The New Yorker called the film "a typical product of

490-599: A production of "A Little Night Music" in Seattle, Washington. It was a co-production with the city's A Contemporary Theatre and the Fifth Avenue Theatre. In December 2007, for their annual birthday celebration of "The Master", The Noël Coward Society invited Mills as the guest celebrity to lay flowers in front of Coward's statue at New York's Gershwin Theatre , thereby commemorating the anniversary of

539-577: A radio editor and assistant drama critic. During World War II he served in the United States Army Air Forces as a writer and editor for Stars and Stripes , reporting out of Cairo . He returned to the Post in 1946 as drama critic, although he also reviewed motion pictures and other entertainment. He retired in 1979 and was named a critic emeritus. In 1946, he married noted Washington journalist Christine Sadler , who later became

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588-659: A romantic relationship with Boulting and they eventually married, in 1971. She then starred as the protagonist of Pretty Polly (1967), opposite famous Indian film actor Shashi Kapoor , in Singapore. Mills made another movie for Boulting, the controversial horror thriller Twisted Nerve in 1968, along with her Family Way co-star Hywel Bennett. She made a comedy, Take a Girl Like You (1970), with Oliver Reed and made her West End debut in The Wild Duck in 1970. She worked for Boulting again on Mr. Forbush and

637-688: A starring role in the UK television mini-series The Flame Trees of Thika in 1981, the title role in Disney's television series Good Morning, Miss Bliss in 1988, and as Caroline, a main character in Wild at Heart (2007–2012) on ITV in the UK. She published her memoirs, Forever Young, in 2021. Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills was born on 18 April 1946, in Marylebone , London , to British actor Sir John Mills and actress Mary Hayley Bell . Her sister

686-568: A starring role in the UK television mini-series The Flame Trees of Thika , based on Elspeth Huxley 's memoir of her childhood in East Africa. The series was well received, prompting her to accept more acting roles. She then returned to America and made two appearances on The Love Boat in 1985, and an episode of Murder, She Wrote in 1986. Always welcomed at Disney, Mills narrated an episode of The Wonderful World of Disney , sparking renewed interest in her Disney work. In 1985, she

735-606: Is actor/writer Firdous Bamji , who is 20 years her junior. They met when touring playing the lead roles in The King and I . In April 2008, Mills was diagnosed with breast cancer . She had surgery and started, but quickly abandoned, chemotherapy after only three sessions because of the severity of the side effects. She credits her survival to the alternative treatments she used. She told Good Housekeeping magazine in January 2012 that she had fully recovered. Mills published

784-512: Is actress Juliet Mills and her brother writer and producer Jonathan Mills. Mills was 12 when she was cast by J. Lee Thompson , who was initially looking for a boy to play the lead role, in Tiger Bay (1959) which co-starred her father. The movie was popular at the box office in Britain. Bill Anderson , one of Walt Disney 's producers, saw Tiger Bay and suggested that Mills be given

833-622: Is an English actress. The daughter of Sir John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell and younger sister of actress Juliet Mills , she began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising newcomer, winning the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her performance in the British crime drama film Tiger Bay (1959), the Academy Juvenile Award for Disney's Pollyanna (1960) and Golden Globe Award for New Star of

882-520: Is discovered by the owner Gregory Benson, who is in Ingrid's carpool. Benson chases DC and Kelso out and angrily announces he is leaving the carpool. The next day, agent Kelso's supervisor Newton shuts down the operation, determining the watch not a useful clue. Patti disguises herself as the hippie niece of her friend Mr. Hoffstedder the jeweler, and persuades the FBI that the watch is indeed hard evidence. Newton and Kelso set up one last surveillance from

931-471: Is superb. Clark Gable at the peak of his performing never played a tom cat more winningly. This elegant, blue-eyed creature is a paragon of suavity and grace", and concluded, "it's an entertaining picture. Even a king might profitably look at That Darn Cat ." Variety said: "Walt Disney comes up with a novelty charmer in this lilting translation of the Gordon's [sic] whimsical tale of a Siamese cat who helps

980-695: The Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, No. 17 in Britain and No. 1 in Mexico,) also led to the release of a record album on Disney's Buena Vista label, Let's Get Together with Hayley Mills , which also included her only other hit song, "Johnny Jingo" (Billboard No. 21, 1962). In 1962, British exhibitors voted her the most popular film actress in the country. In Forever Young: A Memoir, among other topics, she reveals high points from her early career, as well as struggles with self-esteem and an eating disorder. Describing how she turned down roles that "undermined

1029-604: The Disney Channel -produced television series Good Morning, Miss Bliss in 1987. The show was cancelled after 13 episodes and the rights were acquired by NBC , which reformatted Good Morning, Miss Bliss into Saved by the Bell without any further involvement from Mills. In recognition of her work with The Walt Disney Company , she was awarded the Disney Legends award in 1998. Mills recalled her childhood in

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1078-529: The Writers Guild of America for Best Written American Comedy. The film was also nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture, and a Golden Leaf nomination for Best Supporting Actress (Elsa Lanchester). Mills won the 1966 second place Golden Leaf award for Comedy Performance, Actress. The Sherman Brothers won the third place Golden Leaf award for Best Song. Hayley Mills Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills (born 18 April 1946)

1127-696: The 108th birthday of Coward. In 2012 she starred as Ursula Widdington in the stage production of Ladies in Lavender at the Royal & Derngate Theatre , before embarking on a national UK tour. In 2015, she toured Australia with sister Juliet Mills and Juliet's husband Maxwell Caulfield in the comedy Legends! by James Kirkwood . Mills starred in the 2018 Off-Broadway run of Isobel Mahon's Party Face at City Center . In 1966, while filming The Family Way , 20-year-old Mills met 53-year-old director Roy Boulting . The two were married in 1971 and owned

1176-556: The 1980s, following her breakup with Lawson, Mills developed an interest in a number of Eastern religions. She wrote the preface to the book The Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking , published in 1984, although she was not a member of Hare Krishna '. In 1988, Mills co-edited, with Marcus Maclaine, My God: Letters from the Famous on God and the Life Hereafter (Pelham Books, 1988). Mills's partner since 1997 and as of 2023

1225-464: The 2000 documentary film Sir John Mills' Moving Memories , which was directed by Marcus Dillistone and produced by her brother Jonathan. In 2005 she appeared in the acclaimed short film, Stricken , written and directed by Jayce Bartok. From 2007 to 2012, she appeared as Caroline in the ITV1 African vet drama Wild at Heart ; her sister Juliet Mills was a guest star in the drama, which

1274-439: The Disney image" such as Doctor Doolittle and Stanley Kubrick's Lolita , she wrote that "I think by being under contract to Walt Disney, as much as I really appreciated the opportunity it gave me, [and] the career it gave me, quite frankly, it hampered me from getting more different kinds of roles and eventually it also influenced how I felt about myself. I wasn't sure what I was capable of." Ultimately, at age 20, she turned down

1323-484: The FBI solve a kidnapping case." Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times stated: "As a detective story, That Darn Cat! is strictly for juveniles and the juvenile-minded. It contains little of the step-by-step development which in good detective stories brings out the sleuthing in all of us, being content to settle for a series of gags in which that darn cat, a brownish Siamese, leads the FBI and others on

1372-576: The Penguins (1971), replacing the original female lead. In 1972 Mills again acted opposite Hywel Bennett in Endless Night along with Britt Ekland , Per Oscarsson and George Sanders . It is based on the novel Endless Night by Agatha Christie . She made two films for Sidney Hayers , What Changed Charley Farthing? (1974) and Deadly Strangers (1975). After The Kingfisher Caper in 1975, co-written by Boulting, she dropped out of

1421-489: The Randall home and trail DC through several neighborhoods before finally arriving at the bank robbers' hideout. Kelso enters the apartment just in time to save Miller's life, and Patti enters moments later in an attempt to keep Kelso alive. After a brief scuffle, the kidnappers are arrested and Miss Miller is liberated. In the epilogue, Patti reconciles with her on-and-off-boyfriend Canoe, who has suffered with jealousy due to

1470-604: The Washington editor of McCall's magazine and wrote the book America's First Ladies . Mrs. Coe died in 1983. Coe was considered a generous reviewer. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre describes him this way: "One of the leading non-New York critics, he was a warm, knowledgeable advocate of all good theater, and his views were regularly solicited by Broadway producers, even when they did not try out their shows in Washington. Mr. Coe wrote for numerous other publications, including The New York Times and The New Republic. He

1519-602: The Year ;– Actress in 1961. During her early career, she appeared in six films for Walt Disney , including her dual role as twins Susan and Sharon in the Disney film The Parent Trap (1961). Her performance in Whistle Down the Wind (a 1961 adaptation of the novel written by her mother ) saw Mills nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress and she was voted the biggest star in Britain for 1961. In

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1568-503: The apartment where Iggy and his partner Dan are holding bank employee Margaret Miller hostage. Miss Miller uses the opportunity to replace DC's collar with her watch, on which she has inscribed most of the word "HELP". DC returns home to the Randalls; Patti discovers the watch, and suspects that it belongs to the kidnapped woman. She goes to the FBI and tells Agent Zeke Kelso of her discovery. Supervisor Newton assigns Kelso to follow DC in

1617-513: The biggest star in Britain for 1961. Mills was offered the title role in Lolita by Stanley Kubrick , but her father turned it down. "I wish I had done it", she said in 1962. "It was a smashing film." Mills returned to Disney for an adventure film, In Search of the Castaways (1962), based on a novel by Jules Verne . It was another popular success, and she was voted the fifth biggest star in

1666-549: The country for the next two years. In 1963, Disney announced plans to film an adaptation of Dodie Smith 's novel I Capture the Castle , with Mills in the role of Cassandra. Disney ended up dropping the project, while still retaining film rights to the book, when the novelist and the selected screenwriter Sally Benson did not get along; Mills grew too old for the part before the project could be revived. Her fourth movie for Disney did less well than her previous Disney films, but

1715-585: The film industry for a few years. According to one writer, "She was a movie star for about a decade... a genuine, old-school, above-the-title movie star: listed in box-office polls, the focus of a carefully-protected public image, signatory to a long-term contract with a studio who would try to craft vehicles for her. In fact, you could make an argument that Hayley Mills was one of the last stars for whom that last factor applied, at least in English-speaking cinema." In 1981, Mills returned to acting with

1764-456: The film, she sings " Let's Get Together " as a duet with herself. The song was a hit around the world, reaching number 8 in the US. Mills received an offer to make a film in Britain for Bryan Forbes , Whistle Down the Wind (1961), based on a novel by her mother Mary Hayley Bell , about some children who believe an escaped convict is Jesus. It was a hit at the British box office and she was voted

1813-516: The giant Disney flapdoodle factory, which for many years now has devoted itself to grinding out lavish falsifications of contemporary life." In September 1965, Hedda Hopper reported Disney had commissioned a sequel from the Gordons enritled Undercover Cat Prowls Again but it was not made. The film holds a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 16 reviews. The film's writers, Mildred Gordon , Gordon Gordon , and Bill Walsh , were nominated by

1862-416: The hope that he will lead them back to the robbers' hideout. Kelso sets up a headquarters in the Randalls' house and assigns a team to keep the cat under surveillance. Despite multiple attempts and a bugging system, DC eludes them in humiliating and comedic ways, culminating in a chase where he leads Agent Kelso through several back yards and a drive-in theatre . As DC ends up trying to open a pigeon cage, he

1911-553: The late 1960s, Mills began performing in theatrical plays, making her stage debut in a 1969 West End revival of Peter Pan . She also played in more mature roles. For her success with Disney, she received the Disney Legend Award. Although she has not maintained the box office success or the Hollywood A-list she experienced as a child actress , she has continued to make films and TV appearances, including

1960-660: The lead role in Pollyanna (1960). The role of the orphaned "glad girl" who moves in with her aunt catapulted her to stardom in the United States and earned her a special Academy Award of Juvenile Oscar , the last person to win the accolade. Because she could not be present to receive the trophy, Annette Funicello accepted it on her behalf. Disney subsequently cast Mills as twins Sharon and Susan who reunite their divorced parents in The Parent Trap (1961). In

2009-658: The many shows Coe reviewed at Washington's National Theater were David Merrick's original productions of "Hello, Dolly!" and "Carnival." He also reviewed the premieres of plays by Neil Simon , Tennessee Williams and William Inge . He often said that his interest in music and theater began during his years at the choir school of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan. He graduated from George Washington University in 1938 and immediately joined The Washington Post as

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2058-498: The more dainty, long and tubular modern Siamese show cat. One of the cats used for the film belonged to longtime cat breeder Edith Williams, a member of the Stud Book Fanciers Association. One of the feline actors also starred, along with two dogs, in Disney's 1963 film The Incredible Journey . Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote: "The feline that plays the informant, as the F.B.I. puts it,

2107-426: The most influential theater critics outside New York City. He was the leading theater reviewer in Washington when that city was a major tryout stop for shows headed for New York. It was the postwar period that was considered Broadway's last golden era of prolific production. Consequently, it was often Coe's reviews that directors used to help smooth out productions before heading to the harsher lights of Broadway. Among

2156-577: The secretive nature of the FBI investigation. Kelso becomes Ingrid's new carpool and begins a romance with her, while DC starts a family with a gray cat he has been visiting on his nightly rounds. The exterior neighborhood scenes were filmed on The Walt Disney Studios backlot in Burbank , California. Each of the Seal Point Siamese cats who collectively play the role of DC is a so-called "traditional" or "old style" Siamese , as opposed to

2205-483: The voice of the Little Mermaid for The Daydreamer (1966). Shortly after The Truth About Spring , Mills appeared alongside her father and Hywel Bennett in director Roy Boulting's critically acclaimed film The Family Way (1966), a comedy about a couple having difficulty consummating their marriage, featuring a score by Paul McCartney and arrangements by Beatles producer George Martin . She began

2254-629: Was also a regular radio and television commentator. He was named Critic of the Year by the Directors' Guild of America in 1963 and "Washingtonian of the Year" in 1980.His columns, however, were not limited to theatrical productions. He also wrote articles condemning racial segregation at the National Theater in the early 1950s, and seeking the repeal of a child labor law in Washington that prohibited performances by casts that included children. Coe

2303-420: Was originally considered to voice Princess Eilonwy in Disney's animated feature film The Black Cauldron , but was later replaced by the veteran British voice actress Susan Sheridan . Later, she reprised her roles as twins Sharon and Susan for a trio of Parent Trap television films: The Parent Trap II , Parent Trap III , and Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon . She also starred as the title character in

2352-401: Was still successful: Summer Magic (1963), a musical adaptation of the novel Mother Carey's Chickens . Ross Hunter hired her for a British-American production The Chalk Garden (1964), playing a girl who torments governess Deborah Kerr . Back at Disney she was in a film about jewel thieves, The Moon-Spinners (1964), getting her first on screen kiss from Peter McEnery . Mills had

2401-542: Was the first time they had appeared on screen together. In 2010, Mills appeared in Mandie and the Cherokee Treasure , based on one of the popular Mandie novels of Lois Gladys Leppard . In 2011, she starred in the film Foster alongside Toni Collette . Mills guest-starred in episodes of Midsomer Murders and Moving On in 2014. In 2019, she had a role in the television series Pitching In set at

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