Hayley Mills Cancer made me value my loved ones
It was a shock, but now Hayley prioritises her family life and is much happier as a result
In 2008, actress Hayley Mills got the shock of her life when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She took a year off from filming the ITV drama Wild at Heart for treatment and to recover, and has been fighting fit since.
More than a decade on, Hayley says cancer changed her life – and her reflections might surprise you.
“Actually, I’m grateful for the experience of cancer,” says Hayley, 72, with a rueful half-laugh. “I don’t want to go through it again, certainly! But there are positives from going through that.”
The upside, she says, is that is made her appreciate life. “It shocked me into the present and made me value everything,” continues Hayley. “From time to time you realise you are taking things for granted – mostly, I think, people that you love – and it is a real wake-up call not to waste time by allowing small things to spoil an otherwise happy day.
“I don’t let things get to me like they used to now. Losing my temper or being negative about things are such a waste of time.”
Her attitude is reflected in our conversation when we meet to chat about Hayley’s latest acting job. She’s sunny and upbeat while discussing her role in Pitching In, BBC1’s new daily afternoon drama, also starring Gavin &Stacey’s Larry Lamb.
The daughter of acting legend Sir John Mills and playwright Mary Hayley Bell, Hayley was catapulted to stardom at the age of 12 in 1959’s Tiger Bay, followed by Whistle Down The Wind, based on a novel written by her mother. Walt Disney whisked her off to Hollywood to star in The Parent Trap (1961) and Pollyanna (1960), for which she won the Best Juvenile Oscar. Amazingly, Hayley didn’t even attend the Oscars.
“I was at boarding school and my parents didn’t think it would be good for me to go,” chuckles Hayley. “I never got to the bottom of why, but I suspect they wanted to keep things as normal as possible. I don’t even have a picture of me with my Oscar.”
She’s worked for the past 60 years, with roles in 1981’s The Flame Trees of Thika and more recently in the South Africa-set drama Wild At Heart (2006-2012).
Pitching In sees Hayley play Iona, a real estate magnate in a small north Wales town. Her job is to convince widower Frank Hardcastle (Larry Lamb) to sell his holiday park, Daffodil Dunes – he’s thinking of moving on from the area.
It was a wake-up call to not let small things spoil an otherwise happy day
“Initially Iona is very motivated professionally and has designs on the park,” explains Hayley. “She’s acting for a mystery buyer, but during the process of trying to convince Frank it is the best way forward for him, she does develop a bit of a special feeling for him, too.
“I enjoyed working with Larry enormously – he’s a great personality, a good actor and very friendly. It was my first time in Anglesey, where we filmed, and I fell in love with it.”
The role was appealing enough to make Hayley
decamp to north Wales for a few weeks. She says that since the cancer diagnosis, she only takes roles she feels strongly about.
“There’s more balance to my life now between work and my private life,” explains Hayley. A few years ago, she and her partner of the past 21 years, American actor Firdous Bamji, moved back to London full time after more than a decade spent in New York City. She remains close to her elder sister, the actress Juliet Mills, 77.
“We have a flat downstairs in our house, and she and Max stay here whenever they’re over.” Max is Juliet’s husband, former Casualty star Maxwell Caulfield.
Hayley moved back full-time to spend more time with her children and grandchildren – she has two sons, Crispian, a musician whose father is Hayley’s ex-husband Roy Boulting the legendary film director, and Jason, a theatre director, with actor Leigh Lawson.
“I have four grandchildren too, and they’re fantastic,” enthuses Hayley. “Work is wonder ful, and I am still always looking for things that excite me to do, but also, I did lose quite a lot of my time with my own children by not being here all the time, so it’s very important to me to be there for my kids now if they need me.
“So if a role just doesn’t ring a bell for me, I don’t have to do it!”