FILM STAR HAYLEY’S RETURN TO TIGER BAY
Actress revisits 60 years after seminal movie
IT was the movie that thrilled cinemagoers around the world – and made a star of young actress Hayley Mills.
Released in 1959, Tiger Bay, was a crime drama set in Cardiff’s docklands.
It marked the acting debut of Mills – who won a Bafta in her first screen role as the street urchin who witnesses a murder.
Now the 73-year-old actress has revisited the locations where she filmed 60 years ago for a special programme to mark the anniversary of its release.
In Movie Memories: The Making of Tiger Bay, Hayley returns to the Welsh capital to share her memories of the film that launched her career.
“It’s a spiritual home because this is where my life began as an actress,” she says.
“It was a very significant experience and time in my life. To come back and visit places where I was as a child is wonderful.”
“It’s an extraordinary experience of being in the here and now and being back when I was 12.”
Cardiff Bay is now a gleaming testament to a modern Wales, 60 years ago it looked completely different.
Then it was Cardiff’s bustling docklands - a noisy, dirty, working port. Sea farers sailed into Cardiff and never left.
It was here that many of them made their home – and more particularly the one square mile of docklands that became legendary.
This was Tiger Bay. A melting pot of nationalities from all points around the globe.
Much of the movie that shares its name was shot in real life locations, including the streets, houses and pubs of Cardiff’s old Tiger Bay neighbourhood.
Shooting took place in the autumn of 1958 when film crews descended on Cardiff docks.
Unsurprisingly, there was huge excitement for the movie, which starred Hayley’s father, the legendary actor Sir John Mills, and the handsome, enigmatic German screen star Horst Buchholz.
The programme hears from local residents who appeared in the film and who still recall the thrill of seeing movie crews on their doorstep.
“It was brilliant. I remember it well the excitement of it all,” says Gaynor Legall, who was a child at the time.
“They used local people as extras, so everybody was looking for a part. I was a bridesmaid in the wedding scene and I remember I dripped gravy on this lovely bridesmaid’s dress that they had. I was mortified - I thought I’d get into trouble!”
David Pine also appeared in the film as a young chorister singing alongside Hayley Mills.
“The pay was about ten shillings a day which was a lot of money at the time. I never saw it though. My mother took it off me!”
Neil Sinclair was one of the few extras who had a speaking part. He recalls the audition which was in a building on St Mary Street in Cardiff city centre. “I remember I had to go to St Mary Street. I went in this room and thought I would have to do Shakespeare or something. I didn’t have to say a word. They told me to walk up and down, and they said ‘yes, you’ll do.’
“I’m in a scene with Hayley Mills, which on screen might last a little over five minutes but it took us three weeks to film that and of course it was raining although you wouldn’t know it from the film. They had big umbrellas. It was an exciting time – like Hollywood come to town.”
Tiger Bay was Hayley Mills’ first starring role. She shared many scenes with her father, who played the police superintendent on the trail of a killer.
“Acting with my father was the most natural thing in the world,” recalls Hayley.
“We played the parts - we were those people. And then, when the scene was over, we just sort of went, ‘Oh okay,’ and went back to being ourselves again.”
Hayley’s performance in the film earned her a Bafta award.
It also got the attention of Walt Disney, who signed her up for six films during the 1960s, including The Parent Trap and Pollyanna, for which she won an Academy Award.
“I’m very lucky that the first thing I ever did was Tiger Bay,” she says.
“It was so well made, so well written. It was a perfect part for me and they don’t come along very often.”
As Hayley Mills retraces her steps, she reflects on the Tiger Bay landmarks that are now lost. Shortly after the film’s release, bulldozers began demolishing huge swathes of the docklands.
“Part of me mourns what’s gone,” she says. “But docks always have a special quality and Cardiff’s still got that.
“Coming back here now is a real completion of a circle. And we don’t often get a chance to do that in life.”
Movie Memories: The Making of Tiger Bay is presented by Adeola Dewis, who explored the history of Cardiff’s seafaring communities for last year’s Dock of the Bay series.
“I have a special place in my heart for Cardiff’s docklands,” says Adeola. “The stories coming out of this culturally rich place are like little gems of history.
“The making of this programme
allowed me to experience even more of those moments that reinforce the beauty of this place.
“Meeting Hayley Mills was another gem. On-screen she was a big part of my childhood. Face-toface, she was down-to-earth, funny and just a really lovely person.”
The programme’s producer, Carwyn Jones, believes the movie’s enduring appeal owes a lot to its evocation of a time and place.
“Watching Tiger Bay now is like opening a time capsule,” he says.
“It rekindles a period in our past that’s sadly disappeared. But thanks to this movie the vibrancy of Cardiff’s docklands has been perfectly preserved for future generations to enjoy.”
Movie Memories: The Making of Tiger Bay is on ITV Cymru Wales tonight at 8pm. It will then be available online on itv.com/walesprogrammes