Biography
Hayley Mills earned greater renown for her screen performances, most notably her Disney portrayal of Pollyanna, than for any vocal achievements, yet she secured one Top Ten placement and came close to repeating that success while still a child star in the 1960s. The single “Let’s Get Together,” first performed in her second Disney feature The Parent Trap, climbed to number eight nationally in 1961 and reached the summit of the Hawaiian charts. Its follow-up, “Johnny Jingo,” arrived at number 21 the next year, with both sides appearing on Buena Vista.
The commercial showing of that earlier track prompted Walt Disney Productions to green-light a full-length project, resulting in the 1962 Buena Vista album Let’s Get Together With Hayley Mills. The twelve-song collection, issued by the Disney-affiliated label, featured her two charting singles and later resurfaced on CD during the final years of the decade. Additional 1962 releases included the single “Ding Ding Ding,” coupled with “Side by Side,” while her role in In Search of the Castaways generated the ballad “Castaway” and the duet “Let’s Climb,” the latter recorded with Maurice Chevalier; Buena Vista handled every one of those sides.
Four selections from the 1963 Alcoa Wrap Presents Music From Walt Disney’s Summer Magic compilation bore Mills’s vocals, and Wonderland Music issued the set. Three years afterward Mainstream paired the title track of Gypsy Girl with its flip-side “Younger Than 17” to coincide with her appearance in that film.
Born Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills in London, she grew up in a theatrical household. Her father, John Mills, received an Oscar for his performance in the 1970 picture Ryan’s Daughter; her sister, Juliet Mills, later earned an Emmy Award for acting; her mother, Mary Hayley Bell, worked as a playwright and novelist; and her son Crispian Mills fronted the British trad-rock band Kula Shaker in the late 1990s. For Pollyanna she herself captured a special juvenile Academy Award, although her parents withheld news of the honor for several months after the ceremony in an effort to preserve her modesty.
Subsequent screen work encompassed the series Saved By the Bell, originally titled Good Morning, Miss Bliss, the 1981 BBC production The Flame Trees of Thika, and three made-for-television sequels to The Parent Trap. On stage she performed in New York in Noël Coward’s Suite in 2 Keys and toured in The King and I throughout the 1990s. Observers frequently remarked on the disparity between her acting assurance and her vocal limitations, prompting Mills, who shared that assessment, to pursue formal singing lessons.
The commercial showing of that earlier track prompted Walt Disney Productions to green-light a full-length project, resulting in the 1962 Buena Vista album Let’s Get Together With Hayley Mills. The twelve-song collection, issued by the Disney-affiliated label, featured her two charting singles and later resurfaced on CD during the final years of the decade. Additional 1962 releases included the single “Ding Ding Ding,” coupled with “Side by Side,” while her role in In Search of the Castaways generated the ballad “Castaway” and the duet “Let’s Climb,” the latter recorded with Maurice Chevalier; Buena Vista handled every one of those sides.
Four selections from the 1963 Alcoa Wrap Presents Music From Walt Disney’s Summer Magic compilation bore Mills’s vocals, and Wonderland Music issued the set. Three years afterward Mainstream paired the title track of Gypsy Girl with its flip-side “Younger Than 17” to coincide with her appearance in that film.
Born Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills in London, she grew up in a theatrical household. Her father, John Mills, received an Oscar for his performance in the 1970 picture Ryan’s Daughter; her sister, Juliet Mills, later earned an Emmy Award for acting; her mother, Mary Hayley Bell, worked as a playwright and novelist; and her son Crispian Mills fronted the British trad-rock band Kula Shaker in the late 1990s. For Pollyanna she herself captured a special juvenile Academy Award, although her parents withheld news of the honor for several months after the ceremony in an effort to preserve her modesty.
Subsequent screen work encompassed the series Saved By the Bell, originally titled Good Morning, Miss Bliss, the 1981 BBC production The Flame Trees of Thika, and three made-for-television sequels to The Parent Trap. On stage she performed in New York in Noël Coward’s Suite in 2 Keys and toured in The King and I throughout the 1990s. Observers frequently remarked on the disparity between her acting assurance and her vocal limitations, prompting Mills, who shared that assessment, to pursue formal singing lessons.
Albums
