John Mills

Sir John Mills (born February 22, 1908) is one of Britain's most successful and best-loved actors. Born John Lewis Ernest Watts Mills in Felixstowe, Suffolk, he took an early interest in acting, making his professional debut at the London Hippodrome in 1927. He is shortly to be honoured with a Fellowship of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), a status reserved for the very few.

Mills made his film debut in The Midshipmaid (1932), and came to prominence as Colley in the 1939 film version of Goodbye, Mr Chips, opposite Robert Donat. He took the lead in Great Expectations in 1936, and subsequently made his career playing traditionally British heroes such as Sir Robert Falcon Scott in Scott of the Antarctic (1949). In 1941, he married the dramatist, Mary Hayley Bell, and their two daughters, Juliet and Hayley, are both successful actresses.

For his role as the village idiot in Ryan's Daughter (1970) - a complete departure from his usual style - Mills won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Altogether he appeared in over a hundred films. In 1976, he was knighted. In recent years, he has appeared on television only on special occasions.

Major Films

• In Which We Serve (1942)
• This Happy Breed (1944)
• The Way to the Stars (1945)
• Great Expectations (1946)
• Scott of the Antarctic (1948)
• The History of Mr Polly (1949)
• Hobson's Choice (1954)
• The Colditz Story (1955)
• Ice Cold in Alex (1958)
• Tiger Bay (1959)
• Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
• King Rat (1965)
• Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
• Young Winston (1972)
• The Thirty-Nine Steps (1978)
• Who's That Girl (1987)