John Mills
Highest Rated: 100% Great Expectations (1947)
Lowest Rated: 17% Frankenstein (1992)
Birthday: Feb 22, 1908
Birthplace: The Watts Naval Training College, North Elmham, Norfolk, England, UK
Born in a British seaside resort town, John Mills was the son of a mathematics teacher father. Mills' mother worked as a theatrical box office manager, and it was this world, rather than his father's academic milieu, which most attracted young Mills. After brief employment as a clerk in a corn merchant's office, Mills moved to London, where he enrolled at Zelia Raye's Dancing School. His first professional job was as a chorus dancer in The Five O'Clock Revue in 1929. Making as many contacts as possible, Mills was able to secure work on the legitimate stage, and in 1932 appeared in his first film, the Jessie Matthews vehicle The Midshipmaid. Learning his craft in "quota quickies," Mills rose to leading man in such prestige productions as Brown on Resolution (1935), Tudor Rose (1936), and The Green Cockatoo (1938). In 1939, he appeared in his first American film, Goodbye Mr. Chips, playing student Peter Colley. He starred in a number of morale-boosting World War II films, usually playing the personification of the calm, resourceful young British military officer; any chance for a real life career in uniform, however, was scuttled by Mills' duodenal ulcer. After the war, he starred in such international hits as Great Expectations (1946), Scott of the Antarctic (1949), Hobson's Choice (1954), and Above Us the Waves (1955). In 1970, Mills won a long overdue Oscar for his performance as the village idiot in Ryan's Daughter (1970), directed (as were several of Mills' earlier films) by David Lean. His Broadway work has included Ross, a 1961 dramatization of the life of T.E. Lawrence. In 1966, Mills directed Sky West and Crooked (aka Gypsy Girl), which starred his daughter, Hayley Mills, and was written by his wife, Mary Hayley Bell (Mills' other daughter, Juliet, is likewise an actress of note). One year later, he made his American series-TV debut as British attorney Dundee in the weekly Western Dundee and the Culhane. In 1977, John Mills was made a knight of the British Empire; his very full life, both offscreen and on, was summed up three years later in his autobiography Up in the Clouds, Gentlemen, Please.

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

CREDIT
No Score Yet The Garden Actor — 2019
No Score Yet Le calde notti di Lady Hamilton (Emma Hamilton) Actor — 2012
96% Cameraman: The Life And Work Of Jack Cardiff Actor $20.5K 2011
No Score Yet It's Great To Be Young! Actor — 2011
No Score Yet Frankenstein DeLacey — 2007
65% Bright Young Things Man Taking Cocaine at Party $0.9M 2004
20% Cats: The Musical Actor — 1998
No Score Yet The Chalk Garden Maitland — 1998
No Score Yet The Noel Coward Trilogy Actor — 1998
41% Bean Chairman — 1997
95% Hamlet Old Norway — 1996
No Score Yet Grave Indiscretion Sir Edward Cleghorn — 1995
No Score Yet Martin Chuzzlewit Actor — 1994
No Score Yet Deadly Advice Jack the Ripper — 1993
17% Frankenstein Actor — 1992
No Score Yet Harnessing Peacocks Bernard — 1992
No Score Yet Ending Up Actor — 1991
No Score Yet Night of the Fox Brigadier Dougal Munro — 1990
No Score Yet Charles Dickens' Ghost Stories Actor — 1990
No Score Yet The Lady and the Highwayman Sir Lawrence Dobson — 1989
83% When the Wind Blows Jim Bloggs — 1988
29% Who's That Girl? Montgomery Bell — 1987
No Score Yet Hold the Dream Henry Rossiter — 1986
No Score Yet Murder with Mirrors Lewis Serrocold — 1985
No Score Yet A Woman of Substance Actor — 1984
No Score Yet Sahara Cambridge — 1984
No Score Yet The Masks of Death (Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death) Dr. John H. Watson — 1984
86% Gandhi Viceroy — 1982
33% The Human Factor Mike McAllister — 1979
57% Zulu Dawn Sir Henry Bartle Frere — 1979
No Score Yet The Quatermass Conclusion Professor Bernard Quatermass — 1979
No Score Yet The Thirty Nine Steps Scudder — 1978
No Score Yet Dr. Strange Thomas Lindmer — 1978
No Score Yet The Big Sleep Inspector Carson — 1978
No Score Yet Choice of Weapons Bertie Cook — 1976
No Score Yet Oklahoma Crude Cleon Doyle — 1973
44% Young Winston Gen. Herbert Kitchener — 1972
No Score Yet Lady Caroline Lamb Canning — 1972
47% Ryan's Daughter Michael — 1970
85% Oh! What A Lovely War Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig — 1969
No Score Yet Run Wild, Run Free The Moorman — 1969
No Score Yet Adam's Woman Sir Philip MacDonald — 1969
No Score Yet Black Veil for Lisa Franz — 1968
No Score Yet Chuka Colonel Stuart Valois — 1967
No Score Yet Africa---Texas Style! Wing Commander Hayes — 1967
No Score Yet The Family Way Ezra Fitton — 1966
88% The Wrong Box Masterman Finsbury — 1966
No Score Yet Sky West and Crooked (Bats with Baby Faces)(Gypsy Girl) Director — 1966
No Score Yet King Rat Col. Smedley-Taylor — 1965
No Score Yet The Truth About Spring Tommy Tyler — 1965
67% Operation Crossbow Gen. Boyd — 1965
No Score Yet Flame in the Streets Jacko Palmer — 1962
No Score Yet Tiara Tahiti Lt. Col. Clifford Southey — 1962
No Score Yet The Valiant Actor — 1962
No Score Yet Season of Passion Barney — 1961
No Score Yet The Singer Not the Song Father Keogh — 1961
80% Swiss Family Robinson Father — 1960
67% Tunes of Glory Lt. Col. Basil Barrow — 1960
67% Tiger Bay Superintendent Graham — 1959
No Score Yet I Was Monty's Double Major Harvey — 1958
No Score Yet Dunkirk Cpl. 'Tubby' Bins — 1958
No Score Yet Ice Cold in Alex Captain Anson — 1958
No Score Yet Escapade John Hampden — 1957
No Score Yet Town on Trial Supt. Mike Halloran — 1957
71% Around the World in 80 Days Cabby — 1956
43% War and Peace Platon Karatayev — 1956
No Score Yet Baby and the Battleship Puncher Roberts — 1956
No Score Yet Above Us the Waves Cmdr. Fraser — 1955
No Score Yet The Colditz Story Pat Reid — 1955
No Score Yet The End of the Affair Albert Parkis — 1954
No Score Yet The Gentle Gunman Actor — 1953
90% Hobson's Choice Willie Mossop — 1953
No Score Yet The Long Memory Davidson — 1953
No Score Yet Mr. Denning Drives North Actor — 1952
No Score Yet Morning Departure Lt. Cmdr. Armstrong — 1951
No Score Yet Scott of the Antarctic Capt. R.F. Scott — 1949
No Score Yet The History of Mr. Polly Alfred Polly — 1949
83% The Rocking Horse Winner Producer Bassett — 1949
No Score Yet Cottage to Let Producer — 1948
No Score Yet The October Man Jim Ackland — 1948
No Score Yet So Well Remembered George Boswell — 1947
100% Great Expectations Pip — 1947
No Score Yet Waterloo Road Jim Colter — 1945
No Score Yet The Way to the Stars Peter Penrose — 1945
100% This Happy Breed Billy Mitchell — 1944
No Score Yet We Dive at Dawn Captain - Lt. Taylor, R.N. — 1943
94% In Which We Serve Shorty Blake — 1942
No Score Yet Cottage to Let Flt·Lieut. Perry — 1941
82% Goodbye, Mr. Chips Young Colley — 1939
No Score Yet The Green Cockatoo Actor — 1937
No Score Yet Tudor Rose (Nine Days a Queen) Actor — 1936
No Score Yet Brown on Resolution (Forever England) (Born for Glory) Albert Brown — 1935
No Score Yet Car of Dreams Robert Miller — 1935
No Score Yet Doctor's Orders Ronnie Blake — 1934
No Score Yet The Ghost Camera Ernest Elton — 1933

TV

CREDIT
No Score Yet Great Performances
2000
Gus the Theatre Cat Gus, the Theatre Cat
  • 2014
No Score Yet Tales of the Unexpected
1979-1988
William Perkins Sam Morrissey The Man

QUOTES FROM John Mills CHARACTERS