Juliet Mills

Not to be confused with French actress Juliette Mills (1945).

Juliet Mills
Mills in 1974
Born	Juliet Maryon Mills (1941-11-21) 21 November 1941 (age 83) London, England
Citizenship	United Kingdom (1941–present) United States (1975–present)
Education	Elmhurst Ballet School
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1942–present
Spouses	Russell Alquist Jr. ​ ​ (m. 1961; div. 1974)​ Michael Miklenda ​ ​ (m. 1975; div. 1980)​ Maxwell Caulfield ​ (m. 1980)​
Children	2
Parent(s)	Sir John Mills Mary Hayley Bell
Relatives	Hayley Mills (sister) Annette Mills (aunt) Susie Blake (cousin) Mark Weedon (cousin) Crispian Mills (nephew)
Awards	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie 1975 QB VII

Juliet Maryon Mills (born 21 November 1941)^[1] is a British-American actress.^[2]

Mills began her career as a child actress and was nominated at age 18 for a Tony Award for her stage performance in Five Finger Exercise in 1960. She progressed to film work and then to television, playing the lead role on the sitcom Nanny and the Professor in the early 1970s. She received Golden Globe Award nominations for her work in this series and for her role in the film Avanti! in 1972. She won an Emmy Award for her performance in the television miniseries QB VII (1974).

In 1983, Mills joined The Mirror Theater Ltd's Mirror Repertory Company, performing in repertory productions such as Rain, Paradise Lost, Inheritors and The Hasty Heart throughout their seasons.^[3] From 1999 until 2008, she had a role on the daytime drama series Passions,^[4] for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award.

Early life

Mills was born on 21 November 1941 in London during World War II, though her parents, actor Sir John Mills and playwright Mary Hayley Bell, soon moved the family to the country to be away from the Luftwaffe bombing raids. She is the elder sister of actress Hayley Mills and director Jonathan Mills.^[5]

Because of her parents' careers, Mills grew up surrounded by famous actors, including Rex Harrison, David Niven and Marlon Brando. She recalled her childhood in the 2000 documentary film Sir John Mills' Moving Memories, written by her brother. Her godmother was actress Vivien Leigh, and her godfather was playwright Noël Coward.^[6] She attended the Elmhurst Ballet School, in Camberley, Surrey.^[7]

Career

As a child, Mills appeared as an extra in various films, including a role as Freda's 11-week-old baby in the 1942 film In Which We Serve, starring her father.^[7][8] Her first major role came in 1958, when she was 16, as Pamela Harrington in the Peter Shaffer play Five Finger Exercise. The show ran one year in London, and then moved to the Music Box Theatre on Broadway. In 1960, Mills was nominated for a Tony Award as "Best Featured Actress" for her performance as Pamela.

Her role as a stowaway dressed as a man, but daughter of a ship's gunner, in episode 2 of Sir Francis Drake was one of her first TV appearances (1961) and was echoed by an almost identical role in the 1964 film Carry On Jack.^[9]

Publicity photo of Mills promoting the January 21, 1970 premiere of the television series Nanny and the Professor.

In the 1960s, she would act both in films and on television, including the film, The Rare Breed with James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara, and on television series such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Ben Casey and 12 O'Clock High. The 1970s saw her working mostly in television, although she has stated that the highlight of her film career was the film Avanti! (1972), directed by Billy Wilder, in which she starred with Jack Lemmon and for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination in 1973.^[10] In 1974 Mills starred alongside fellow English actor Richard Johnson in the Italian horror film Beyond the Door, playing the role of Jessica Barrett, a woman who becomes demonically possessed after an unplanned pregnancy. The movie was a major success, making over $15 million at the box office, though the producers were sued by Warner Bros due to similarities to The Exorcist. Mills also appeared in a two-part 1978 episode of the TV series The Love Boat, playing Barbara Danver, wife of Alan Danver, played by Dan Rowan, one half of the comedy duo Rowan & Martin.

Nanny and the Professor cast 1970 (clockwise from top) Richard Long, David Doremus, Trent Lehman, Kim Richards and Mills

She is perhaps best known for starring on the American television series Nanny and the Professor, which was called an American version of Mary Poppins.^[6] She played Phoebe Figalilly, a nanny with magical powers. Mills has stated that she herself believes in magic, witches and fairies: "There's a lot more, you know, in the aether and around us ... We have guides, and we have angels taking care of us ... I believe in metaphysics, in a big way."^[4] She was again nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1971 for the same role. Despite strong ratings, the series ran only two seasons, in 1970 and 1971. When it moved from a timeslot near The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch, two hugely successful sitcoms, to a different night of the week, ratings fell eventually leading to its cancellation.^[6]

In 1974, she won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special" for her performance in the miniseries adaptation of QB VII. During the 1974–75 television season, she also had a recurring role as Dr. Claire Hanley on NBC's Born Free. In 1980, Mills returned to the stage, starring in The Elephant Man, with Maxwell Caulfield. The two actors hit it off, and the younger Caulfield became her third husband, leading Mills to withdraw from acting for a time.

She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1992, when she was surprised by Michael Aspel during the curtain call of the play Fallen Angels at the Richmond Theatre.^{[citation needed]}

In 1999, she was cast on the daytime drama Passions as Tabitha Lenox, a witch who was burned at the stake in the 17th century. Initially, the character wished harm on other people, but in a June 2007 episode, the character was declared a "good witch".^[11] Mills was nominated for her first Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Lead Actress" for the role.^[6]

The series ended in August 2008. In 2009, Mills joined the cast the ITV drama Wild at Heart, playing Georgina, the sister of a character played in the previous series by her real-life sister Hayley. She also guest-starred in two episodes of Hot in Cleveland as Philipa Scroggs, the mother of Joy (played by Jane Leeves).

Personal life

Mills in 2004

Mills has been married three times. The first time was from 1961 to 1964, to Russell Alquist, Jr.,^[5] with whom she had a son, Sean. Her second marriage was from 1975 to 1980 to Michael Miklenda, with whom she had a second child, a daughter, Melissa. While married to Miklenda, Mills appeared on Tattletales, and claimed she did not agree with women's liberation because the theatre does not discriminate.

In 1980, Mills married Maxwell Caulfield, 18 years her junior. Mills said of the age difference, "Everybody is always interested in the fact that I am married to someone who is a lot younger than I am ... There are no rules, and that's what I believe, because age doesn't really matter. If you meet someone that you're really close to, someone that you love, stick with that."^[4]

Mills became a naturalized United States citizen on October 10, 1975.^[12]

Theatre credits

Year	Title	Role	Theatre	Notes
1955	Alice Through the Looking Glass	Alice	Chelsea Palace Theatre
1958	Five Finger Exercise	Pamela Harrington	Comedy Theatre	Nominated—Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play
1960	Peter Pan	Wendy Darling	Scala Theatre
1962	The Glad and Sorry Season[13]	Kitty	Piccadilly Theatre
1963	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Titania	Royal Shakespeare Company
1964	The Knack ...and How to Get It
1964–65	Alfie!	Gilda	Morosco Theatre
1966	Lady Windermere's Fan		Phoenix Theatre
1969	She Stoops to Conquer	Kate Hardcastle	Garrick Theatre
1976	The Mousetrap		U.S. tour
1979	Wait Until Dark	Susy Hendrix	Alcazar Theatre
1980	The Elephant Man	Fanny Kemble	Royal Poinsiana Playhouse
	The Heiress	Catherine Sloper	Nottingham Playhouse
1983	Rain		The Mirror Theater
1983–84	Paradise Lost	Pearl Gordon
1984	Inheritors
1985	The Hasty Heart
1991	Dangerous Obsession	Sally Driscoll	Cape Cod Playhouse
1992–93	Fallen Angels		UK Tour
1995	The Cherry Orchard		Canadian tour
	The Moliere Comedies
	Time of My Life	Laura Stratton	Williamstown Theatre Festival
1996	It Could Be Any One of Us	Jocelyn Polegate	The Old Laundry Theatre, Bowness-on-Windermere
1997	Blithe Spirit	Ruth	Lauren K. Woods Theatre
1998	Dial M for Murder		Cape Cod Playhouse
1999	Double Double	Philippa	UK Tour
2010	Bedroom Farce	Delia	UK Tour[14]
2015	Legends!	Sylvia Glenn	Australian Tour[15]
2019	The Lady Vanishes	Miss Froy	UK Tour[16]
2022	Darker Shores	Mrs Hinchcliffe	UK Tour[17]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1942	In Which We Serve	Freda's Baby
1944	Tawny Pipit	Baby Girl
1947	So Well Remembered	Young Julie
	The October Man	Child on Bus
1949	The History of Mr. Polly	Little Polly
1961	No My Darling Daughter	Tansy Carr
1962	Twice Round the Daffodils	Catty
1963	Nurse on Wheels	Joanna Jones
1964	Carry On Jack	Sally
1966	The Rare Breed	Hilary Price
	The Wrong Box	Woman on Train	Uncredited
1969	Oh! What a Lovely War	Nurse
1972	Avanti!	Pamela Piggott	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
1973	Jonathan Livingston Seagull	Marina	Voice
1974	Beyond the Door	Jessica Barrett
1976	The Second Power	Estefanía
1992	Waxwork II: Lost in Time	The Defense Lawyer
1994	The Primevals	Claire Collier	Photographed in 1994. Completed and released 2023.
1999	The Other Sister	Winnie
2014	Lucky Stiff	Miss Thorsby
	Some Kind of Beautiful	Joan
2018	Running for Grace	Grandmother
2023	7000 Miles	Sharon
	Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar	Whale	Voice
	Poolman	Mrs. Van Patterson
TBC	Embryo	Jessica Barrett	Sequel to Beyond the Door

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1960	Mrs. Miniver	Carol Beldon	TV film
1962	ITV Television Playhouse	Carol	Episode: "The Morning After"
	Man of the World	Carla	Episode: "The Mindreader"
1963	It Happened Like This	Joan	Episode: "Three of a Kind"
1965	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.	Eva	Episode: "The Adriatic Express Affair"
1966	Ben Casey	Joan Lloyd	Episode: "Pull the Wool Over Your Eyes, Here Comes the Cold Wind of Truth"
	A Man Called Shenandoah	Paula	Episode: "The Imposter"
	12 O'Clock High	Sydney Vivyan	Episode: "The Slaughter Pen"
	12 O'Clock High	Helen Conboy	Episode: "Siren Voices"
	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Mary Lewis	Episode: "Time of Flight"
1967	Wings of Fire	Lisa	TV film
	The Revenue Men	Jill Lacey	Episode: "Borderline"
	Coronet Blue	Margaret Crowell	Episode: "Man Running"
1968	Sherlock Holmes	Grace Dunbar	Episode: "Thor Bridge"
1969	The Morecambe & Wise Show	Guest Star	Her father, Sir John Mills, guest starred in a later series.
1970	The Challengers	Mary McCabe	TV film
1970–1971	Nanny and the Professor	Phoebe Figalilly	Lead role (54 episodes) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy Nominated—Bravo Otto for Best Female TV Star
1971	Alias Smith and Jones	Julia Finney	Episode: "The Man Who Murdered Himself"
	Stage 2	Kate Hardcastle	Episode: "She Stoops to Conquer"
1973	Letters from Three Lovers	Maggie	TV film
	The ABC Afternoon Playbreak	Susan Moroni	Episode: "Alone with Terror"
1974	QB VII	Samantha Cady	Miniseries Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special
	Born Free	Dr. Claire Hanley	Episodes: "Pilot", "The Flying Doctor of Kenya"
	Harry O	Margaret Ballinger	Episode: "Ballinger's Choice"
	Rex Harrison Presents Stories of Love	Usherette	Episode: "Kiss Me Again, Stranger" (Pilot-TV film)
1975	Marcus Welby, M.D.	Louise Carpenter	Episode: "Public Secrets"
	Hawaii Five-O	Lady Sybil Danby	Episode: "Termination with Extreme Prejudice"
	The Wide World of Mystery	Isobel	Episode: "Demon, Demon"
	Matt Helm	Caroline Jeffries	Episode: "Death Rods"
1976	Ellery Queen	Florence Ames	Episode: "The Adventure of the Hardhearted Huckster"
	Once an Eagle	Joyce	Miniseries
1977	Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn	Myra	TV film
	Wonder Woman	Queen Kathryn	Episode: "The Queen and the Thief"
	Barnaby and Me	Jennifer	TV film
1978	Switch	Alicia Alden	Episode: "Coronado Circle"
	Police Woman	Amy Hollis	Episode: "Sixth Sense"
1978–84	Fantasy Island	Various	4 episodes
	The Love Boat		8 episodes
1979	The Cracker Factory	Tinkerbell	TV film
1980	Hart to Hart	Kate Matthews	Episode: "Downhill to Death"
1984	Dynasty	Rosalind Bedford	Episodes: "The Secret", "That Holiday Spirit"
1985	All My Children	Judge Edith Hogan	TV series
1985	Hotel	Grace Cauldwell	Episode: "Fallen Idols"
1987	Murder, She Wrote	Annette Pirage	Episode: "Witness for the Defense"
1987	Hotel	Joanne Bentley	Episode: "Pitfalls"
1988	The Law & Harry McGraw	Isobel McKechnie	Episode: "Maginnis for the People"
1989	Judith Krantz's Till We Meet Again	Vivianne de Biron	Miniseries
1990	Monsters	Cara Raymond	Episode: "Outpost"
1992	Columbo	Eileen Hacker	Episode: "No Time to Die"
1993	A Stranger in the Mirror	Alice Tanner	TV film
1998	Air America	Helen Vendler	Episode: "The Hit"
1999–2008	Passions	Tabitha Lenox	Main role (990 episodes) Nominated—Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (2005) Nominated—Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress Nominated—Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villain
2009	Wild at Heart	Georgina	Recurring role (8 episodes)
2008–2009	Four Seasons	Lady Florence Combe	Miniseries
2010–2015	Hot in Cleveland	Philipa	4 episodes
2014	From Here on OUT	Dottie Cooper	Regular (6 episodes)
2017	Time After Time	Mrs. Nelsen	Episode: "Pilot"
2017	Jeff & Some Aliens	Jessica	Voice; Episode: "Jeff & Some Love Simulations"
2017	Andi Mack	Millie	Episode: "Mama"
2021	TV Therapy	Nanny	Episode: "Nanny"
2022	English Estate	Mary	TV film
2022	Big Mouth	Rita St. Swithens	Voice; Episode: "Vagina Shame"
2023	Grey's Anatomy	Maxine Anderson	5 episodes
2023	Human Resources	Rita St. Swithens	Voice; Episode: "On the Daughterfront"
2024	Ark: The Animated Series	Chava	Voice role[18]

Other

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974–75	Match Game 74	Herself (celebrity panelist)	Multiple episodes[19][20]
1987	Valley of the Dolls	Narrator	Audiobook recording by Phoenix Books

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1958	Tony Awards	Best Featured Actress in a Play	Five Finger Exercise	Nominated
1971	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy	Nanny and the Professor	Nominated
1973		Best Motion Picture Actress – Musical/Comedy	Avanti!	Nominated
1975	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special	QB VII	Won
2000	Soap Opera Digest Awards	Outstanding Villain	Passions	Nominated
2001		Outstanding Villainess		Nominated
2003		Outstanding Supporting Actress		Nominated
2004	TV Land Awards	Superlatively Supernatural	Nanny and the Professor	Nominated
2005	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Passions	Nominated

References

1. Bell, Mary Hayley (1968). What Shall We Do Tomorrow?. Cassell & Co. LTD. p. 162.
2. Certificate of Naturalization as a United States Citizen #10116847, filed U.S. District Court, Los Angeles, California (date: 10 October 1975), ancestry.com.
3. "Married Actors Juliet Mills and Maxwell Caulfield in a Scene from the Mirror Repertory Theatre Production of the Play "Paradise Lost." (New York)." NYPL Digital Collections. N.p., 1983. Web. 13 January 2017. <https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/01d98750-c02c-0132-5ac6-58d385a7bbd0>.
4. Soapography, "Juliet Mills and Greg Vaughn"
5. Stevens, Christopher (2010). Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams. John Murray. p. 382. ISBN 978-1-84854-195-5.
6. Crook, John (21 August 2005). "Mills is bewitching – Emmy-winning actress charms fans of NBC's soap Passions". Chicago Tribune.
7. Who's Who in the Theatre, 17th ed. Gale Research, 1981
8. Byrne, Bridget (5 July 2005). "The enchantment of the acting life – It cast a spell on Juliet Mills when she was young, and the Passions actress continues to relish its magic". Orlando Sentinel.
9. Sir Francis Drake, episode 2, 1961
10. "Golden Globes, USA, Awards for 1973". IMDb. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
11. "SoapOperaFan.com . . . Passions Summaries". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 26 July 2007.
12. (No. 10116847), US District Court, Los Angeles, California, Petition #364323
13. "Metro's Prod Chief in London Sees Britain as Future Film Centre". Variety. 2 May 1962. p. 89. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
14. "Maxwell Caulfield to lead touring cast of Bedroom Farce". The Stage. 2010. Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
15. "Hayley Mills and Juliet Mills in Australian Premiere of Legends | Stage Whispers". www.stagewhispers.com.au. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
16. Editorial Staff (19 February 2019). "INTERVIEW: Juliet Mills on The Lady Vanishes and touring with husband Maxwell Caulfield". British Theatre. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
17. Hewitt, Phil (19 October 2022). "Pre-Halloween shivers in ghostly tale on Eastbourne stage". Sussex World.
18. Del Rosario, Alexandra (11 December 2020). "'Ark: The Animated Series': Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh & Elliot Page Among Voice Cast Members In New Video Game-Inspired Show".
19. "Match Game 74 (Episode 130) Taped 12-23-73". Facebook. Retrieved 16 November 2019. Greg Morris, Brett Somers, Morey Amsterdam, Juliet Mills, Richard Dawson, and Fannie Flagg
20. "Match Game 74 (Episode 368) (Happy New Year 1975)". YouTube. 5 July 2018. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 16 November 2019. James Darren, Brett Somers, Nipsey Russell, Juliet Mills, Richard Dawson, and Betty White

External links

• Juliet Mills at IMDb
• Juliet Mills at the Internet Broadway Database
• Juliet Mills at the TCM Movie Database