Sir John Mills
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Sir John Mills CBE |
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| Born |
Lewis Ernest Watts Mills 22 February 1908 North Elmham, Norfolk, England |
| Died | 23 April 2005 (aged 97) Denham, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Cause of death | Chest Infection |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1932–2004 |
| Spouse(s) |
Aileen Raymond (m. 1932; div. 1941) Mary Hayley Bell (m. 1941; his death 2005) |
| Children | 3, including Juliet and Hayley |
Sir John Mills, CBE (22 February 1908 – 23 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. On screen, he often played people who are not at all exceptional, but become heroes because of their common sense, generosity and good judgment. He received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Ryan's Daughter (1970).
Mills was born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills in Felixstowe, Suffolk, the son of Edith (Baker), a theatre box office manager, and Lewis Mills, a mathematics teacher.
His spent his early years in the village of Belton where his father was the headmaster of the village school. He first felt the thrill of performing at a concert in the school hall when six years old. He lived in a modest house in Gainsborough Road Felixstowe until 1929. His older sister was Annette Mills, remembered as presenter of BBC Television's Muffin the Mule (1946–55).
He was educated at Balham Grammar School in London, Sir John Leman High School in Beccles, Suffolk and Norwich High School for Boys, where it is said that his initials can still be seen carved into the brickwork on the side of the building in Upper St. Giles Street. Upon leaving school he worked as a clerk at a corn merchants in Ipswich before finding employment in London as a commercial traveller for the Sanitas Disinfectant Company.
In September 1939, at the start of the Second World War, Mills enlisted in the British Army in the Royal Engineers. He was later commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, but in 1942 he received a medical discharge because of a stomach ulcer.
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