Forever Young: A Memoir
Hayley Mills
Grand Central Publishing

An Iconic Actress Shares her Fascinating Life Story

Like so many others of my generation who grew up in the 1960s, I was a huge Hayley Mills fan. I could recite lines from her movies, I mimicked her accent, I read everything I could find about her.

And then we both grew up.

I remained a fan, but not to the obsessive degree of childhood. And Mills’ visibility in the United States diminished when she was in her 20s. But when I saw that she had written a book, Forever Young: A Memoir, I had to buy and read it.

It was mostly delightful, often revealing, and sometimes sad.

Mills shares a candid, behind-the-scenes look at an interesting period in the entertainment industry. The Mills family business was primarily acting in films and on stage, and the children (Juliet, Hayley, and Jonathan) followed in their parents’ footsteps.

Forever Young by Hayley MillsForever Young recounts how Hayley Mills began working at the age of twelve and was quickly discovered by Walt Disney. With the back-to-back successes of Pollyanna and The Parent Trap, she became one of Disney’s top stars.

Using vivid, detailed descriptions, Mills tells of life on the comfortable family farm, at the dreary boarding school, and filming Disney movies in glittering California. She drops in the occasional shocking morsel, such as when the boarding school’s priest attempted to sexually abuse her in exchange for a role in a school play.

The girl who seemed so perfect on-screen was, in fact, quite normal with all the usual insecurities and growing pains of teenagers everywhere. She even mentioned reading one of my all-time favorite historical novels, Katherine by Anya Seton, the true story of the 14th-century love affair between Lady Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. And she had a date once with George Harrison, my favorite Beatle.

Mills pulls the curtain back on her relationship with Roy Boulting, which began when she was 20 and he was 53. They eventually married, had a son, and divorced. She later had a second son; he is mentioned at the end of the book, but she explains nothing about his father.

The book is mostly chronological, although there are a few places where she skips ahead then backs up. The ending is brief and rushed, and includes little about her life after her 20s. It leaves readers hoping that another book is in the works.

Click here to watch me unbox my copy of Forever Young.

Jacquelyn Lynn
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