Forever Young: A Memoir

I bought this book on a lark. According to the biosketches I’ve read of another British actress, Hayley Atwell, she was not only born the year I met my wife, but also named after Hayley Mills, on whom I had had a prepubescent crush. From "Forever Young," Mills’s memoir, I wasn’t expecting much beyond satisfying idle curiosity.Her engaging narrative quickly won me over, however, which surprised me. She acknowledges those who helped her with the writing, in the first place her son Crispian, who encouraged her to push past self-doubt and surface so many submerged stories. But she typed every word. The diary passages have a verisimilitude about them: they ring true as expressions of a denizen of England and America in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, not reconstructions.Surprised, because movie studio-provided tutors governed her early education, and this doesn’t explain how she can write more coherently, let alone elegantly, than today’s average graduate (which I hope will not be interpreted as damning with faint praise!). Perhaps her parents (actor John Mills and actress-writer Mary Hayley Bell) bequeathed to her a genetic predisposition that made up for what may have been lacking in any formal English composition instruction she underwent.As this is not a book report, you’ll need to go elsewhere for a summary of "Forever Young"’s contents. What held my attention was whatever she cared to tell me about the people who entered and exited her life: the great performers and directors; the driven artists (writers, directors, producers) whose personalities left something to be desired; those who stood by her as well as those who broke her heart; every squabble with friends and family members; every coming-of-age struggle; every spiritual investigation, from Billy Graham’s evangelicalism to Krishna consciousness; every locale, not just filming locations abroad, but even Manhattan buildings I’m familiar with; her friendship with Walt Disney; the harshness of the movie business; the myth of Camelot and the mass psychosis of Beatlemania; the rate at which taxmen confiscated her childhood earnings (they’d been put in the wrong kind of trust). Mills never rushes or drags her vignettes: every one of them (my short list covers about one percent of them) comes across as neither too long nor too short but, like Goldilocks’s opinion of Mama Bear’s porridge, just right.Mills doesn’t explain her book’s title. Is she alluding to a song by Bob Dylan? Rod Stewart? Alphaville? Or to the fond but illusory hope that the wonderful things of a happy childhood will always be there for one to enjoy when one is mature enough to appreciate them?Mills’s reflections on life and its transitoriness, the lessons of love to be learned before (one hopes) it’s too late, were occasioned by what transpired in her life before and away from the camera, on and off-stage. Her insights into grabbing life by the horns would be worth my attention had they been shared by a tinker, tailor, soldier, or spy rather than a movie star. Their expression triggered reverie for me (I'm only slightly younger than Mills). My only regret is that they came to an end.

I wish I'd found this book a few years ago when I wrote my book (Banished From Memory) set in 1960 Hollywood and with a young Disney star as its protagonist, struggling to escape the image. (She also had a British actor father.) My character had an easier time of it, in a way. I'm glad I read Mills' book now, though, without the question of "How can I use this" in my intent. I simply enjoyed it. Mills is writing from her perspective, and it's thoughtful and at times humorous. She's also humble and perhaps doesn't understand her own appeal. What readers may also not understand, unless they're my age, is that the 60s was a weird decade - conservative 1950s in the first half and then filled with colors and anything goes in the second half. The effects of that time, especially for young women, could be incredibly confusing. The pressures on performers was like an avalanche. Mils left Disney just as all the wild stuff was starting, and she certainly was affected by it all. Mills made it through by working on her career - going on stage, expanding the kind of roles she would do - and they didn't always work, but she kept at it. I would have loved to have seen her Peter Pan. I liked her more and more as the book went on, and the only complaint I had - and it really isn't one - is that I would have liked to have seen a closer portrait of her father (she does well by her mother) whose characterization is both affectionate and yet touching close to accusation. There are times when I wondered where his head was at, his approach was close to abuse and yet it was clear he loved his daughter. His characterization doesn't seem consistent. Also an outside editor might have been able to help where some of us would go "huh" such as her meeting Mary Wickes while doing "The Parent Trap," for Wickes didn't appear in that movie. The only reason I could think for that was that Wickes was originally cast in the Una Merkel housekeeping part, which would have been a natural for her as she had played such roles, including for Disney. Mills certainly knew Merkel was in "Parent Trap" - just watch her commentary on the video. But sometimes actors are not as attuned to their past jobs as fans are. So an editor might have helped. These are small criticisms, though - I loved the book and wished for a sequel - she was just getting going. And I do think she raced through the last chapter to the end, again, probably an editor's desire.

Forever Young is a beautifully written, heartfelt memoir. Hayley Mills does not disappoint the reader. Her dual life as a Hollywood-Disney star and English boarding school adolescent, was extraordinary. But Hayley survived the demands put upon her. She says: "It is care and encouragement, not fear, that brings out the best in people. If someone you respect believes in you, it means more than just believing in yourself alone."

On 25 September 2021, I had the great pleasure of attending the Barnes Bookfest where Hayley was interviewed for an hour by Gyles Brandreth, a fellow Barnes resident. Hayley signed my copy of her book afterwards with a lovely inscription and I was able to tell her that I had read it in three days earlier that month.This is a beautifully written autobiography, mainly dealing with her life as a child actress and into her 20s, although she does of course talk about her controversial marriage to the much older director, Roy Boulting, following their meeting when she was making "The Family Way" in 1966. They were married in 1971, but sadly the marriage did not last and they divorced some years later. She had one son, Crispian, with Roy Boulting and one understands that Crispian was heavily involved in persuading his mother to write "Forever Young". The book is a wonderfully honest account of her life. For example, she does not shrink from discussing her mother's problems with alcohol and how many other famous actresses would have revealed that, on their wedding morning, they woke up to find that their period had just started.There is a brief mention of her second son, Jason, who was born in the late 1970s when she was in a relationship with Leigh Lawson (before of course he married Twiggy), but there is very little about her working life after she stopped making films in 1975, an activity which she did not resume for more than a decade. I would like to think that, at some stage, we might be privileged to have the pleasure of a second volume of her memoirs from that time onwards. As my four-year old granddaughter would say: "Go, Hayley, go!"I thoroughly enjoyed "Forever Young" and, as someone who is a similar age to Hayley, I saw all her films from "Tiger Bay" up to "The Family Way" when they first came out.

I am unable to leave a detailed review as I bought the book as a gift for my mum. She read it from cover to cover over a couple of days. Asked whether she would recommend it she told me ‘absolutely’ and when I asked her out of 5 how many stars would she give it she said 5.

Quite a remarkable book in balancing candour about subjects painful to the subject-her mother’s relationship with alcohol, the squalor and boredom of boarding school, individuation, domestic violence, her own sense of coming low down the pecking order of family priorities, and tax- and genuine forgiveness. There is little self pity in this autobiography. She remembers what it is like to be a child, that combination of passivity and magical thinking. It feels authentic, even in the little details (her regretting the absence of chocolate biscuits and embarrassment at her unformed signature when she signed her Disney contract). She and her family knew an astonishing number of fascinating people. A great read.

As an old devoted fan of Hayley’s I was fascinated by the thought of reading this book.She’s very honest and comes over as a well meaning person.Acting sounds a mad world where it’s difficult to remain sane. Too much too soon must have messed her up mentally.She’s had wonderful experiences most of us never will, but was she a kind of Dr Faustus? Yet she didn’t make the bargain, fate did.To make all that money and have it filched by the Revenue must have been so gutting. Stanley must have been insured.This is an entertaining and well written book. I got tired of the string of names of celebs at times and surely all those stars couldn’t have been so utterly wonderful.A book worth reading and thank you for some great films. I shan’t forget Tiger Bay and Whistle Down the Wind.