0:00:14 > 0:00:20Brave, loyal, honest, the embodiment of the best of British.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24These were the qualities cinema audiences saw in Sir John Mills,
0:00:24 > 0:00:28and made him one of our most successful and durable actors.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31Over a 70-year career, he starred in over 100 movies.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34He was honoured for his services to the film industry with a knighthood
0:00:34 > 0:00:38and a CBE, won an Oscar and helped his daughters,
0:00:38 > 0:00:41Hayley and Juliet, become successful actors themselves.
0:00:43 > 0:00:48Performing was something Johnny always wanted to do,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50as he explains here in an interview
0:00:50 > 0:00:53at the National Film Theatre in 1973.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58If we can start more or less at the beginning with your career
0:00:58 > 0:01:01because I know your father was a mathmatics teacher.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05How did you first make up your mind that you had to be an actor,
0:01:05 > 0:01:07that this was the only life for you?
0:01:07 > 0:01:10I never want to be anything else, and it's rather strange,
0:01:10 > 0:01:14because my sister, Annette, was a marvellous actor.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17This is the lovely Muffin the Mule lady, isn't it?
0:01:17 > 0:01:19Yes and she was a fabulous dancer before that.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21She brought the Charleston and the Black Bottom
0:01:21 > 0:01:23over to England from New York.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26She was a super character and she is dead, unfortunately.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29I always thought she was the greatest and I suppose,
0:01:29 > 0:01:33looking at her from afar, I thought, that is marvellous, that life.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35I never remember wanting to do anything else but act,
0:01:35 > 0:01:38which is rather strange because my father was a school master,
0:01:38 > 0:01:40and a terrible ham.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45He read the lessons in the church on Sunday and it was really Irving.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47It was a terrific performance.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50The only other link I had with the theatre - my mother for some time,
0:01:50 > 0:01:54we were always very hard up, was manager of the Haymarket Theatre
0:01:54 > 0:01:58in the box office but that's it and I can't trace anything back,
0:01:58 > 0:01:59to my family at all,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02and I never remember wanting to do anything but act.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06I suppose the first important starring part you had
0:02:06 > 0:02:08would have been Brown On Resolution.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14Yes, it was. I went for an interview.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Do stop me if I'm running on, will you?
0:02:17 > 0:02:19It started your naval career, didn't it?
0:02:19 > 0:02:23I went for an interview Walter Forde who was directing it
0:02:23 > 0:02:25and Tony Asquith who was doing the second unit.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29I turned up at the studio and had an interview with Walter Forde.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33He said, you're a nice-looking young chap, but you don't look like a sailor.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36And that's the absolute truth.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38So I went to Monty Berman, a great friend of mine,
0:02:38 > 0:02:43he was just starting his father's costume business and I said to him,
0:02:43 > 0:02:45I haven't got any money, so will you lend me a sailor suit?
0:02:45 > 0:02:47He said, certainly.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49So he fitted me out with at tiddly and I went back to the studio,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52and said, it's me, John Mills.
0:02:52 > 0:02:57He said, ah, yes, yes, you do look a bit like a sailor. Do a test.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00I did a test and I got the part.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04For the next ten or 15 years, you played a lot of service heroes
0:03:04 > 0:03:10in service films in either comedies or serious wartime films.
0:03:10 > 0:03:15In fact, I think, like several other actors at the time,
0:03:15 > 0:03:18you tended to be type cast in that kind of role.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23How difficult was it to break away out of the mould?
0:03:23 > 0:03:26It was difficult.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30Partly, I suppose, because these films were so popular at the time?
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Yes, and at that time, they were needed
0:03:33 > 0:03:36and everybody wanted to see them.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39I enjoyed making them very much.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44I had been in the service and worked with the boys and I like to think
0:03:44 > 0:03:48I was doing something to put them up on the screen, more or less as they were.
0:03:52 > 0:03:53But it was difficult.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55The first time you played opposite your own family,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57did this distract you at all?
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Yes, it distracted me insane.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04I found that it was a devastating experience,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08with Miss Hayley Mills, for instance.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13In Tiger Bay, she was persuaded, she wasn't persuaded,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16she said finally that she wanted to do it.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19We started shooting on one morning
0:04:19 > 0:04:22and Lee Thomson was directing the picture.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25I don't know whether you saw the film but there is one scene in it
0:04:25 > 0:04:28when she's sitting on a rocking chair and she's eating caramels.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32A very difficult thing to do, it would have fazed a lot of very professional actors,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34all the business with the caramels
0:04:34 > 0:04:38and lines coming out and pauses and rocking and the whole bit.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40We used to tell Hayley the scene,
0:04:40 > 0:04:44explain what was happening to her and then let her go with it.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47Well, she started on this fantastic exhibition
0:04:47 > 0:04:49and I dried up three times in the middle,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51I couldn't believe what was happening!
0:04:51 > 0:04:54You could put the camera there and she was never fazed by it,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57it was just extraordinary, it was like a natural thing happening.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Lee, he wouldn't mind me telling this story,
0:05:00 > 0:05:04had been on the wagon for about two years,
0:05:04 > 0:05:09because he loved the grape very dearly like I do.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12At about 12:30 that morning, he suddenly said, cut,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15everybody go to lunch.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18I knew we didn't break until 1pm so I said, is something wrong?
0:05:18 > 0:05:22He said, just break, that's orders.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26He said, Hayley, go and have lunch with the guardian and Johnny,
0:05:26 > 0:05:28come to The Bull at Beckinsfield with me.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32So we sat in dead silence in the car, walked to the bar,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35he said to the barman, I want a bottle of Dom Perignon, please.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39I thought, that's strange, he hasn't had a drink for two years.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41He said, open it up, two glasses.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44He poured two glasses and he raised his glass
0:05:44 > 0:05:48and said, this has been the most exciting morning of my entire career.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51I am going to drink the whole of this bottle
0:05:51 > 0:05:55and not have another drink until the picture is finished, and he did!
0:05:55 > 0:05:59Did you see anybody come out of number four, the Polish lady's flat?
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Who was it? A man?
0:06:06 > 0:06:08What did he look like?
0:06:08 > 0:06:10Can you describe him to us?
0:06:10 > 0:06:13Now, come on, speak up and don't go telling the superintendent
0:06:13 > 0:06:16none of your stories or you'll find yourself in real trouble.
0:06:16 > 0:06:17A proper little liar she is.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20I'll thank you Mr Williams not to call the child names.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22Now then, Gillie, you were going to try and tell us
0:06:22 > 0:06:24what the man looked like.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26He just looked ordinary.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Was he dark or fair?
0:06:29 > 0:06:30Fairish.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32Fat?
0:06:32 > 0:06:36Fat? Well, fattish.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38Was he tall or short?
0:06:38 > 0:06:39Tallish.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43How was he dressed?
0:06:45 > 0:06:49Just in ordinary sort of clothes, a bit like yours.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Did he have a hat?
0:06:51 > 0:06:54- Mm.- How do you know he was fair?
0:06:54 > 0:06:56He had it in his hand, in the house you see.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03- Do you think you'd recognise him if you saw him again?- Yes, I think so.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07Gracious, look at the time, she should be in the church by now.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12Let's see now, he was fattish, fairish, tallish, ordinary-ish.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15Thank you very much, Gillie, you've been a great help.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Was she conscious of you as father?
0:07:18 > 0:07:23She was not conscious of anything, she was a complete nitwit at the time!
0:07:23 > 0:07:25She hummed all the time.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28Lee would be saying, Hayley dear, what's going to happen here,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30the detective...
0:07:30 > 0:07:33And she would go, hmmmmmmmm.
0:07:33 > 0:07:39I was saying, Hayley! Lee said, let her keep humming, dear, it's great.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44When making films with members of your family,
0:07:44 > 0:07:47do you prefer to act or direct?
0:07:47 > 0:07:54Well, I enjoyed directing Hayley, I think,
0:07:54 > 0:07:58less than I enjoyed acting with her because then I became
0:07:58 > 0:08:03very conscious of the fact that I had an enormous responsibility to her.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05Whereas when I was on the same level as an actor,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08I wasn't too concerned with it but I would have sleepless nights,
0:08:08 > 0:08:14wondering whether the emotional side, because she was my daughter,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17I was being tough enough or strict enough with her.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19I didn't get the same enjoyment with her.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23I enjoyed the whole film more than anything I've ever done.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28It's a great disappointment to me
0:08:28 > 0:08:31that I didn't pull it off commercially.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35It was a tremendous flop, really one of the big ones,
0:08:35 > 0:08:39you could have fired a shotgun in any Odeon and not hit an usher!
0:08:40 > 0:08:43It was a pity because I think it was quite well done,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47it was quite well written by Mary Hayley Bell,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51with an advanced case of nepotism because Hayley was in it
0:08:51 > 0:08:52and I directed it.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55- Don't go away, not yet. - Don't you go home, not yet.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58I'll get used to it, won't I?
0:09:02 > 0:09:03It's a hard life.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08People are heckling you to be on your way.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13George doesn't like us, he never did.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17But we don't know him no harm, only a bit of poaching.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24If you wanted, I'd even try to be a house dweller.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28I just don't want you to leave me. That's all I know.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32But I think this business is largely to do with timing
0:09:32 > 0:09:35and we really mistimed this one.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41We thought the moment had come to present the world with a sweet love story
0:09:41 > 0:09:45and they were waiting for bums and breasts!
0:09:45 > 0:09:49We really hit the wrong moment. It was just not the right moment.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52I think that probably was why it didn't succeed.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56I had the privilege of working with Johnny in three films.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00One was Ice Cold In Alex, directed by Lee Thompson, in which
0:10:00 > 0:10:05we had a slightly naughty scene, where three buttons on my shirt
0:10:05 > 0:10:10came undone, and the subsequent photos became very famous.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15I had this tremendous romance, big scene, didn't I, with Sylvia Syms.
0:10:15 > 0:10:16Think how things have changed.
0:10:16 > 0:10:22I mean, were rolling about in the sand and I think it was Lee Thompson
0:10:22 > 0:10:26said, you know, well, it's a good scene, quite passionate scene,
0:10:26 > 0:10:31he said to Sylvia Syms, "Why don't you undo two buttons on your shirt?"
0:10:31 > 0:10:37So she said OK, so she undid them, and I think that didn't get through.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39I think it was too much that two buttons were undone.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43- And only about down to here. So it's changed SLIGHTLY, hasn't it? - A little bit.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45Actually, looking at stills,
0:10:45 > 0:10:47it's a little more than two buttons, as well.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50- Is it? - But nevertheless the point is taken.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52Maybe they sneaked the stills through.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56I think you don't understand women.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02I don't.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04She'll know what she wants.
0:11:04 > 0:11:10If it's Poel, nothing you do will make the slightest difference.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14If it's you, I think you should know by now.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18- And I thought we rolled around rather well.- This was Ice Cold In...
0:11:18 > 0:11:23This was Ice Cold In Alex. And it was too daring and it was cut out.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27And that was the only really sort of violently exciting love scene
0:11:27 > 0:11:29I've ever had.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33If John had missed out on romantic roles,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36it made no difference to his astonishing success.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40Here he is on Parkinson in 1976,
0:11:40 > 0:11:42just after he received a knighthood from the Queen.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Have you got used to people addressing you as Sir John?
0:11:46 > 0:11:51No, not really. I forget from time to time. Erm...
0:11:51 > 0:11:54I must say that I'm terribly thrilled about it.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57I've always been very, very keen on prizes.
0:11:57 > 0:12:02Erm, I remember a great moment when I won a toast rack,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05for the 100 yards under-14 at Norwich High School.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07And I thought that was terrific. I think this is better.
0:12:07 > 0:12:08You could be right.
0:12:08 > 0:12:13- How young were you, John, because you've been in the business an awful long time...- Yes.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17How young were you when you were first fired with the urge to go on stage?
0:12:17 > 0:12:22Well, I think it's about five or six. I was about five or six years old.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27And...I suppose one of the greatest pieces of luck that I've had
0:12:27 > 0:12:30- is that I never really wanted to do anything else.- No.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32I've always wanted to be an actor.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37But in fact you did something else, didn't you? I mean, you had jobs before you...
0:12:37 > 0:12:38Yes, yes, I did.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43I was in a corn merchant's office in Ipswich for three years,
0:12:43 > 0:12:45licking a few stamps.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48And then I dashed off to London with a fiver
0:12:48 > 0:12:52- and I got a job as a commercial traveller for the Sanitas company. - Sanitas?
0:12:52 > 0:12:56Sanitas, yes. And I sold door to door.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58What did you sell door to door?
0:12:58 > 0:13:01Well, I sold...various things. LAUGHTER
0:13:01 > 0:13:03Disinfectant and soap,
0:13:03 > 0:13:08and of course the big number was the toilet paper.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11And that I found rather difficult.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15I found the demonstrations were rather... LAUGHTER
0:13:15 > 0:13:18..rather awkward, and it was their very big thing, and they needed...
0:13:18 > 0:13:20they wanted to sell a lot of this stuff.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24And I'd been on the road for about three months or so
0:13:24 > 0:13:28and was doing very badly, because in the afternoon I cheated.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32I took dancing lessons and I worked very hard
0:13:32 > 0:13:35and I didn't work very hard at the selling.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38And after about three months the managing director called me up
0:13:38 > 0:13:41and said, "Look, this is not any good. You've got to do better.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45"Choose your best territory, where you think you can do your best work,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48"and take a day and come back with some sales."
0:13:48 > 0:13:52So I went to Guildford, where I'd had a little success, but not much,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55and there was a pub there.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57Now, I dumped the case, because it's no good going in with a bag,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01and I had a bowler hat and an umbrella and a case full of stuff.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04So I left that in the GH I'd paid £5.10 for
0:14:04 > 0:14:08and went into the pub. And the boss was there and I said, "Good morning."
0:14:08 > 0:14:11He said, "Good morning, sir, what would you like?"
0:14:11 > 0:14:14And I said, "What would YOU like?" And he said, "A half of bitter."
0:14:14 > 0:14:17And I said, "Thank God." I had about two shillings in my pocket.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19So we had half a bitter and we chatted up and he said,
0:14:19 > 0:14:20"What do you do?"
0:14:20 > 0:14:24So I took a deep breath and I said, "Well, as a matter of fact,
0:14:24 > 0:14:26"I'm a commercial traveller."
0:14:26 > 0:14:30He said, "Where's your bag?" I said, "Well, it's outside in the car."
0:14:30 > 0:14:33"Well, go and get it." He said, "Bring it in."
0:14:33 > 0:14:36I said, "Good!" I rushed in with the bag and he said, "Well, what is it?"
0:14:36 > 0:14:38And I told him.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42And I demonstrated the sprays and I demonstrated the soap
0:14:42 > 0:14:45and I told him what he could tack up in the little room
0:14:45 > 0:14:48and all that sort of thing, and then came the great moment with the paper.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50And I did my best. SOME LAUGHTER
0:14:50 > 0:14:52I mean, I really worked awfully hard at it,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55and explained as well as I could, you know.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57And he was fascinated by this.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00And I must have taken about 30 minutes of his time.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03And I said, "Now, sir, what do you think?" And I produced the pad
0:15:03 > 0:15:05and the pencil. And he said, "Well, young man,"
0:15:05 > 0:15:09he said, er, "I've had a lovely time," he said,
0:15:09 > 0:15:11"I've had a fascinating half hour."
0:15:11 > 0:15:14He said, "I must disappoint you, though." I said, "Why?"
0:15:14 > 0:15:17"Well," he said, "there are 36 pages in't Daily Mail."
0:15:17 > 0:15:19LAUGHTER
0:15:19 > 0:15:22And of course I could see the little squares cut up, with the...
0:15:22 > 0:15:24LAUGHTER
0:15:24 > 0:15:26Er, yes, I know what you mean!
0:15:26 > 0:15:30I once went into a toilet in a pub,
0:15:30 > 0:15:33and there was one piece of paper, and it had my name on it.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35- It was a column from the Sunday Times!- Right!
0:15:35 > 0:15:37Imagine that!
0:15:37 > 0:15:39Absolutely true! One left!
0:15:39 > 0:15:43My God, it's a terrifying thing to ask any man to do, that!
0:15:43 > 0:15:46John - how do you become in fact the song-and-dance man,
0:15:46 > 0:15:48because that's how you started?
0:15:48 > 0:15:50Not a lot of people would know that, I imagine?
0:15:50 > 0:15:53Well, er, I started off because it was my ambition
0:15:53 > 0:15:57to be a song-and-dance man, and my great hero was Fred Astaire
0:15:57 > 0:15:59and Bobby Howes.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02So, I was determined to get into that, that area.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06And, erm, after I'd got the sack from the Sandhurst company,
0:16:06 > 0:16:10erm, I went to a dancing academy
0:16:10 > 0:16:14opposite the stage door of The Hippodrome and learnt tap dancing,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17and, erm...with the idea of getting into the chorus.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21And at this, at the academy was, er, a very, erm,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24- voluptuous young blonde called Frances Day...- Mmm.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28..who was quite a character. And we heard there was an audition
0:16:28 > 0:16:31for a show called The Five O'Clock Girl at The Hippodrome.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33And I was going to give an audition, so was she, and I said, "Well,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36"we'll just line up." She said, "Oh, no, that's no good.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39"We've got to impress Mr Gillespie," who owned the theatre. She said,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42"I won't do an audition like that, I must go into a bill,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45"a proper bill. And there's a bill on at the New Cross Empire,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49"and he owns that, and we will do a double act together on the bill."
0:16:49 > 0:16:52So she managed this. How she did it I don't know -
0:16:52 > 0:16:54I couldn't have done it - but eventually we turned up
0:16:54 > 0:16:58to the New Cross Empire with this little act we'd worked out,
0:16:58 > 0:17:00singing a very nice boy and girl number.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02And, er, we were waiting in the wings.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07I'd borrowed some tails, and had five and nine pink make-up on,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10and Frances was on the other side of the stage, and then
0:17:10 > 0:17:13the Nesbitt Brothers were on - now that was a really rough house,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17the New Cross Empire. I'm talking about 19...
0:17:17 > 0:17:21- 29.- Mm-hmm.- The Nesbitt Brothers were doing an act with ukuleles,
0:17:21 > 0:17:23and suddenly all hell broke loose,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26and they got the most horrific rasping -
0:17:26 > 0:17:30I mean, really loud bird going on, and the audience went up in flames!
0:17:30 > 0:17:33And as Max passed me waiting in the wings, he said,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35"They want blood tonight!"
0:17:35 > 0:17:39Now, that was the start. Now, Frances had had an idea
0:17:39 > 0:17:41that her bulldog should come on
0:17:41 > 0:17:44and sit at our feet while we were singing this number.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46I was very ante that, because although I was very new at it,
0:17:46 > 0:17:50I knew that animals were dangerous. So, she persuaded me.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52So, we started this number, and the audience
0:17:52 > 0:17:54were in a sort of stunned silence, they couldn't...
0:17:54 > 0:17:57We were not on the bill, we weren't in the programme and we were there,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01singing this extraordinary young duet together...and the bulldog padded on
0:18:01 > 0:18:04and sat at Frances's feet. Then a titter started.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06And the titter grew and grew and grew and grew.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10And I looked down... This enormous laugh...
0:18:10 > 0:18:12and the bulldog was piddling on the...
0:18:12 > 0:18:14VOICE DROWNED OUT BY LAUGHTER
0:18:14 > 0:18:16Well, to end that story up, I mean,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18Frances didn't get in, but I got a job in the chorus,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21- and that's how it started.- Really? What about the bulldog -
0:18:21 > 0:18:23- did that get a job?! - I don't know what happened to it!
0:18:23 > 0:18:26It must have been a fairly rough, hard old life, I would imagine?
0:18:26 > 0:18:30- Well, yes, it was. I loved every minute of it...- Mmm.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32We got £4 a week,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35and I paid 10% to my agent,
0:18:35 > 0:18:3810% to the dancing academy, to teach me to dance.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40I had £3 and 4 left,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43and I lived quite well, in Lambeth,
0:18:43 > 0:18:45at 7 and 6 a week bed and breakfast.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49And I did toss up whether to go and see Spencer Tracy or eat -
0:18:49 > 0:18:51and Tracy won, as a rule.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53- But I...I managed.- Yes!
0:18:53 > 0:18:56Which in fact do you prefer doing? You're going back on stage now,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59but you've done an awful lot of work in movies - the majority
0:18:59 > 0:19:02of your career. Do you prefer stage work or movie work?
0:19:03 > 0:19:07Well, you can't really compare the enjoyment. Erm,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10the theatre has a magic which the studios don't.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14Erm, I mean, I get an enormous thrill
0:19:14 > 0:19:17every time I walk through a stage door.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20But I don't get a kick walking through stage five at Pinewood,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23- you know?- Yeah.- It's a different sort of thing altogether.- Yes.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26I think that, erm, this marvellous character,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29erm, Sir Ralph Richardson,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32who tears up the M1 on a motorbike you know, with a helmet,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36he was asked that question - which do you prefer and how do you explain it?
0:19:36 > 0:19:39And he said, "Well..." I can't do him, because all the young actors
0:19:39 > 0:19:42do him so well. But this is what he said. He said, "Well,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45"when I'm at the studios and they say, 'You're finished,'
0:19:45 > 0:19:49"I dash to my dressing room, I'm taking my jacket off on the way,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53"I tear my tie off, I'm undoing my trousers, I kick my shoes off..."
0:19:53 > 0:19:56He says, "I'm on my motorbike in about 42 seconds flat."
0:19:57 > 0:20:00He said, "But when the curtain comes down at the Haymarket or somewhere,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03"I leave the stage, I wander to my dressing room,
0:20:03 > 0:20:07"I put my dressing gown on, I have a drink with some friends,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10"I think, 'Shall I take my make-up off?' and I do that.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12"Let me have another chat. And then I light my pipe.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16"And then I walk down to the stage, and there's a pilot light,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18"and everybody's gone. I look round the theatre and think,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21"'That's rather nice,' and then I wander out through the stage door.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24- "It takes me about an hour." And I think that's the difference.- Yes.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27- I think that really says it. It is the magic of the theatre.- Yes.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30Despite that love of theatre,
0:20:30 > 0:20:35the movie acting never stopped, not even on his 70th birthday.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39Well, most septuagenarians would spend their 70th birthday
0:20:39 > 0:20:43quietly at home, but for Sir John Mills, it was a normal working day -
0:20:43 > 0:20:46here, shooting a scene at Cadogan Pier, Chelsea,
0:20:46 > 0:20:50with Timothy West, for the film The 39 Steps, by John Buchan.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54Mills plays a British agent desperate to alert the Government
0:20:54 > 0:20:57to the dastardly plot he has uncovered.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01Timothy West is an unbelieving Cabinet minister.
0:21:03 > 0:21:04Action!
0:21:04 > 0:21:07It does nothing to strengthen your hand, you know?
0:21:07 > 0:21:11Sir, you're all prepared to ignore the obvious warnings.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16- I'll do what I can for you.- For my case.- Oh, don't be so touchy.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19I'm not in this for my pride...
0:21:19 > 0:21:21A break for lunch, and when the smoke cleared,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23I made contact with Sir John.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26Sir John - first of all, happy birthday!
0:21:26 > 0:21:28- Thank you very much, Bob.- 70...!
0:21:28 > 0:21:31- Yes, it's ridiculous, isn't it? - Well, you don't look it -
0:21:31 > 0:21:34- presumably you don't feel it?- Well, I really don't, no, I really don't.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36- It's a very nice hat, too!- Ha-ha!
0:21:36 > 0:21:39- They trimmed it.- Did they?! - I'd got no face, you see,
0:21:39 > 0:21:41and it was out to there, and they took an inch off,
0:21:41 > 0:21:43- so it looks a bit better.- Ha!
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Sir John, we looked you up - you've made something over 100 films...
0:21:46 > 0:21:49- I think it is, yes, I think it is.- Yeah!
0:21:49 > 0:21:52It's a very difficult question - er, any favourite film amongst those?
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Well, I'm thinking quickly, erm...
0:21:55 > 0:22:00Ryan's Daughter, I think was one, because I had no lines to learn.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03- That was extraordinary, because you got an Oscar, didn't you?- Yes.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05- And you played a deaf mute. - Yes, yes.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09Extraordinary, after a long acting career, where you're really
0:22:09 > 0:22:12- pushing it out... - It's ironical, really, isn't it?- Yes.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16But it was great fun to do, and, er, it was working with David Lean again,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20and I hadn't worked with David for about, well, many, many years,
0:22:20 > 0:22:22and I'd made five with him, I think.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25In Which We Serve and Hobson's Choice and Expectations and...
0:22:25 > 0:22:28- all those early ones.- Yes. - So it was...
0:22:28 > 0:22:31- nice to get back with David again. - Any other? I mean,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34there's so many that come to mind, but Tunes Of Glory is one...
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Well, that was one that I did enjoy making,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39because Alec Guinness is a great chum,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42and it was one of those nice things that came off,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45and it worked, and we enjoyed doing it, and...
0:22:45 > 0:22:47- I'm glad you liked that one. - Very much.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50You once advised against children ever going on the stage,
0:22:50 > 0:22:52although yours have done so -
0:22:52 > 0:22:55would you still give that same advice today, don't do it?
0:22:55 > 0:22:58- Yes.- Do you still hold to that view? - Oh, yes, absolutely, yes.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02I mean, if anybody says, "Shall I put my daughter on the stage,
0:23:02 > 0:23:06"Mrs Worthington?" I say no. Because it's the jungle.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09And I always advise people to keep them out.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15It's very overcrowded anyway, and it's a tricky profession
0:23:15 > 0:23:18to belong to, but it's absolutely marvellous
0:23:18 > 0:23:20and I'm glad that I belong to it.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22But I wouldn't advise anybody to get into it.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24I told my children to stay out
0:23:24 > 0:23:27but of course they joined the ranks, took no notice of me at all.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31What's the secret? Because, unbelievably, your first appearance
0:23:31 > 0:23:33was in 1929.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35- Yes.- Yeah?
0:23:35 > 0:23:38And you've survived very, very successfully indeed.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42What's the secret? Choose very carefully what you do?
0:23:42 > 0:23:45I think there's a great deal of luck in it.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49And one has one's ups and downs, but I do think there's a great deal
0:23:49 > 0:23:52of luck, and a great deal of hard work.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55And there's a certain amount of choice. You do sometimes,
0:23:55 > 0:23:57if you're lucky, have a choice
0:23:57 > 0:23:59and if you back the right horse, it's nice.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Well, on your 70th birthday... In fact, I think you wanted the day off
0:24:03 > 0:24:05to celebrate, but it didn't work out that way,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08- that's the film industry.- Still, I'm working, which is nice.- Lovely.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12- Will you go on and on working?- Well, I have to if I want to live here.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15And I do want to live here, I don't want to move out.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17And there's no way of stopping.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22- There have been various versions of The 39 Steps.- Yes.- Marvellous story.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25Do I take it, Sir John, this is going to be the best version?
0:24:25 > 0:24:28Well, I do think it's a wonderful script.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30I think they've gone back to book,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34and it is one of the best books of its type ever written.
0:24:34 > 0:24:39I remember vaguely the Bob Donat version, and he was a wonderful man.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41I knew him very well. Made a picture with him.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44The second one I didn't see.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48But I thought this script, when I read it, was really perfect.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51We've kept you standing in the cold, you've been in the cold all morning.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55- You're off to have a birthday drink, are you?- Well, I think they're open.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58- Look, very happy birthday. - Thank you very much.
0:25:00 > 0:25:05Ten years later and John had long achieved national treasure status.
0:25:05 > 0:25:10And the interest in his career, and how it got started, was still there.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12Here he is being interviewed by Richard Baker
0:25:12 > 0:25:15for the programme My Favourite Things.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19Well, then, your way back into the profession again came through
0:25:19 > 0:25:21- Noel Coward, didn't it?- Yes, yes.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24He wrote a marvellous part called Shorty Blake
0:25:24 > 0:25:28in a picture called In Which We Serve,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32which was David Lean's first job, co-directed it with Noel.
0:25:32 > 0:25:33And...
0:25:33 > 0:25:36I think one of my favourite things is the navy,
0:25:36 > 0:25:41and also a marvellous man called Lord Louis Mountbatten,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44who was one of the greats, as you know.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48And I was privileged to know him quite well.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50Started off with In Which We Serve,
0:25:50 > 0:25:54then I made three or four pictures more with the navy at that time
0:25:54 > 0:25:59and he said to me one night, at dinner, "You know, Johnny,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02"you were a brown jar, weren't you? You were in the army?"
0:26:02 > 0:26:04And I said, "Yes, I was."
0:26:04 > 0:26:08He said, "Well, I think, really, you should join the navy."
0:26:08 > 0:26:11And I said, "How do you mean, sir?" He said, "I think you should join the Kelly."
0:26:11 > 0:26:14So, you know The Kelly was the destroyer,
0:26:14 > 0:26:18his lovely, lovely ship which In Which We Served was about,
0:26:18 > 0:26:23so he made me a member of the ship's company, he gave me the ship's tie,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26which I'm now wearing. I always wear it on these occasions.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29And I went to the reunion dinner every year,
0:26:29 > 0:26:33and he gave me a plaque with the Kelly crest on it,
0:26:33 > 0:26:38which I have on the door of the loo, because the motto is, "Keep on."
0:26:38 > 0:26:41So I thought that was quite appropriate.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44And so that was a marvellous experience for me.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47- But after the war, you did go back. - Yes, I did.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51Because Mary, my wife, wrote a marvellous play for me
0:26:51 > 0:26:54called Men In Shadow, which got me back into the theatre.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57And then she wrote another one, which was an enormous hit,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00which another very famous man actually played my part
0:27:00 > 0:27:04and I found this out this morning. His name is Richard Baker.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07- RICHARD LAUGHS - It was a long time ago, in a rep in Wales,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10- and of no very great consequence! - Good part, though, wasn't it?
0:27:10 > 0:27:11Oh, a jolly good part.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15So that was nice, and we did have a very, very big success with it,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18which was marvellous for Mary.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20So big that some of your friends couldn't even get in to see it.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22Well, yes. Yes, indeed.
0:27:22 > 0:27:27We were still fairly hard-up and we splashed out without knowing
0:27:27 > 0:27:30whether we had a hit or not, and took a suite at The Savoy.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33And we stayed there and the notices came out that night
0:27:33 > 0:27:35and we read them, and they were absolutely wonderful, rave.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38So we were there in the morning, having breakfast in bed
0:27:38 > 0:27:41and looking out over the river. The sun was shining.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43And everything was terrific.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45I was starring in her play and had co-directed it,
0:27:45 > 0:27:49and it was just marvellous, and the phone rang about 11:30
0:27:49 > 0:27:51and it was Larry Olivier.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54And he said, "Well, congratulations, smashing, you done it.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56"It's Mary's play and you've acted in it,
0:27:56 > 0:27:58"and I'm not working this afternoon.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01"I'd like to come and see the matinee." I said, "Wonderful."
0:28:01 > 0:28:02So I rang the box office and I said,
0:28:02 > 0:28:07"It's John Mills, can I have two tickets for the matinee this afternoon?"
0:28:07 > 0:28:08And they said, "No."
0:28:08 > 0:28:13I said, "What do you mean, 'No'? I'm in the play, John Mills.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16"Two tickets for Mister, he was then Mister, Olivier."
0:28:16 > 0:28:19And he said, "I'm terribly sorry, if it was God, you couldn't get in."
0:28:19 > 0:28:22I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "We're sold out."
0:28:22 > 0:28:24And we were sold out the matinee after we opened,
0:28:24 > 0:28:31and I remember saying to Mary, "Here we are, in The Savoy, in a suite.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33"There's the sun, it's shining over there.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37"You've written a play, I'm in it, and Mr Olivier can't get in.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39- RICHARD LAUGHS - What more could you want, really?
0:28:39 > 0:28:42That would have to be one of my favourite things.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45He was true to his word about that navy tie.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50He's wearing it in both these next two pieces, which again focus
0:28:50 > 0:28:54heavily on the making of Noel Coward's film In Which We Serve.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58But to go back to In Which We Serve, that was a marvellous break for me
0:28:58 > 0:29:03because it gave me a chance to get back, after the army, into movies.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06And he wrote Shorty Blake, the part, for me.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09This is my wife, Mrs Blake.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12- How do you do? - Pleased to meet you, I'm sure.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15One particular time, I think very early days of shooting,
0:29:15 > 0:29:19they built a wonderful model of the Kelly, a section of it,
0:29:19 > 0:29:23the very, very last section, which would rock 50 degrees each way.
0:29:23 > 0:29:24It had a very big rock on it.
0:29:24 > 0:29:29And the first day shooting they had engaged 100 extras
0:29:29 > 0:29:34to do the scenes on deck, and at 11 o'clock they were all sick.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38On Stage 5 in Denham. It's absolutely true.
0:29:38 > 0:29:43And so Noel said, "Well, this won't do." So he rang up Lord Louis.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46By three o'clock in the afternoon we had the real chaps down there,
0:29:46 > 0:29:47the real sailors.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51So we shot the scene again with the real chaps who weren't sick.
0:29:51 > 0:29:56And now the same subject, with Alan Titchmarsh, in 1994.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59The scenes I remember, that stick in my mind, are of you all
0:29:59 > 0:30:05swimming around in this hideous tank of what looks almost like black oil.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07- That can't have been fun. - It was a ghastly tank.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09It was an enormous tank at Denham Studios,
0:30:09 > 0:30:11and we'd been filming in it for about three weeks.
0:30:11 > 0:30:16And they threw everything in, diesel oil, soot, mud, muck, tar.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18It was really horrific.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20And we'd been filming in this thing for about three weeks.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23We were all standing, shivering, looking at it one morning
0:30:23 > 0:30:26and Noel said, "What are you waiting for, chaps? Get in," and he dived in,
0:30:26 > 0:30:28came up covered in diesel, and said,
0:30:28 > 0:30:30"Dysentery in every ripple!"
0:30:30 > 0:30:32Keep your heads down, get as low as you can!
0:30:34 > 0:30:36Missed, butterfingers!
0:30:39 > 0:30:42GUNFIRE
0:30:45 > 0:30:47Blimey... I spoke too soon!
0:30:47 > 0:30:50How did they get the gunshots, because there you were,
0:30:50 > 0:30:51obviously in a studio,
0:30:51 > 0:30:54how did they get the machine gun fire on top of the water?
0:30:54 > 0:30:56Being shot, well, that was a bit tricky and of course
0:30:56 > 0:31:00it's a long time ago and special effects weren't what they are today.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02And they didn't know what to do.
0:31:02 > 0:31:04Noel said, "Well, we can't use live ammunition.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07"He's only halfway through the film."
0:31:07 > 0:31:11And this is a true story, he went out into Denham.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15He went to the chemist's and he bought grosses of what we used to call,
0:31:15 > 0:31:18in those days, rather delicately, French letters.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21Brought them back to the studio, and the special effects got
0:31:21 > 0:31:25a long, steel pipe, put it under the water about that far from the top.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27Fitted these things on, one after another like that,
0:31:27 > 0:31:31blew in compressed air. "Brrr!" Then they got the shot.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34And it really worked, so I'll go down as the only actor
0:31:34 > 0:31:36to be shot in the arm by a contraceptive.
0:31:38 > 0:31:40Very good story.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45But you did have a reputation in those days for not playing
0:31:45 > 0:31:46cardboard cut-out servicemen.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50Goodness me, you were in the Army, the RAF, the Navy, all on film.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53But you played them with a certain kind of naturalism.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56Did you feel a responsibility to servicemen rather than just
0:31:56 > 0:31:58playing them as sort of stiff upper lip type?
0:31:58 > 0:32:00Yes, I did, and I had been in the service.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04And there was a lot of talk about stiff upper lip at that time,
0:32:04 > 0:32:06and I thought, well, when I came out of the army, the least
0:32:06 > 0:32:10I can do is to try and put them up there as best I could.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13And the stiff upper lip thing was a sort of old hat,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16rather tired thing that was used at the time.
0:32:16 > 0:32:17They were anything but stiff upper lip.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21An awful lot was going on inside them. And they were a marvellous lot.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23I worked with the submariners, all of them, tank boys,
0:32:23 > 0:32:25paratroopers, the lot.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29And that sort of acting was not easy to do. It was quite difficult.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33What about playing Michael in Ryan's Daughter, the part
0:32:33 > 0:32:37that brought you an Oscar, the part where you were barely recognisable.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40Now, that was the most amazing role to watch
0:32:40 > 0:32:44but I guess not the easiest role to get into?
0:32:44 > 0:32:47Well, no, I'm not a method actor, I never have been.
0:32:47 > 0:32:52But that's the one part that I couldn't get straight in front of the camera and start acting.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56It needed a bit of thought before because he was a very slow thinker.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59One had to sort of start thinking slowly.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02I was very lucky, I had a wonderful make-up man called Charlie Parker.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04And he put this terrific make-up on,
0:33:04 > 0:33:08it only took 16 minutes in the morning, it was just brilliant.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11The piece de resistance was the teeth.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14And he made these fantastic teeth which I clipped in.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18The teeth won the Oscars, no doubt about that.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21When you're playing a part like that, though,
0:33:21 > 0:33:23had you studied people with disability?
0:33:23 > 0:33:25Yes, I had a great friend called Bernard Miles.
0:33:25 > 0:33:30Lord Myles, who knew a lot of doctors who had film of patients
0:33:30 > 0:33:33with brain damage on the left side, and I looked at a lot of this
0:33:33 > 0:33:36and then I made up a composite picture of Michael,
0:33:36 > 0:33:40a composite picture, and so at least what I was doing was true.
0:33:40 > 0:33:42I wasn't just sort of pulling faces.
0:33:42 > 0:33:47Did you think when you went into this part, "This is a real corker"?
0:33:47 > 0:33:51I mean, did your eye ever go faintly in the direction of an Oscar
0:33:51 > 0:33:54when you were doing it? Did you think, "This is pretty good stuff"?
0:33:54 > 0:33:56Well, it didn't, really.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00I enjoyed it thoroughly because I had no dialogue, so I was always drinking
0:34:00 > 0:34:04Guinness in the pubs at night when the boys were learning their lines.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06It wasn't until about three quarters of the way through
0:34:06 > 0:34:09and David Lean suddenly said to me, "Nobby..."
0:34:09 > 0:34:12He called me Nobby, I don't know why, "..have you ever had an Oscar?"
0:34:12 > 0:34:14And I said, "No."
0:34:14 > 0:34:18And of course, nine months later, I was lucky enough to get it.
0:34:18 > 0:34:24Two decades after that Oscar came, Britain's highest acting honour,
0:34:24 > 0:34:30a BAFTA Fellowship recognising John as a uniquely dominant figure
0:34:30 > 0:34:31in the history of British cinema.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36When he died three years later, aged 97,
0:34:36 > 0:34:40the tributes called him a great actor,
0:34:40 > 0:34:44a true gentleman and someone who made us proud to be British.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd