John Mills

British actor

Also known as: Lewis Ernest Watts Mills

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Apr 19, 2025 • Article History

Quick Facts

Original name:: Lewis Ernest Watts Mills

Born:: February 22, 1908, Watts Naval Training College, North Elmham, Norfolk, England

Died:: April 23, 2005, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England (aged 97)

Awards And Honors:: Academy Award (1971); Academy Award (1971): Actor in a Supporting Role; Emmy Award (1967): Individual Achievements in Film and Sound Editing; Golden Globe Award (1971): Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture

Notable Family Members:: spouse Mary Hayley Bell

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "The Love Boat" (1979); "Blind Justice" (1934); "I Was Monty's Double" (1958); "Waterloo Road" (1945); "Hold the Dream" (1987); "Trial by Combat" (1976); "Dundee and the Culhane" (1967); "The First Offence" (1936); "Above Us the Waves" (1955); "Ice Cold in Alex" (1958); "Tiger Bay" (1959); "The Midshipmaid" (1932); "The Singer Not the Song" (1961); "Black Sheep of Whitehall" (1942); "Scott of the Antarctic" (1948); "The Ghost Camera" (1933); "The 'Human' Factor" (1975); "Tunes of Glory" (1960); "The DuPont Show of the Week" (1962–1964); "So Well Remembered" (1947); "Operation Crossbow" (1965); "Le calde notti di Lady Hamilton" (1968); "In Which We Serve" (1942); "A Political Party" (1934); "Bright Young Things" (2003); "Swiss Family Robinson" (1960); "The Grotesque" (1995); "Flame in the Streets" (1961); "A Tale of Two Cities" (1989); "A Woman of Substance" (1985); "Escapade" (1955); "The Long Memory" (1953); "Producers' Showcase" (1956); "Brown on Resolution" (1935); "Young Winston" (1972); "Hamlet" (1996); "Dulcima" (1971); "The Lash" (1934); "Britannia of Billingsgate" (1933); "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll" (1959); "The Rocking Horse Winner" (1949); "It's Great to Be Young!" (1956); "Martin Chuzzlewit" (1994); "The Wrong Box" (1966); "Des Teufels Advokat" (1977); "Hobson's Choice" (1954); "The Way to the Stars" (1945); "Tiara Tahiti" (1962); "Great Expectations" (1946); "Young at Heart" (1980–1982); "Ryan's Daughter" (1970); "Doctor's Orders" (1934); "The Baby and the Battleship" (1956); "Tales of the Unexpected" (1980–1982); "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956); "Oklahoma Crude" (1973); "The Big Blockade" (1942); "War and Peace" (1956); "Around the World in 80 Days" (1989); "King Rat" (1965); "The Vicious Circle" (1957); "The Family Way" (1966); "The River Wolves" (1934); "Oh! What a Lovely War" (1969); "Run Wild, Run Free" (1969); "Town on Trial" (1957); "The Gentle Gunman" (1952); "The Zoo Gang" (1974); "Tudor Rose" (1936); "Car of Dreams" (1935); "The Young Mr. Pitt" (1942); "Dunkirk" (1958); "Nanny and the Professor" (1971); "Zulu Dawn" (1979); "Deadly Advice" (1994); "Morning Departure" (1950); "Charing Cross Road" (1935); "The Truth About Spring" (1965); "The Thirty Nine Steps" (1978); "Cats" (1998); "Lady Caroline Lamb" (1972); "Bean" (1997); "The Quatermass Conclusion" (1979); "Perfect Scoundrels" (1992); "Gandhi" (1982); "Sahara" (1983); "O.H.M.S." (1937); "Hotel" (1986); "When the Wind Blows" (1986); "Old Bill and Son" (1941); "The Valiant" (1962); "Cottage to Let" (1941); "This Happy Breed" (1944); "The Big Sleep" (1978); "Africa: Texas Style" (1967); "The History of Mr. Polly" (1949); "The Green Cockatoo" (1937); "We Dive at Dawn" (1943); "Mr. Denning Drives North" (1951); "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1939); "Who's That Girl" (1987); "Great Performances" (1998); "Those Were the Days" (1934); "Chuka" (1967); "The End of the Affair" (1955); "The Chalk Garden" (1964); "The October Man" (1947); "La morte non ha sesso" (1968); "Royal Cavalcade" (1935); "Spit MacPhee" (1988); "The Colditz Story" (1955); "Quatermass" (1979); "Adam's Woman" (1970)

John Mills (born February 22, 1908, Watts Naval Training College, North Elmham, Norfolk, England—died April 23, 2005, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England) was a British actor who appeared in more than 100 motion pictures and dozens of stage plays and television programs during a career that spanned some seven decades. His ability to portray “everyman” characters sincerely and believably—especially humble, decent military officers—endeared him to audiences and made him one of Britain’s best-loved performers.

Seeking a career in the theatre, Mills moved to London when he was 19, took a sales job to pay his expenses, and studied tap dancing. His debut came in 1929 in the chorus of a musical, and he then joined the Quaints repertory company on a yearlong tour in Asia. Noël Coward saw a production, was impressed with Mills’s talent, and soon was casting him in his revues and plays.

Mills enlisted in the Royal Engineers at the beginning of World War II, but by 1942 an ulcer had caused him to be declared unfit for service, and he began his long string of stiff-upper-lip war-hero roles, among them one that Coward wrote especially for him—Shorty Blake in the classic In Which We Serve (1942), in which his daughter Juliet also appeared, as Blake’s baby. Other notable military-themed films included Waterloo Road (1945), The Way to the Stars (1945), and Tunes of Glory (1960). Among the best of his nonmilitary films were Great Expectations (1946), in which he played Pip as a young man, Hobson’s Choice (1954), Tiger Bay (1959), in which his daughter Hayley made her debut, The Wrong Box (1966), Ryan’s Daughter (1970), for which he won a best supporting actor Academy Award, and Gandhi (1982). Mills married novelist and playwright Mary Hayley Bell in 1941. He was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1960 and was knighted in 1976. Mills published his autobiography, Up in the Clouds, Gentlemen Please, in 1980.

Empty movie theater and blank screen (theatre, motion pictures, cinema).

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