Haley Mills, a wonderful piece of acting at 62

[stuart.uk]

Spoiler Alert

Sorry, but it's about a British tv series not shown in America. i've put Spoiler Alert in, but as most of you won't see it.

In the UK we just watched the last in the series of African game tv series Wild At Heart. during the series we've seen mainly Hayley's comedy skills, but she had to do a difficult, but convincing piece of dramatic acting.

it was difficult, because her daughter played by Amanda Holden was killed in a bush fire and instead of the usual falling to bits, Hayley's Caroline (even her grandkids called her that) tried to make sure everyone else was all right. it wasn't until a neighbour, played by Jessie Wallace (who played Kat Slater in Eastenders) said ' What about you Caroline' that the floodgates opened.

the episode was almost about moving on after a tragedy. Hayley was in a difficult personal postition. her son in law Stephen Tomkinson's Danny decides to take his wife's young teenage kids back to England so they could live with their natural father. understandably she decides to go with them for at least a while, as she admited she was a lously mother to her daughter when she was growing up, but by now she was in love with Danny's older partner Anders and she would have liked to stay with him. Danny's 20 something daughter also wanted to come home, but he told her, her place was with her boyfriend in Africa.

at this point we didn't know if the series was going to finish for good or not, if they went home it was the end of the show. as it happens Danny's step son wants to stay, but the real problem is his step daughter who wanted to go back to Bristol. however, she to eventually changes her mind and wants to stay. Vet Danny as a problem to overcome. his wife was killed trying to save his pet Cheeta, who ran into the fire with her in persuit. she died, but then animal survived and was pregnant. he couldn't treat her under the circumstances and passed the responsibilty to his trainee vet and daughter Rosie. however, complications set in and he had no optian but to operate and save both mother and cub. this seemed to change his mind about going. it ended with not only Rosie saying she was getting married, but Hayley just days after her daughter's death announced she was marrying Anders.

i don't know if it will return. i certainly hope so. i wonder if the character, played by Jessie Wallace, who's married to no good cowardly swine of a business man, whom she's asked for a divorce might be a future love interest for Stephen Tompkinson's Danny. here's a link to the show. there are video clips on it, but they appear to be restricted to users. However, you may find iit interesting reading, particulary anything about Hayley

Wild at Heart - ITV Drama
The official ITV home of Wild at Heart on ITV Family at ITV Drama; includes Catch Up,Wedding album,Interviews,Gallery,Episode guide and About the show. Visit itv.com for Drama.

www.itv.com/Drama/family/wildatheart/default.html · Cached page

[markfp]

I caught your spoiler alert so I didn't go to far into your posting, but what I read sounded interesting and besides I've been a fan of Hayley Mills from the start. Just for cases like this, I recently bought a region-free DVD player so I'm hoping it will be released in Region 2. Thanks for posting.

I'm editing this because I just looked it up on Amazon.uk and they have series one and two. They didn't list Hayley in the cast. Was she in the whole series or was it just a few episodes. Either way, I'm likely going to buy it. Thanks again.

[stuart.uk]

Hayley didn't appear until midway through series two. though i think it's in series 3 she's really come into her own, so if you buy series one, she won't be there, but it'll still be a good watch

at the bottom of my first post you'll find a link telling you about the series

[MissGoddess]

Hello Stuart---Thanks very much to JohnM I finally got to see Hayley in TIGER BAY tonight. She was smashing, I can hardly believe she was just a little sprout beginning in such a challenging role! Great story and it kept me on the edge of my seat. I wonder what she thought at the time in those scenes where her Daddy had to act mean toward her.

Thanks to you and John again for bringing this movie to my attention!

[stuart.uk]

Miss G

I just found your message about you seeing Tiger Bay for the first time. I wonder if you still think The Parent Trap is her best film, as I consider TB one of the great child performances ever. Thye wanted to cast a boy but of a visit to Sir Johns house they were so impressed by Haley they gave her the role instead

I'll try and find a Wild Of Heart clip featuring her and said it to you privately

[MissGoddess]

Miss G

I just found your message about you seeing Tiger Bay for the first time. I wonder if you still think The Parent Trap is her best film, as I consider TB one of the great child performances ever. Thye wanted to cast a boy but of a visit to Sir Johns house they were so impressed by Haley they gave her the role instead

I'll try and find a Wild Of Heart clip featuring her and said it to you privately

Hi Stuart--believe it or not I think her best performance is in Whistle Down the Wind, followed by Tiger Bay and then The Parent Trap and Pollyanna. What a difference in her British movies to the Disney films.

[stuart.uk]

Miss G

I thought you said the you thought The Parent Trap was better the Whistle Down The Wind, my mistake, sorry about that

I remember the first time I told you about TB and WDTW all those years ago when you and other American fans of the actress were raving about The Parent Trap

I don't know if you could make TB now in a PC world. Hayley's bonding with the 20 something Horst B would have been acceptable in 1959, but perhaps not in the 21st Century. I thought it daring to have muderer actually playing the hero. Did you hope he was going to escape. Meg Jenkins was also good as her aunt. Hayley's future co-star Michael Anderson also played a small role in TB (he looked a picture in his short pants LOL)

[MissGoddess]

HI Stuart,

No you were correct, I did originally think her work in The Parent Trap the best but that was before I saw the British films. Now I think her acting is much the better and the parts more demanding that she did in England. However, for the pleasure of viewing, I still like TPT, the other two are a bit "grim" in tone.

Though I am no fan of Horst B., I did feel sorry for him yes.