A GENUINE SISTER ACT

On a whirlwind publicity trip to Brisbane, movie legends Hayley and Juliet Mills found a few minutes to chat with Stage Whispers’ Peter Pinne about their upcoming play Legends.

When I’m introduced to Hayley and Juliet Mills I can’t help but notice Hayley’s mischievous twinkle, so familiar from The Parent Trap and Pollyanna, still there in her eyes, and Juliet’s joire de vive which is as irresistible as a glass of bubbly. Sitting talking to two legends, about them playing two legends, in the play Legends, is a writer’s dream.   

What made you decide to do this play?

“It was John Frost’s idea,” Juliet enthused. “He said why don’t we do a show together again. We read some plays, John read some plays, and this is the one we came up with.”

Hayley chipping in, “It’s very funny.”

In 1993 Both Hayley and Juliet had starred in Noel Coward’s Fallen Angels, which toured Australia. Legends by James Kirkwood is set in the world of theatre with a plot about two famous but fading movies stars, Leatrice Monsee (Hayley Mills) and Sylvia Glenn (Juliet Mills), who are trying to kick-start their stalled careers by starring in a Broadway-bound play. The problem is, they loathe each other.

According to Juliet, “these characters are not us at all, they’re both very different. They hate each other and we don’t.”

“I love Juliet,” said Hayley, “and am going to find it very hard to hate her. But that’s the role.”

Juliet laughs as she breaks in, “but the characters do have traits that actresses of a certain age can relate to.”

I asked was it likely that Hayley and Juliet’s relationship would disintegrate to the legendary degree Mary Marin and Carol Channing’s did in the original production of the play, and Joan Collins and Linda Gray’s did in the 2007 revival. Playwright James Kirkwood’s book Diary of a Mad Playwright documents the theatrical bad-behaviour of the first and reportedly Collins and Gray will never speak to each other again.

“Hope not,” was Hayley’s immediate reaction. “We get on very well and admire and trust each other.”

“Although the play’s the important thing, it’s not important enough to let it destroy our relationship,” said Juliet. “It will be a very different production to the original.”

On the subject of theatrical bad-behaviour, you both must have come across it throughout your careers. Is there some story you can share with us?

They both demurred for a moment and then Hayley said, “There is one experience and the actor shall remain nameless. In fact if I don’t have to mention his name again then I shall be very happy. He was a misogynist. We were doing a comedy and he would continually step on my laughs and kill them. I know it’s a cliché but he was always upstaging me. It was a three month tour and as it went on it really got to me. I complained to Juliet and said what do I do? We were coming to the end of the tour in Bristol, so she said on the last night buy him a big bunch of flowers and put a dog turd in the middle of them and give it to him. I liked the idea so I bought the flowers then walked along the street looking at dog turds, but in the end I didn’t include any, just a caustic note.”

Juliet was nominated twice for Outstanding Villianess in the soap Passions so she really knows how to play evil. I asked her who was the “black-hat” between Leatrice and Sylvia.

“Leatrice believes she’s holier-than-thou but I suppose Sylvia is the more bitchy role.”

Mary Martin was 73 when she did Legends and had difficulty in learning lines. Is this something either of you have a problem with?

“It’s always hard learning lines,” said Juliet, “and I suppose as we get older it doesn’t get any easier. The brain is a muscle and it has to be exercised.”

When was the first time you both worked together?

“When we did Fallen Angels. I had done The King and I in Australia in 1991,” said Hayley, and then the following year we did a UK tour of Fallen Angels and then on the back of that toured Australia in 1993.”

When I suggested this was Juliet’s second visit to Australia she corrected me.

“No, it’s my third. I came her in the seventies to do a TV movie Barnaby and Me with Sid Caesar.”

What was it like growing up in a theatrical household?

“Fun,” was Juliet’s answer. And why wouldn’t it be with Vivien Leigh as her Godmother and Noel Coward as her Godfather and frequent guests, Rex Harrison, David Niven and Marlon Brando around the dinner table.

In 1998 Hayley received the Disney Legends Award. I asked her how she felt about it.

“Proud and grateful. Disney were like a family to me. I knew Walt Disney very well and he always treated me like family. I still have many friends at Disney and still see them.”

Finally, if you had to choose a favourite amongst the films of your father, who was also a legend of the British film industry, what would it be?

They both responded with “not one but several; Hobson’s Choice, Great Expectations, Ryan’s Daughter and Tunes of Glory.”

Legends starring Hayley Mills, Juliet Mills and Maxwell Caulfield, opens at the Playhouse, Brisbane 28 May 2015 and tours to Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. 

Image: Hayley Mills, Maxwell Caulfield and Juliet Mills (c) Greg Gorman.

legendstour.com.au