# Actor John Mills dead at 97 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-john-mills-dead-at-97/300775 "2005-04-23T17:32:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-john-mills-dead-at-97/300775/1 "2005-04-23T17:32:29Z")
[LINK](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=493&ncid=762&e=2&u=/ap/20050423/ap_en_mo/obit_john_mills) That’s one long life. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-john-mills-dead-at-97/300775/2 "2005-04-24T02:11:39Z")
That’s a hell of a career. I loved John Mills in _Hobson’s Choice_, where he played a poor shoemaker forced to grow by the level-headed woman who chose him for a husband. He almost upstaged Charles Laughton, but not quite. I’ll look out for his other films, as he was a class act. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-john-mills-dead-at-97/300775/3 "2005-04-24T02:19:44Z")
A local lad…he’ll be missed. He was still a character in old age. And how the hell can somebody manage over 60 years of professional acting? It’s surely just not human. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-john-mills-dead-at-97/300775/4 "2005-04-24T03:55:13Z")
Damn, he was versatile! Somehow he always seemed the same age. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-john-mills-dead-at-97/300775/5 "2005-04-24T13:01:13Z")
Sad for Juliet and Haley. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-john-mills-dead-at-97/300775/6 "2005-04-24T14:32:46Z")
To see acting at its best try and catch the film _Tunes of Glory_. This stars John Mills and Alec Guinness and it doesn’t get any better from these giants of British cinema. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-john-mills-dead-at-97/300775/7 "2005-04-24T18:02:02Z")
Thirty or so years ago, I first became aware that Hayley had a dad after seeing _The Truth About Spring_. Since then I’ve become a bigger fan of his than I was of her as a young lad with a crush. R. I. P. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-john-mills-dead-at-97/300775/8 "2005-04-24T18:28:57Z")
The link in the OP made mention of a recent survey of top actors in Great Britain, and that Mills was eight on the list. I went to look for it and on finding it I have to wonder where the heads of those surveyed were at. Sure, Sean Connery is a good actor, but #1? Above Sir Laurence Olivier? And Michael Caine is good, but Sir John Gielgud didn’t even make the top ten, and if he didn’t I don’t know why Caine is on it. Sure, it was more of a popularity poll, but people, get real!