Mary Bell, Writer And Widow Of John Mills, 94
DGH
Mary Hayley Bell, an actress and writer who was the widow of actor John
Mills, and who had Alzheimer's disease, died December 1, 2005, it was
reported in England, at the age of 94.
Her best-known work was the novel "Whistle Down the Wind," which was
turned into a successful film by director Bryan Forbes in 1961 and
starred her younger daughter, Hayley Mills, as the eldest of three farm
children who mistake an escaped murderer for Jesus Christ. Andrew Lloyd
Webber later turned it into a stage musical, relocating it to the
American Deep South.
Miss Bell was born in Shanghai, where her father was a customs
official. She had a promising career as an actress in the 1930s, making
her London debut in 1934 with "Vintage Wine" and later working with the
Manchester Repertory Company. In 1937 and 1938, she toured Australia in
"Victoria Regina."
She gave up the stage after marrying Mills in 1942, saying: "It was no
good my being in Birmingham while John was in the West End [of London].
I believe that if you want to keep a marriage together, you have to be
together."
While at home bringing up their three children, she discovered a talent
for writing that produced her first play in 1942: "Men in Shadow,"
about war behind enemy lines. It starred her husband as the leader of a
group of British airmen shot down over occupied France.
Mills directed her next play, "Duet for Two Hands," in 1945, and
starred as a young poet given the hands of a murderer during surgery.
Other works included "Angel" (1947), "The Uninvited Guest" (1953) --
featuring her husband as a long-term mental patient -- and "Foreign
Field" the same year. In 1968, she published her autobiography, "What
Shall We Do Tomorrow?"
John Mills died in April.
Survivors include a second daughter, actress Juliet Mills, and a son,
Jonathan Mills.
Washington Post
H
DGH
Not to be confused with Mary Bell; gardening visionary (Australia),
whose obituary was in alt.obituaries on June 16, 2004.
deb...@comcast.net
http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/famous/bell/index_1.html
Bob Feigel
magnanimously proffered:
>.
>
>Not to be confused with Mary Bell; gardening visionary (Australia),
>whose obituary was in alt.obituaries on June 16, 2004.
My God! So John Mills was married to another Mary Bell in Australia!
The old rogue. RIP
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
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