Felixstowe Nub News delves into the life of former Felixstowe resident, film star Sir John Mills.

Born on 22 February 1908, Mills was the son of Edith Mills, a theatre box manager, and Lewis Mills, a maths teacher. His elder sister Annette Mills, similar to Mills, joined the entertainment industry and is best remembered for being the presenter of Muffin the Mule from 1946 to 1955.

After leaving school, he worked as a clerk at a corn merchants in Ipswich before coming a commercial traveler in London for the Sanitas Disinfectant Company.

In 1939, at the beginning of World War II, he enlisted in the British Army, joining the Royal Engineers. He later became a Second Lieutenant but, in 1942, he was medically discharged due to a stomach ulcer.

He took an early interest in acting and made his professional debut at the London Hippodrome in The Five O'Clock Girl in 1929.

He joined a theatre company and toured India, China, and the Far East performing a variety of plays.

His rise to stardom began when he got the lead role in We Dive at Dawn (1943), a war film about submariners. Another popular role was his role in Waterloo Road (1945), starring alongside Stewart Grander and Alastair Sim.

His greatest success, however, came when he starred as Pip in Great Expectations (1946). It was the third biggest hit at the British box office that year, with Mills being voted the sixth most popular star of the year.

From 1945 to 1961, British film exhibitors voted Mills among the top ten British stars at the box office, peaking at 2nd place in 1955.

He starred in a large variety of films during this period including, in 1960, Swiss Family Robinson, a Walt Disney production. He appeared approximately 120 films during his full acting career.

He received a number of prestigious accolades for his acting career.

In 1960, Mills was appointed a CBE. Sixteen years later, he was knighted by the Queen.

In 2002, he received a Fellowship of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), their highest award, and was named a Disney Legend by the Walt Disney Company.

His first wife was the actress Aileen Raymond in 1932 and divorced in 1941.

His second wife was Mary Hayley Bell. They were married for 64 years, until his death in 2005. They had two daughters, Juliet, who starred in the TV series Nanny and the Professor, and Hayley, a Disney child star who had roles in Pollyanna, The Parent Trap and Whistle Down the Wind. They also had a son, Jonathan, who was a screenwriter.

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