Interview with Juliet Mills (2019)
In April 2019 I had the pleasure of meeting up with Juliet Mills, star of 'Carry On Jack' (1964), who has had quite a career on both sides of the Atlantic spanning over sixty years. Although only in one 'Carry On' film she was no stranger to the films of Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas having previously appeared in two of their other non 'Carry On' films, 'Twice Round the Daffodils' (1962) & 'Nurse on Wheels' (1963).
She is currently on tour in the British mystery thriller 'The Lady Vanishes'. She happily chatted to me in her dressing room between performances about her memories of 'Carry On Jack', Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and of working on some of my favourite shows, 'Murder, She Wrote' & 'Columbo'. Her dressing room was adorned by pictures of her parents that, she explains, she always takes with her on tour, cards from well-wishes and various personal items (including a large bottle of Chanel perfume!).
A charming, classy, warm and very dear lady who, still working hard in her latest theatre play with her co-star and husband, Maxwell Caulfield, shows no signs of slowing down. She explained that the tour would mark the 100th performance during it's run in Chesterfield!
CP: Welcome to Chesterfield! I know it isn’t quite as glitzy as L.A! How is the play and the tour going?
JM: It is going extremely well actually. We are coming up to our 100th performance, here in Chesterfield, with our Saturday matinee.
CP: Wow. The 100th show will be in Chesterfield?
JM: Yes, we have been going now for 12 weeks or something. We have had wonderful audiences and a wonderful reception. The audience loves the play, it is a very good play. It is adapted very well from the screen, from the Hitchcock film which was 1938, set in Austria in a station. The set is good though isn’t it?
CP: The set is good, yes.
JM: It really sets the atmosphere.
CP: The set changes are very click and very cleverly done.
JM: Yes, they are now. You should have been in Windsor when we first opened! The train doors wouldn’t open or close! We are just loving playing at The Pomegranate Theatre, which really lends itself to this play actually. It is a beautiful little gem of a theatre. Wonderful acoustics. It is very intimate and I like that.
CP: Now, I know you have probably been asked this a million times…’Carry On Jack’. How did you get involved in that?
JM: Well, I had worked for Peter Rogers and Gerry Thomas in two other films before I did ‘Carry On Jack’; ‘Nurse on Wheels’ and ‘Twice Round the Daffodils’. They produced both of them so they knew me. Plus, I was also doing plays in London so I sort of ‘on the scene’. I was only 22 when I did that film and I was also pregnant with my son. At the same time, I was playing Titania at the Aldwych Theatre in London for the Royal Shakespeare Company so it was quite, well, talk about the sublime to the ridiculous! I mean Titania in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘Carry On Jack’ (laughs). We didn’t do it (‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’) every night because it was in repertory with another play but 4 times per week we did it so I was taken from the set of ‘Carry On Jack’ at Pinewood and ferried up to Aldwych to do ‘A Midsummer night’s Dream’.
CP: So, a very busy time for you.
JM: Yes…and pregnant. Nobody knew I was pregnant. I didn’t tell anybody but Kenneth (Williams) who was my best friend on the set and who was a very good friend to me all through his life. I loved him dearly.
CP: I know that Kenneth could be a bit of a ‘marmite’ character and was difficult with some people, particularly new people. You obviously got on very well with him?
JM: Yes. I loved him. He didn’t suffer fools gladly and he could be very impatient and quite rude to people but if you were a friend of his he was a loyal, loving friend and one of the funniest men that I have ever met. He could just make you laugh. He would just say one word over and over again and you would be in stitches. “Yees, Yeeees, Yeeeees!” (Juliet does a perfect impression of Kenneth!). Some of the funniest stuff from ‘Carry On Jack’ was probably on the cutting room floor because it wasn’t printable!
CP: Absolutely, I wish that they had kept the out takes because there must be a wealth of material there that was simply lost. I know film was expensive and was valuable hence the reason they reused it where they could.
JM: It is a real shame. What a collection that would be if it had been saved. They were such a talented bunch, the core team. Soon after I did ‘Carry On Jack’ I went to America and started on ‘Nanny and the Professor’. I came back to England to work occasionally but I never came back to live. I didn’t intend to go and stay in America; it just sort of happened because I kept working there.
Top (right): Juliet with co-stars Bernard Cribbins & Kenneth Williams in 'Carry On Jack' (1964). Above: Juliet signed my original 'Carry On Jack lobby card.
CP: I was going to ask you why you didn’t do any more Carry On’s, so that answers my question! Just back to Kenneth, when was the last time you saw him? Can you remember?
JM: Ooh, well. I don’t remember how long it was before he died. What year did he die?
CP: 1988.
JM: Well I must have seen him last around 1984/85. We had dinner; I went to his flat. He lived near Madame Tussauds. His flat was very spare to say the least. It was very tidy but there wasn’t much in it. In the sitting room was a sofa and two chairs, two tables and two lamps and the most fantastic quadrophonic sound system because he listened to classical music all the time. His bedroom was a bed and a side table and a big painting. I remember going “Oh, Kenny, that’s interesting, what’s that?” and he said “That’s a woman with a dick!”
(both now in hysterics).
CP: Only Kenneth! What a great anecdote! How about Charlie Hawtrey, he was also in ‘Carry On Jack’ with you?
JM: He was great fun and I was also close to him on the film. He was very close to Kenny. Although it wasn’t like he became a friend that I saw after the film. That doesn’t happen that often. Normally you are a ‘company’ together but just once in a while you meet someone who you feel like you have some sort of past life connection with and remain in contact with. It wasn’t like that with Charlie though.
CP: I have heard that before and having spoken with other people associated with the series he was known to be a bit of a loner, stuck in a corner with his R White’s lemonade or a pot of tea.
JM: I think he (Charlie) was a bit of a loner but he and Kenny had a wonderful rapport and used to bounce off each other with their wit!
CP: Now, moving on from ‘Carry On’, you have also been in two other shows that I adore; ‘Murder, She Wrote’ and ‘Columbo’. What was that like?
JM: Yes! Oh, it was wonderful. Angela Lansbury is such a sweetheart; she is a very loyal person. I think I did a couple of those (‘Murder, She Wrote’). ‘Columbo’ was before Maxwell’s time (her husband, Maxwell Caulfield) well, at least before our time together. It was great to work with Peter Falk, he was marvellous. It was fun to be in Hollywood in those days in that period with all those wonderful TV shows, ‘Man from U.N.C.L.E’ and ‘Wonder Woman’ etc. Of course, we both worked for Aaron Spelling a lot. I in fact did eight of ‘The Love Boat’. We were in a hotel together, Maxwell and I, and Aaron was again a very loyal employer. If he liked you and you had worked for him and you had done it with joy, he would just keep hiring you. That doesn’t exist in Hollywood anymore.
At this stage we are interrupted by the intercom giving a stage call for various members of the cast who are due to rehearse a fight scene. Juliet explains that this is a daily occurrence as they have to practice the fight scenes each day. Having seen the show, the scenes in question are well choreographed and very realistic! It is also time for Juliet to get into her costume, wig and makeup for the matinee performance…
CP: I was going to ask you quickly about working with Maxwell again in the theatre. You in fact met in the theatre whilst in ‘The Elephant Man’ in 1980?
JM: Yes. We were rehearsing in New York and then we did the national tour, a western national tour, Florida and all of that. We became friends instantly. We had a real connection and he was just the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. I never really thought about his age (Maxwell is 18 years her junior). He took care of me from the moment we met. It’s like he took care of me, I’d never met anyone who looked after me the way he did. We’ve been married 39 years this year. They said it would never last!
CP: Well, it just shows you. My partner is almost 10 years younger than me and we are still together after 11 years.
JM: My dad (the late actor Sir John Mills) always said, age is irrelevant. He never questioned it.
CP: Maxwell was, and still is, a very good-looking guy!
JM: Oh, he’s fabulous! When you see him in ‘Grease 2’. It’s a great movie, yet it was not that successful at the time when it came out. Although it came out the same day as ‘E.T’! which wasn’t very good planning. But of course, it is a cult movie now.
Juliet and I in her dressing room between performances of 'The Lady Vanishes' - April 2019.
CP: As tends to happen with some films. They are not recognised or appreciated at the time yet years later get a resurgence and a cult following. Well, I won’t take up anymore of your time, I will let you get your wig on!
My genuine and sincere thanks to Juliet for taking the time out from her busy schedule to talk to me about her career, her memories of 'Carry On Jack' and Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey.
Above: Top left; Juliet signs my 'Carry On Jack' DVD cover; Middle: Juliet adds her autograph to my 'That's Carry On' DVD; Right: As a surprise Juliet arranged for the cast of 'The Lady Vanishes' to sign a theatre flyer for me!
If you want to catch Juliet in 'The Lady Vanishes' there is more information, including tour dates and venues, at http://www.stagereview.co.uk/theatre-news/juliet-mills-maxwell-caulfield-head-the-lady-vanishes-uk-tour/
To listen to the audio interview (unedited) with Juliet and I you can do so via the link below:
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