Passions

Background:

Emmy award-winning British character player Juliet Mills, daughter of the late actor Sir John Mills and sister of actress Hayley Mills, was in film for over a decade before achieving huge prominence on the small screen with her role as the “magical” governess on the ABC top rated, but short-lived series “Nanny and the Professors” (1970-1971), from which she nabbed her first Golden Globe nomination. She combined the victory on the big screen by taking home her next Golden Globe nomination for her starring role in the notable motion picture “Avanti!” (1972), but small screen proved to be her best medium when in 1975, Mills was handed an Emmy Award after portraying Anthony Hopkins' wife in the miniseries adaptation of “QB VII” (1974). Almost thirty years later, the Tony nominated actress bounced back with her popular role as bad-turned-good witch Tabitha Lenox on the television series “Passions” (1999-present), for which she has nabbed three Soap Opera Digest nominations and a Daytime Emmy nomination. Other films in which Mills has acted in include her debut as an adult, “No My Darling Daughter” (1961), “Carry On Jack” (1963), “The Rare Breed” (1966), “Oh! What a Lovely War” (1969), “Chi sei? (1974) and “The Other Sister” (1999), her last film to date. She also has made many television films and guested in numerous TV series, including “Wonder Woman,” “The Love Boat,” “Fantasy Island,” “Dynasty” and “Murder, She Wrote.”

Outside the limelight, Mills has been married to actor Maxwell Caulfield since 1980 and they currently reside in Los Angeles, next to the studio in which she tapes “Passions.” She is the mother of writer, director and producer Sean Alquist (father: first husband Russell Alquist Jr.) and actress Melissa Caulfield (father: second husband Michael Miklenda), who recently was married to aspiring actor David Tuchman. Mills, who shares the same birthday as Jena Malone, Björk, Goldie Hawn, Rachel Rogers and Nicollette Sheridan, is the goddaughter of the late actress Vivien Leigh and the late director/writer Sir Noel Coward.

The Mills

Childhood and Family:

Juliet Maryon Mills was born in London, England, on November 21, 1941. She is the eldest daughter of British actor Sir John Mills (born in 1908, died in 2005) and playwright Mary Hayley Bell (born in 1911, died in 2005). Her sister is actress Hayley Mills (born in 1946) and her brother is director Jonathan Mills (born in 1949).

Juliet has been married three times. She married first husband Russell Alquist Jr., an American songwriter, on October 14, 1961, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1964 after producing a child, Sean Alquist. She next married Michael Miklenda on October 18, 1975, but the bond only lasted for five years and they divorced in 1980. Juliet and her second husband have a daughter together named Melissa Caulfield (born in 1979), who appeared in several episodes of “Passions” during 1999 to 2005. She married current husband Scottish actor Maxwell Caulfield on December 2, 1980, who is 18 years her junior.

Nanny and the Professors

Career:

Daughter of celebrity parents, Juliet Mills had her first taste in front of the film camera when she was still a baby, appearing in 1942's classic “In Which We Serve,” which starred her father John and directed by her godfather Noel Coward. As a juvenile, she appeared with her father in the films “So Well Remembered” and “The October Man” (both 1947) and “The History of Mr. Polly” (1949), and also honed her craft in several London productions. In 1960, Mills even enjoyed success on the stage by picking a Tony nomination for her bright scene-stealing performance in the Broadway production of “Five Finger Exercise.”

Returning to the big screen as an adult, Mills undertook the role of Michael Redgrave's socially awkward daughter in the British comedy “No My Darling Daughter” (1961). She went on to appear in comedies like “Nurse on Wheels” (1963) and “Carry On Jack” (1963), but did not receive notice until 1966 when she supported James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara in the western film “The Rare Breed,” playing the daughter Hilary Price. Mills, who previously made her TV movie debut in 1960's “Mrs. Miniver,” then turned to television where she made guest appearances in several shows such as “Twelve O'Clock High” (1966) and “Sherlock Holmes” (1968) before resuming her feature career in 1969 with “Oh! What a Lovely War,” a movie about the WW I based on a stage musical of the same which was directed by Richard Attenborough.

During the 1970s, Mills concentrated her work on television although she managed to sporadically appear in a few films. Her small screen breakthrough arrived in 1970 when she won a starring role in her first television series, ABC's “Nanny and the Professor,” opposite Richard Long. Playing “magical” governess Phoebe Figalilly, she became popular among American sitcom fans and was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1971 for Best TV Actress-Musical/Comedy. The series was highly rated, but was axed by the network after two seasons in 1971.

After the demise of “Nanny,” Mills found herself revisited the silver screen starring opposite Jack Lemmon in “Avanti!,” a luminary 1972 comedy/drama directed by Billy Walder. For her fine turn as a London shop girl named Pamela Piggott, she received a 1973 Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actress – Musical/Comedy. She next participated in the Oscar nominee “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” (1973) and starred in the horror “Chi sei?/Beyond the Door” (1974), jointly directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis and Robert Barrett. Here she portrayed a young pregnant woman in San Fransisco who becomes possessed by a demon. The movie went on to become a major box office success, but was pulled from theaters because it resembled 1973's “The Exorcist.”

Also in 1974, Mills was brought back to the spotlight of television with her role as Samantha Cady, the wife of Anthony Hopkins' Adam Kelno, on the highly acclaimed miniseries adaptation of “QB VII.” The role brought the British actress an Emmy for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special. She next appeared with Sam Elliot in the amazing mini-drama “Once an Eagle” (1976) and had recurring roles in “Fantasy Island” (1978, as Angela Anderson) and “The Love Boat” (1978). She also guested in a number of shows, including “Wonder Woman” (1977) and “Switch” (1978), as well as made several TV films such as “Barnaby and Me” (1977) and “The Cracker Factory” (1979).

As her film career stalled after “Chi sei?,” Mills went on to work on the small screen throughout the 1980s, although she was not as busy as previously. Aside from continuing her recurring gigs on “The Love Boat” and “Fantasy Island,” she also appeared as Rosalind Bedford in two episodes of “Dynasty” in 1984, played two different characters in two episodes of “Hotel” in 1985 and 1987, as well as joined the cast of the long-running soap opera “All My Children” in the role Judge Edith Hogan in 1985. After guest spots in “Murder, She Wrote” (1987) and “The Law and Harry McGraw” (1988), she closed out the decade with a part in the miniseries “Till We Meet Again” (1989). Her husband also acted in the series.

Opening the 1990s, Mills costarred with George Peppard and Michael York in the two-part TV film “Night of the Fox” (1990) and appeared in an episode of “Monsters.” She then had small parts in the TV films “Columbo: No Time to Die” (1992), starring Peter Falk, and “Waxwork II: Lost in Time” (1992) and supported Perry King and Lori Loughlin in the teleplay “A Stranger in the Mirror” (1993). After many years hiatus, Mills resurfaced on the big screen playing Juliette Lewis' friendly maid in the mainstream movie “The Other Sister” (1999), costarring Diane Keaton and Tom Skerrit and helmed by Garry Marshall.

It was also in 1999 that Mills experienced a Renaissance in career when she joined the cast of the supernatural day time series “Passions,” along side Heidi Mueller, Chrystee Pharris, Lindsay Korman, Justin Carroll and many others, in the role of Tabitha the witch. She received two consecutive Soap Opera Digest nominations for Outstanding Villain in 2000 and 2001, and in 2003 netted another nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. In 2005, she was nominated for her first Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for her work in the praised show.

Awards:

• Emmy: Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special, “QB VII” (mini), 1975