JULIET MILLS ON JIMMY STEWART, MAUREEN O’HARA, AND ‘THE RARE BREED’
“But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!”
Juliet
Mills’ sole feature Western is 1966’s The Rare Breed. Maureen O’Hara
stars as a recently widowed Englishwoman whose late husband’s dream was to
introduce hornless Hereford cattle to the American West, with an eye towards
mating them with Texas Longhorns. Maureen’s daughter is Juliet Mills, and the
men who variously help and hinder their efforts are cowboy Jimmy Stewart, meat
packer David Brian, and rancher Brian Keith. There are a handful of Hereford
bulls, and the one with the biggest role is named Vindicator.
I
first spoke to Juliet Mills three years ago. I was gathering material to do
audio commentary with my constant partner-in-commentary-crime C. Courtney
Joyner, for a Blu-ray edition of Mills’ excellent Western, 1966’s The Rare
Breed. Atypically, that BluRay still has not been released. This was
during COVID time, and nothing was normal. Juliet and husband Maxwell Caulfield
had then just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary, and when I
wound up my interview by asking Juliet when we would next see them on the
screen, she replied, a bit anxiously, “It's all been very quiet lately. I
haven't worked this year at all; neither has my husband, but there's no point
worrying about it because there's really not much going on.” What a difference
a few years can make. Since our interview, Juliet has appeared in six episodes
of Grey’s Anatomy, co-starred with Wendy Mallick – and Maxwell – in the
movie 7000 Miles, starred in the fantasy adventure The Primevals,
and performed voices in animated features and series including Bigmouth,
Human Resources, Ark: The Animated Series, and voiced the whale in Metalocalypse:
Army of the Doomstar. Maxwell has been equally busy in multiple episodes of
The Bay, numerous movies and TV-movies, and was particularly memorable
as Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione in the miniseries Pam and Tommy. And
Max played Jacob Marley to Juliet’s Ghost of Christmas Future in the podcast Scrooge:
A Christmas Carol.
Terms
like “Showbiz Royalty” are tossed around promiscuously, but few families have
more clearly earned the “Theatrical Royalty” designation than the Mills family.
Juliet’s father, John Mills, had a magnificent 75-year career in film and
television here and across the sea, an even longer and finer stage career, and
won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1971, in David Lean’s Ryan’s Daughter. Juliet’s sister, Hayley Mills, was the
biggest child movie star of the 1960s, and is still very active. Juliet, with
nearly one hundred screen characters to her credit, who will always be beloved
for portraying the first title character in the 1970s series The Nanny and
the Professor, began her screen career as an infant, in 1942.
“I
was brought up watching my father on a film set. My first visit was in In
Which We Serve, a (Noel) Coward film that my dad was doing. I was 11 weeks
old, so I do hardly remember that, but there were a couple of others, October
Man (1947), So Well Remembered (1947), and The History of
Mr. Polly (1949). In all of them. I had little scenes, particularly in History of Mr. Polly. I had a little scene with daddy, a rather sweet
little scene, but then of course I always visited him. I remember very, very
well visiting him on Great Expectations (1946). I suppose I was about
five at the time; that was David Lean. A great movie. What I'm really getting
at is that on a film set, wherever it is, I always felt at home and relaxed and
happy.
HENRY
PARKE: You were very busy in British comedies in the 1960s: No, My Darling Daughter,
Twice Around the Daffodils, Nurses on Wheels, Carry on Jack. You were so
busy; what seduced you to come over to the United States?
JULIET
MILLS: Well, as a matter of fact, I was in New York. I did a play called Alfie,
with Terence Stamp. It didn't run that long, I think about three months. It was
a little before its time, in the sense that (the cast spoke with) very strong
cockney accents and the American audience didn't understand half of it. But
while I was there, a casting director called Boaty Boatwright, who was very
famous in that time -- I hope she's still with us. (Note: She is.) She saw me in the play, and suggested me for
the role in The Rare Breed. And I didn't do a test or anything, come to
think of it. I got the part from the theater.
HENRY
PARKE: How was filming in the United States different from filming in England?
JULIET
MILLS: Well, the actual work, on the set, it's the same really wherever you
are, except it was on a grander scale, in the sense of fantastic locations and
huge sets and a Western. I'd never dreamed of doing a Western. My father always
wanted to do a Western: he was very jealous. (Note: the following year, John
Mills got his wish, starring in the short-lived but well-remembered Dundee
and the Culhane, as one of a pair of frontier lawyers.)
HENRY
PARKE: I would think the location work for The Rare Breed would have
been quite different from what you'd done in England. Was it a physically
difficult shoot for you?
JULIET
MILLS: I wouldn't say too physically difficult. I did quite a bit of riding,
which I loved, and I did ride anyway. We used to ride in Richmond Park when I
was a child. The only slightly difficult part of that shoot was that it was
quite hot, which I wasn't used to. We were shooting near Palm Springs, and so
it was quite unusually hot for me. But they looked after us beautifully with
ice, shammy leather around your wrist and all the rest of it, keeping it cool with
umbrellas and stuff. But the only physical… I remember the time, there's a
crash, the horses pulling a cart. The stampede. And we did a bit of that. I
mean, obviously doubles did a lot of it, but some of it, Maureen (O’Hara) and I
did. We were cowering under a huge rock when all these animals went thundering
over. That was the only slightly scary bit, I think. But of course, the doubles
did all the really dangerous parts.
HENRY
PARKE: I've got to say it works. It looks very scary on film.
JULIET
MILLS: Yeah, it does; it's very well done. (Director) Andrew McLagan was so
experienced in doing that kind of thing, and he was just wonderful. He was one
of the tallest men I've ever seen; he was huge. His feet were huge! He was a
very, very, very nice guy, very good director. It was a very happy experience
for me, as you can imagine. I mean, working with Jimmy Stewart, it was a dream.
He was such a lovely guy. He was just as he seemed to be, you know, he was just
himself. He was very, very sweet to me, very welcoming. There were three dozen
red roses (from him) in my dressing room when I arrived. And he was always very
friendly and we stayed friends after the film. And I used to go and see him in
his house on Roxbury. I remember he had a huge vegetable garden. Of course now
there's a house where his garden was. (I remember) being in a bar with him and
the whole crew was after shooting, when we were on location. Because we did a
lot at Universal, in the studio, of course. And they built all that whole set
in there, that sort of compound area with the house and all that. That was
amazing. I'd never been on a set of that size and scale before. But anyway, we
were in this bar and I remember he said, “Do you do drink beer, Julia?” I was
22, and I said, “Oh yes, I do. I do have half a pint at home in the pub.” And
so he said, “I'm going to order you a yard of beer.”
You
probably know what it is, it's a long glass thing with a ball, a bulb, on the
end, so you can't put it down, you have to drink it! That was one of my
memories of Jimmy. He was so sweet. And then Maureen, of course I knew anyway. When
I was first in New York at the age of 17, doing a play called Five Finger
Exercise, which was Peter Schaffer's (Equus, Amadeus) first play
actually. She and I did a live TV performance of Mrs. Miniver. So that's
when I first met her. And then of course she did The Parent Trap with Hayley,
where she played her mother. She actually played my mother twice and Hayley's
mother once. So I adored her. I was very, very fond of her. The last time I saw
her actually was when she came to Los Angeles for the TCM (Classic Film
Festival). They were doing a tribute to her and they showed The Corn is
Green. I had tea with her at the Roosevelt Hotel. I think she was 90 then.
She was still so beautiful. When I did Rare Breed with her, she was
breathtaking. Her skin was like alabaster. She had that wonderful red hair and
those huge green eyes. She was an Irish beauty for real.
HENRY
PARKE: Yes, absolutely. Someone who didn't look quite as for real was Brian
Keith with all that red hair all over him.
JULIET
MILLS: (laughs) Oh, he was a sweet guy. I loved him, but I know what you mean.
It was rather over the top, all that hair. He really got into that Scottish
thing in a big way. He was like a throwback, a Scottish landowner from way back
when.
HENRY
PARKE: Don Galloway played your romantic interest. He's an actor that I know
primarily from from television, from the Ironside (1957-1975) series.
JULIET
MILLS: I didn't know him, because having not been living in America, and doing
a theater only in New York, I never watched television. I didn't know anything
about him. He was a very nice guy and a very good actor. I don't -- what
happened to him? I don't remember seeing, I never saw him again personally. And
in real life, I'm sure he went on and did lots of things, but, um, did he do
anything, any more movies after that?
HENRY
PARKE: He did several Westerns right
after The Rare Breed, and years later he was in The Big Chill,
but mostly he was a very busy television actor.
JULIET
MILLS: We never met again, but that's this strange business we’re in. You're in
each other's pockets, kissing each other on the lips, first thing in the
morning. And you never see each other again.
HENRY
PARKE: You also worked with a great villain, especially in the stampede, Jack
Elam.
JULIET
MILLS: Oh yes, he was wonderful, wasn't he? He was such a famous villain, and
I'd seen him in so many movies, always playing the baddy, with those amazing
eyebrows, and he was wonderful. And the stunt people were amazing too. Hal
Needham was the stunt coordinator, and did a lot of stunts in that film. I
think he actually played me at one point with a wig on. Jimmy's double, Ted
Mapes, he always doubled for him; he was the same height, and he was a great
friend of Jimmy's. Everything about that film was a happy memory, I have to
say. Actually I saw it maybe a year ago on TCM and it's entertaining; it's
good. I remember (stuntwoman) Patty Elder very well. She doubled for me. They
were so courageous, those stunt people. They’d do anything on those horses,
falls and crashes, oh my goodness. Amazing. Hal Needham, he loved his work. He
was so experienced. I think he must have broken every bone in his body by the
end of it all. He was always hurting himself. You know, they really do bash
themselves up terribly.
HENRY
PARKE: He's one of the very few stuntmen I know of who went from stuntman to
director. (John Ford was another)
JULIET
MILLS: I suppose that was partly his great friendship and association with Burt
Reynolds. I think that's how he got into that. I will tell you one little funny
story that I just remembered. We did all the location work first, then we went
back into the studio. There were lots of horses in that set, that compound area.
And when they dumped a load, as it were, the guy came and scooped it up with a
shovel, so it wouldn't be in the shot. One time I was just standing around, I
wasn't in the scene, and he wasn't around. And they were going “ny-ny, ny-ny,
ny-ny,” because that's what they call them, the ones that scoop up the shit. I
grabbed a shovel and I went in and scooped it up. And that was a huge joke with
the crew. I had a gold charm bracelet that I always wore myself, not in the
film. At the end of the shoot, Jimmy gave me a little gold shovel charm because
they used to call me ny-ny. That was my nickname on the set.
HENRY
PARKE: Any other fond memories of the filming?
JULIET
MILLS: One of my favorite scenes that I remember so well. Jimmy was living in a
little shack out on the prairie. I rode up on my horse and got off, and we had
a scene together. That was wonderful for me, working with him on a one-to-one
basis like that. He was such a giving actor, like all the greats. I did the
film with Jack Lemmon (Avanti! 1972), and he was the same. Working with
great film actors, all you have to do is react, really. You don't have to act
at all. They're so generous.
One
other thing I will tell you. You know Vindicator the bull? We all became very
fond of Vindicator and Jimmy especially. Jimmy wanted to make sure that
Vindicator would be retired to a lovely life and not carved up or anything. So
he actually bought him, and he went and lived out his life on Jimmy's ranch in
Idaho.
When
I heard that you wanted to talk to me about The Rare Breed, I started to
think about it and things just come back, you know? It was the first time I
ever worked in Hollywood. It was my film debut in Hollywood. And it was an
important time for me in my life. I’d just had my first child. My son was about
six months, I think, when we came out to do the film. That was my first husband
-- I've been married to Maxwell Caufield for 40 years, so that's almost like
another life.
HENRY
PARKE: You did a couple of Western TV shows after The Rare Breed. You did
A Man Called Shenandoah (1966).
JULIET
MILLS: I don't remember much about that show, but I do remember Alias Smith
and Jones very well, with Pete Duel. I remember that being on location, I
think it was the Fox Ranch. I did a lot of episodic television around that
time, and movies for television. Sometimes they were very, very good.
HENRY
PARKE: How did you like working on The Man From UNCLE?
JULIET
MILLS: Oh, great fun, great fun. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, lovely,
sweet guys. Very happy with their lot, feeling lucky to be in such a hit
series. It was a very happy set. Honestly I don't remember much of the plot or
my part, but I remember enjoying it very much.
HENRY
PARKE: It’s been such a pleasure to talk to you. I've always enjoyed your work.
I remember Nanny and the Professor very fondly. But one of your films
that I’ve heard so much about, but never seen, is your “possession” thriller, Beyond
the Door (1974).
JULIET
MILLS: Oh my God, that's a scary movie! I took my son. He was about five, I
think. I took him to see it at the Grauman's Chinese. He was so scared that
when it was over, he wouldn't walk out with me. He said, “Mommy, I don't want
to walk out with you. I don't want anybody to see me with you!” It was a
strange.
INSP’S
‘BLUE RIDGE’ SUNDAY FINALE IS THE BEST EPISODE YET!
I’ve
been catching a little heat from some friends that I turned on to Blue Ridge. “How
can it be the finale?” they ask. “Didn’t it just start in July?” TV seasons
have gotten shorter and shorter since the 1950s, when 39 episodes was the average,
and I must admit a 6-episode season is a new low, count-wise, but the good news
is that season 2 is coming in 2025, and it will have more episodes!
And
the more urgent good news is that the Sunday, September 1 season closer is the
best written and performed Blue Ridge story yet. One of the biggest
strengths of Blue Ridge, movie and series, which separates it from other
police dramas, is its rural setting, and its creators’ true understanding of
that world, of the sort or crime found in that world, and the realities of
underfinanced law-enforcement: it is still the wild west when it comes to
self-reliance and teamwork.
Sunday night’s story concerns not only very real human relationships under life-and-death pressures, but eminent domain, problems faced by some of our returning military, impenetrable government bureaucracy – and I won’t say any more. It’s too good to start telegraphing. If you missed my July article on Blue Ridge, you can click HERE, or just scroll down a little.
‘WILD WEST CHRONICLES’ SEASON 4 PREMIERE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH!
Since
Bat Masterson is a superhero to western historians and western movie- and TV-fans
alike, what could be more appropriate than to begin season 4 of INSP’s Wild
West Chronicles with a ‘superhero origin story’ for Bat? And because we are
in the 21st century, what could be more relevant than the fact that
it’s not a ‘creation’ story, but a ‘reinvention’ story, the tale of how Bat, elegantly
portrayed by Jack Elliot, redefined himself from lawman to journalist.
A
few months back I had the rare privilege to visit the Peppertree Ranch Studios
in Acton, California, to witness a bit of the filming of two INSP Western series,
Wild West Chronicles, and Elkhorn. Roaming the Western movie sets,
I felt a connection not only with the West, but with the movie-making west of
the early 20th century, when two movie crews would be shooting on
opposite ends of a Western street, and care had to be taken so they didn’t film
each other!
I
was particularly happy to be present for some of the filming for what will be
episode 2, Bass Reeves: A Father’s Justice, with Byron Preston Jackson
as the legendary lawman. When I’d attended an early screening of the first
episodes of the Paramount + series Lawmen: Bass Reeves, I’d spoken to
the show’s creator, Chad Feehan, and I was amazed when he told me that they
wouldn’t be including the most dramatically personal manhunt of Reeves’ career:
when he set out to capture his own son for murder. Feehan told me they hadn’t dramatized
that story because they wanted an upbeat tone to the piece. I understood, but I’m
delighted that Wild West Chronicles is tackling that story.
‘RENDEZVOUS
WITH A WRITER’ PODCAST CELEBRATES 101ST EPISODE THIS THURSDAY WITH
C. COURTNEY JOYNER AND ME!
On
Thursday, September 5th, filmmaker, screenwriter, novelist, and film
historian C. Courtney Joyner, writer of the brand-new horror movie Quadrant,
and Henry C. Parke (that’s me!), author of the new book The Greatest
Westerns Ever Made and the People Who Made Them, will be the guests of
Bobbi Jean Bell and Jim Bell on Rendezvous with a Writer #101! And you
need not wait! You can see Quadrant right now on Tubi and Prime Video, and
you can buy Greatest Westerns right HERE.
I
GUESTED ON THE EXCELLENT ‘HOW THE WEST WAS ‘CAST’ PODCAST
I’m going to be putting up links to all of the podcasts I’ve done recently, and How the West Was ‘Cast is exceptionally good – even the episodes that I’m not on! Hosts Andrew Patrick Nelson and Matthew Chernov have tremendous passion for and knowledge of the genre, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it! Here’s a link to my episode, where we discussed – you guessed it – The Greatest Westerns Ever Made, and the People Who Made Them! https://westernpodcast.buzzsprout.com/884218/14709372?fbclid=IwY2xjawFANGRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHdoHIKZRoiYQZ5xeIPlyWDvp8MaQS0fmRqZTjZCq5vCsfY2YkDV3_3O7eA_aem_M-rkJIE359PPFdpdvpC3RA
LONE
PINE FILM FESTIVAL OCTOBER 10 – 13!
The Lone Pine 34th Annual Film Festival is right around the corner, and the link below will take you to the official website, where you can learn all about the films you can see, the tours of the spectacular Alabama Hills – the locations of the movies you’ll have just seen, and all of the notable guests who will be attending. https://lonepinefilmfestival.org/
On
Friday morning, October 11th, I’ve have the pleasure of interviewing
Sandra Slepski, niece of Western star Tom Tyler, about his later years, spent
with her family. This will be followed by a screening of Tom Tyler’s 1936 Western
boxing film, Rip Roarin’ Buckaroo, which was shot all around Lone Pine,
in the Hills and in town, and later in the day there will be a tour of the film’s
locations. I’ll also be signing and selling my book, The Greatest Westerns
Ever Made and the People Who Made Them. Keep an eye of our Facebook page,
because I’ll have A LOT more info on Lone Pine as the date gets closer!
…AND
THAT’S A WRAP!
Happy
Trails,
Henry
All
Original Contents Copyright August 31, 2024 by Henry C. Parke – All Rights
Reserved
