Hayley Mills rose to fame as a child actress under the guidance of Walt Disney, where she spent seven years in the spotlight. However, her once-substantial earnings eventually disappeared, leaving her with little to show for her time at the studio. She revealed that a significant portion of her income was lost due to a "super tax" of 90%.
Known for her iconic roles in Pollyanna and The Parent Trap, Hayley recently celebrated her 80th birthday by joining her sister, Juliet Mills, on The Rosebud Podcast. During the conversation, host Gyles Brandreth asked the former child star what happened to "the millions" she had earned during her time at Disney. Hayley responded: "I gave it to the tax man. It was rather a big chunk. It was most of it because it was all put into a trust fund, because the super tax was 90% in those days, so they had to do something."
Gyles noted that part of the issue stemmed from poor advice, adding, "I do know the background of this, and it's partly because you were poorly advised. But also, it was partly to do with the naïveté of your father, I think. There was an innocence about him and a sort of optimism." Juliet, 84, added, "He had a business manager who made those sorts of decisions."
The Mills sisters come from a prestigious British acting family. Their father, Sir John Mills, was one of Britain’s most respected actors, with a career spanning several decades. Their mother, Mary Hayley Bell, was also an actress and playwright.
Hayley recalled how their family solicitor, Stanley Passmore, played a role in the financial decisions. "Stanley also advised Daddy, and not very well," she said. "The trust company was set up for me. Stanley was also involved in setting up a trust company for [actor] Jack Hawkins. And the Inland Revenue attacked his trust company, which affected British law. It created the precedent."
"When I reached 21, instead of being given the key to the door, I was handed an envelope across a green baize tablecloth by Stanley, which was the Inland Revenue basically saying, 'Thank you. You owe us 90% of your earnings,'" she continued. "And I've never been good at figures. I said, 'Well, what does this mean? I don't understand.' And Stanley laughed and said, 'Well, I think it means you have to move to America for work.' And that's all he ever said. He was a crook. He didn't give a flying Dutchman."
She attempted to seek legal counsel to challenge the situation but found little success. Lord Denning, one of Britain’s most influential judges of the era, briefly granted her a victory in her battle with the tax authorities. During the 1970s, he ruled in her favour, stating that the way the government taxed her Disney earnings was unjust.
However, this win was short-lived. The case was taken to the House of Lords, which overturned Lord Denning’s ruling, leaving Hayley responsible for the massive tax bill that drained much of her wealth.
According to reports, Hayley lobbied the British government for years, but her appeal was ultimately rejected in 1975. Had she succeeded, she claimed she would have retained approximately £2 million, which is equivalent to over £17 million today.
"I didn't have a sensible enough sense of my career and what I ought to be doing, but I didn't want to do more Disney movies," she said. "I wanted to spread my wings and have a greater choice and not be limited by that."
"[But] I didn't know what to look for. I didn't know who I was. There was this moment when we were growing up when we were really on that uncomfortable seesaw, one foot in childhood and the other in being a woman. And I found it awfully difficult to get both feet into womanhood because there was a part of me that didn't want to disappoint people. 'Oh, she's not that cute little girl anymore. She's what?' I didn't know what sort of thing to look for."
After becoming a mother, Hayley turned to stage work and secured several television roles in the US. She continues to act on occasion, maintaining a presence in the entertainment industry.
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