Hayley Mills

“I like solitary pursuits, such as reading or pottering about in the garden.”

“I admire tremendously those people who work consistently at the same jobs.”

“There's such an energy bounding around New York, I can't help but get swept along in it.”

“It doesn't make sense that there is only one way of dealing with cancer.”

“I cry in movies a lot, and over books.”

“When you start acting as a child, you grow up ahead of your movies.”

“My father was an inspiration to me; I made a few movies with him and I loved working with him. Everything about him - his whole approach to work, as well as his love, enthusiasm and respect for it and other people in the business - was inspiring. I was very lucky to have him as a role model.”

“In my life, things have happened to me. I've never felt I was controlling anything.”

“I have a horror of being in confined spaces.”

“There are some fantastic, brilliant alternative doctors out there.”

“I'm a lazy creature when I'm not acting.”

“Wherever I am in the world, I never get Sunday night blues. I suppose it's because I've never worked at any one thing long enough to start hating it.”

“I live in jeans and own a lot of them. I'm much more comfortable in trousers and T-shirts, and I don't often wear dresses.”

“My sons are precious to me and I have tried incredibly hard to strike the right balance between work and home life while being acutely aware that I haven't always got it right.”

“If ever I feel I might be able to tackle it, I'd love to try holding a spear or something in the theater, or opening a door, or anything, just to try it, you know, because it must be some marvelous magic thing.”

“Do I think I'm under-educated? Academically, absolutely. I never took any exams, no O- or A-levels.”

“Even when I became the typical shy adolescent, I never minded performing. I felt there was a kind of safety, a protection about being on stage, about losing myself in another character.”

“I have a lot of mirrors around my house, not because I like to look at myself, but because I like the light and perspective they bring to a room.”

“My best feature is my hair.”

“Once cancer happens it changes the way you live for the rest of your life.”