Legendary actress Hayley Mills may just play “The Glad Game” this week after a huge surprise from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. After winning an Academy Juvenile Award in 1960 for her performance as the optimistic oprhan Pollyanna, the actress suffered a loss in the 1980s that could not be replaced: the statuette marking her incredible achievement. Yesterday, the Academy joyfully reunited Mills with the award.
Image Credit: @TheAcademy/Twitter
“Hayley Mills being reunited with her long lost Academy Juvenile Award (which she won for 1960’s “Pollyanna”) by AMPAS president David Rubin is the purest thing you’ll see all day,” The Academy tweeted yesterday.
Image Credit: @TheAcademy/Twitter
Based on the classic Eleanor Porter children’s book, Mills’ portrayal of Pollyanna perfectly encaptured the often-positive little girl. After the loss of her parents, Pollyanna journeys to live with her Aunt Polly where her joyful spirit and commitment to good deeds changes the town.
Image Credit: @TheAcademy/Twitter
The daughter of actor John Mills, Hayley Mills’ performance and the subsequent Juvenile Oscar put her in an incredibly elite group of child stars.
Image Credit: @The Academy/Twitter
“Mills won the Juvenile Oscar for her performance as Pollyanna. She was the last person and one of only 12 young actors to receive this award, a group that included Shirley Temple, Judy Garland, and Mickey Rooney,” according to another Tweet from The Academy.
Hayley Mills as Pollyanna in @DisneyStudios “Pollyanna” (1960).
Mills won the Juvenile Oscar for her performance as Pollyanna. She was the last person and one of only 12 young actors to receive this award, a group that included Shirley Temple, Judy Garland, and Mickey Rooney. pic.twitter.com/MfmptwWebS
Following a trip away to film, “Good Morning, Miss Bliss,” Mills returned home to find that her award statue was missing.
“In the late ’80s, I came to California to do a television series called ‘Good Morning, Miss Bliss’. When I came back from that first year, my little statuette had disappeared, and I never found it. And you know, it’s not something you can replace. They’ve broken the mould. I spoke to the Academy, and I said, ‘Well, look, give me a big one then!’ They said, ‘I’m sorry, it doesn’t work like that,” Mills told Entertainment Weekly years ago, according to Tulsa Weekly.
Lucky for Mills, The Academy finally found a way, giving 2022 a much-neeed “Pollyanna” story.
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