Mandy Miller

Mandy Miller
Born	Carmen Isabella Miller (1944-07-23) 23 July 1944 (age 80) Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England
Years active	1951–1958
Spouse	Christopher Davey (m. 1965)
Children	3

Mandy Miller (born Carmen Isabella Miller on 23 July 1944) is an English former child actress who made a number of films in the 1950s. She is also remembered for her recording of the 1956 song "Nellie the Elephant".

Early life

Carmen Isabella Miller, known professionally as Mandy Miller, was born in 1944.[1]

Career

Miller's first film appearance was at the age of six, when she played Gladdie, a little girl who helps Sidney Stratton escape from an angry mob in The Man in the White Suit. She later said that she had got the part purely by chance. She had been accompanying her father on a visit to Ealing Studios. During the morning, they went to the canteen, where Alexander Mackendrick, the film's director, was having coffee. On seeing Mandy, he reportedly said, "That’s a funny face, I could use that funny face in my next film."[2]: 220 

The following year, a casting agent at Ealing invited her to do a screen test for the title role in Mandy, which was also directed by Mackendrick. Referring to the test, Mackendrick later said,

Mandy's performance was so astonishing that the unit was struck rigid, holding its breath, with this electrifying silence on the floor. I was in tears. Douglas Slocombe was in tears. And afterwards both of us said, cancel the rest, she's it.[2]: 221 

— Mackendrick, Alexander

Her role in Mandy was that of a deaf-mute child whose parents (played by Terence Morgan and Phyllis Calvert) did not know how to cope with bringing her up. This briefly made her a leading actress.[3]

Her next film was Background (1953), with two other child actors, in a film about a family breaking up because of an impending divorce. Like Mandy, this was a drama about a well-to-do middle-class family; Valerie Hobson played her mother. In 1954, she had a starring role in Adventure in the Hopfields, a film made for the Children's Film Foundation. She also had lighter roles, such as in Raising a Riot (1955) starring Kenneth More. Some of her other co-stars were Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Godfrey Tearle, Thora Hird and Sam Wanamaker. She also appeared in television dramas.

Miller made two popular single records: "Snowflakes" and "Nellie the Elephant", the latter produced by George Martin.

In 1962, at the age of 18, she gave up acting and moved to New York City to become an au pair.[4]

Personal life

Miller's sister is the actress Jan Miller, and her niece is the actress Amanda Pays.[1]

In 1965, she married Christopher Davey, an architect, and had three children.

Filmography

• The Man in the White Suit (1951) as Gladdie
• I Believe In You (1952) as Child
• Mandy (1952) as Mandy
• Background (1953) as Linda Lomax
• Adventure in the Hopfields (1954) as Jenny Quin
• Dance Little Lady (1954) as Jill Gordon
• The Secret (1955) as Katie Martin
• Raising a Riot (1955) as Anne Kent
• The Feminine Touch (1956) as Jessie
• Child in the House (1956) as Elizabeth Lorimer
• The Snorkel (1958) as Candy Brown

References

1. Maxford, H. (2019). Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p. 559. ISBN 978-1-4766-2914-8. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
2. Cited in Sellers, Robert (2022). The Secret Life of Ealing Studios. Dean Street Press. ISBN 1915393507.
3. Vagg, Stephen (17 November 2020). "John Guillermin: Action Man". Filmink.
4. "Mandy Miller | Biography". imdb.com. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 6 March 2023.

External links

• Mandy Miller at IMDb