Excerpts from Maureen O'Hara's Autobiography

'Tis Herself
A Memoir

Maureen O'Hara
WITH JOHN NICOLETTI

CHAPTER 19
The Parent Trap

Excerpts

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Of course, The Parent Trap wouldn't have been as special without the remarkable performances by Hayley Mills. I use the plural here because she really did bring two different girls to life in the movie. Sharon and Susan were so believable that I'd sometimes forget myself and look for the other one when Hayley and I were standing around the set. It got quite confusing, and even Hayley knew which girl she was playing only by which wig she was wearing. She hated wearing those wigs and thought the short one made her look like Laurence Olivier in Hamlet.

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It's no wonder that Hayley and I got along well. Her family and upbringing were ensconced in the arts just like mine had been. ... I enjoyed playing her mother and she worked bloody hard on the picture. Hayley is British and she is playing an American, which meant she had to use an accent. I watched her practice for hours slowing down her speech to get it just right. I was impressed by her discipline.

It didn't take us long to figure out that Hayley, who was fourteen when we shot the picture, was going through adolescene. Most young girls get to experience that in the privacy of their homes and don't have to struggle through it on a movie set. Starring in a movie, and with her hormones going crazy, the poor girl did get emotional once in a while. There were a few times when David Swift was tough on her about her accent and she burst into tears and ran to her mother like a little girl. Then on other days I would see her stiffen and grow distant when her mother arrived on the set. The young lady wanted her independence. One day she asked me, "Maureen, did you ever feel like you didn't like your mother when you were my age?" I had to force myself not to smile, and assured her, "Your mother loves you and just wants to make sure you're not getting into trouble. It takes time for mothers to stop worrying. They never really do. It will pass and you'll love each other just the same as you always have." It was very sweet.

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