Hugh Millais
Encyclopedia
Hugh Geoffroy Millais was a British author and actor known for his film collaborations with director Robert Altman
.
(1901–1999) a painter-illustrator of some considerable importance, and his first wife Elinor Clare (d. 1953), daughter of late Allan Ronald Macdonell, of Montreal
. Raoul was the son of painter and gardener John Guille Millais
and the grandson of the painter Sir John Everett Millais founder of the pre-Raphaelite movement by his wife Effie Gray
who had been previously married to the author John Ruskin
. He was brought up Roman Catholic. As a child he lived in Blackwater Valley and Cork
in Ireland
. He was educated at Ampleforth
during the war, and made a deal with his housemaster. If let off games and allowed to keep his two ferrets and 24 snares, he would keep the house provided with meat. On his best day he provided 21 rabbits and a cock pheasant. Legend has it that Basil Hume tried to teach him to play rugby.
songs. Before becoming an actor, he worked as a real estate broker, developing property in Spain
with portrait painter, Dominic Elwes
. Millais had crossed the globe and known some of the great eccentrics of art, architecture, acting and adventure. Having drifted from England
to Ireland
and Canada
, he hitch-hiked around South America
, sailed all over the Caribbean
and then moved regularly between France
, Italy
, Spain and Britain mixing with the cream of society that included Hollywood celebrities. By his own admission, he had been, among other things, a journalist, yachtsman, property developer, bar owner, oil dealer, club entertainer, interior designer, chef to the stars, and Pamplona
bull-runner.
after the actor-director had hired his house in Andalusia
, Spain for a year while filming, then left him stranded, penniless, in Naples
. The time Rita Hayworth
shed her lipstick in his onion soup. Or when he and Gary Cooper
fled unwanted “friends” at a Paris
party by hiding in a bathroom. Or the time when Millais was presented with a platter of seafood by Salvador Dalí
served on the artist’s naked wife, Gala. Then there was infamous the Huevos Cubanos he shared with Ernest Hemingway
(whose chauffeur he apparently became for a while), Ava Gardner
and Marlene Dietrich
after sailing into a mini-revolution in pre-Castro
Cuba
and getting shot through the arm at the helm of his racing yacht, the Benbow. These and many other anecdotes are in Millais' cook-book "Hugh's Who: The Name-Dropper's Cookbook" which was published in 2007. A devoted falconer, he is said to have turned down a role in the film Shoot the Sun Down
, in 1976, in order to go to Saudi Arabia
, for a falconers' meet
.
in England. Altman immediately hired him to play bounty hunter Dog Butler in McCabe & Mrs. Miller
(1971), in which his character uses a single-shot elephant gun to shoot Warren Beatty
's McCabe. During filming he adopted a phoney Texan accent, but Altman told him: “If I’d wanted an American heavy, I would have got Lee Marvin
.” Altman then cast him to portray Susannah York
’s lecherous neighbour, Marcel, in the psychological thriller, Images
(1972). In 1973 Millais took the lead role in Wolf Mankowitz
's play The Samson Riddle, again with York at the Gate Theatre
, Dublin. He portrayed Roy Endean in The Dogs of War
(1980) and Uncle Martin, an 18th-century grandee in The Wicked Lady
(1983), in which John Gielgud
played his butler and Faye Dunaway
his niece. He played the US Colonel in Chicago Joe and the Showgirl
(1990), as well as appearing in British TV shows such as Deceptions, Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Kavanagh QC
and Foreign Affairs.
Millais lived in Kirtlington
, Oxfordshire
until his death in July 2009. As Herbert Kretzmer
put it, Hugh showed “wisdom and acquired magnificence by not doing any one thing for too long”, while Robert Altman said: “As an actor he is an excellent cook. As a cook, he’s a fantastic actor.” He had three children by his second marriage to Suzy Marthe Falconnet Millais. They are Ian Everett Millais (50), Joshua Rengault Millais (48) and Tara Romany Maria Millais (41).
(1971) .... Butler
Images
(1972) .... Marcel
The Samson Riddle (1973) (Play)
The Dogs of War
(1980) .... Roy Endean
The Wicked Lady
(1983) .... Uncle Martin
Deceptions (1985) (TV)
Kavanagh QC (1996) (TV).... Vice Admiral Kinross
Chicago Joe and the Showgirl
(1990) .... U.S. colonel
Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1990) (TV).... Martin Silk
Foreign Affairs (1993) (TV) .... Sir Thomas Fellowes
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
.
Early years
Hugh Millais was the son of Raoul MillaisRaoul Millais
Hesketh Raoul Lejarderay Millais , usually known as Raoul or 'Liony' Millais was a portrait painter, equestrian artist and sportsman...
(1901–1999) a painter-illustrator of some considerable importance, and his first wife Elinor Clare (d. 1953), daughter of late Allan Ronald Macdonell, of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. Raoul was the son of painter and gardener John Guille Millais
John Guille Millais
John Guille Millais , known as "Johnny" Millais, was an English artist, naturalist, gardener and travel writer who specialised in wildlife and flower portraiture. He travelled extensively around the world in the late Victorian period detailing wildlife often for the first time...
and the grandson of the painter Sir John Everett Millais founder of the pre-Raphaelite movement by his wife Effie Gray
Effie Gray
Euphemia Chalmers Millais, Lady Millais née Gray, known as Effie Gray, Effie Ruskin or Effie Millais was the wife of the critic John Ruskin, but left her husband without the marriage being consummated, and after the annulment of the marriage, married his protégé, the Pre-Raphaelite painter John...
who had been previously married to the author John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
. He was brought up Roman Catholic. As a child he lived in Blackwater Valley and Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. He was educated at Ampleforth
Ampleforth College
Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, England, is the largest Roman Catholic co-educational boarding independent school in the United Kingdom. It opened in 1802, as a boys' school, and is run by the Benedictine monks and lay staff of Ampleforth Abbey...
during the war, and made a deal with his housemaster. If let off games and allowed to keep his two ferrets and 24 snares, he would keep the house provided with meat. On his best day he provided 21 rabbits and a cock pheasant. Legend has it that Basil Hume tried to teach him to play rugby.
World traveller
Millais was a noted raconteur who loved nothing more than to sit his six foot six frame on a high bar stool, pick up a guitar and sing CalypsoCalypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
songs. Before becoming an actor, he worked as a real estate broker, developing property in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
with portrait painter, Dominic Elwes
Dominic Elwes
Bede Evelyn Dominick Elwes was an English portrait painter whose much publicized elopement with an heiress in 1957 was a scandale célèbre.-Biography:...
. Millais had crossed the globe and known some of the great eccentrics of art, architecture, acting and adventure. Having drifted from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, he hitch-hiked around South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, sailed all over the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
and then moved regularly between France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Spain and Britain mixing with the cream of society that included Hollywood celebrities. By his own admission, he had been, among other things, a journalist, yachtsman, property developer, bar owner, oil dealer, club entertainer, interior designer, chef to the stars, and Pamplona
San Fermín
The festival of San Fermín in the city of Pamplona , is a deeply rooted celebration held annually from 12:00, 6 July, when the opening of the fiesta is marked by setting off the pyrotechnic chupinazo, to midnight 14 July, with the singing of the Pobre de Mí...
bull-runner.
Culinary exploits
As for his cooking, there are many stories surrounding his culinary adventures. There was the meal he made for Orson WellesOrson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
after the actor-director had hired his house in Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
, Spain for a year while filming, then left him stranded, penniless, in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. The time Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars...
shed her lipstick in his onion soup. Or when he and Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
fled unwanted “friends” at a Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
party by hiding in a bathroom. Or the time when Millais was presented with a platter of seafood by Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
served on the artist’s naked wife, Gala. Then there was infamous the Huevos Cubanos he shared with Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
(whose chauffeur he apparently became for a while), Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
and Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
after sailing into a mini-revolution in pre-Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and getting shot through the arm at the helm of his racing yacht, the Benbow. These and many other anecdotes are in Millais' cook-book "Hugh's Who: The Name-Dropper's Cookbook" which was published in 2007. A devoted falconer, he is said to have turned down a role in the film Shoot the Sun Down
Shoot the Sun Down
Shoot the Sun Down is a 1978 western film. It is directed by David Leeds, written by Leeds and Richard Rothstein, and stars Christopher Walken, Margot Kidder and Geoffrey Lewis.- Plot :...
, in 1976, in order to go to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
, for a falconers' meet
Falconry
Falconry is "the taking of wild quarry in its natural state and habitat by means of a trained raptor". There are two traditional terms used to describe a person involved in falconry: a falconer flies a falcon; an austringer flies a hawk or an eagle...
.
Acting career
Millais' career as an actor came about by accident. Spotted in a bar at during the feria in Pamplona, he was invited to meet the director, Robert AltmanRobert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
in England. Altman immediately hired him to play bounty hunter Dog Butler in McCabe & Mrs. Miller
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
McCabe & Mrs. Miller is a 1971 American Western film starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, and directed by Robert Altman. The screenplay is by Altman and Brian McKay from the novel McCabe by Edmund Naughton. The cinematography is by Vilmos Zsigmond and the soundtrack includes three songs by...
(1971), in which his character uses a single-shot elephant gun to shoot Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
's McCabe. During filming he adopted a phoney Texan accent, but Altman told him: “If I’d wanted an American heavy, I would have got Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
.” Altman then cast him to portray Susannah York
Susannah York
Susannah York was a British film, stage and television actress. She was awarded a BAFTA as Best Supporting Actress for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for the same film. She won best actress for Images at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival...
’s lecherous neighbour, Marcel, in the psychological thriller, Images
Images (film)
Images is a 1972 British-American psychological thriller film directed by Robert Altman.-Plot:Wealthy housewife and children's author Cathryn receives a series of disturbing and eerie phone calls in her home in London one dreary night...
(1972). In 1973 Millais took the lead role in Wolf Mankowitz
Wolf Mankowitz
Cyril Wolf Mankowitz was an English writer, playwright and screenwriter of Russian Jewish descent.-Early life:...
's play The Samson Riddle, again with York at the Gate Theatre
Gate Theatre
The Gate Theatre, in Dublin, was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir, initially using the Abbey Theatre's Peacock studio theatre space to stage important works by European and American dramatists...
, Dublin. He portrayed Roy Endean in The Dogs of War
The Dogs of War (film)
The Dogs of War is a 1980 war film based upon the novel The Dogs of War by Frederick Forsyth, directed by John Irvin. It stars Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger as part of a small, international unit of mercenary soldiers privately hired to depose President Kimba of a fictional "Republic of...
(1980) and Uncle Martin, an 18th-century grandee in The Wicked Lady
The Wicked Lady (1983 film)
The Wicked Lady is a 1983 British drama film directed by Michael Winner. It was screened out of competition at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. It is a remake of the 1945 film of the same name, which was one of the popular series of Gainsborough melodramas....
(1983), in which John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
played his butler and Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
his niece. He played the US Colonel in Chicago Joe and the Showgirl
Chicago Joe and the Showgirl
Chicago Joe and the Showgirl is a 1990 British crime drama film directed by Bernard Rose and written by David Yallop. The film was inspired by the real-life Hulten/Jones murder case of 1944, famously known as the Cleft Chin Murder.-Plot:...
(1990), as well as appearing in British TV shows such as Deceptions, Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Kavanagh QC
Kavanagh QC
Kavanagh QC is a British television series made by Carlton Television for ITV between 1995 and 2001. It has been shown on ITV3 as recently as August 2011; series 1–6 are available on Region 2 DVDs....
and Foreign Affairs.
Millais lived in Kirtlington
Kirtlington
Kirtlington is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about west of Bicester.-Archaeology:The Portway is a pre-Roman road running parallel with the River Cherwell on high ground about east of the river. It bisects Kirtlington parish and passes through the village. A short stretch of it is now...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
until his death in July 2009. As Herbert Kretzmer
Herbert Kretzmer
Herbert Kretzmer OBE is a South African-born English journalist and lyric writer. He is perhaps best known as the lyricist for the English-language musical adaptation of Les Misérables.-Journalist:...
put it, Hugh showed “wisdom and acquired magnificence by not doing any one thing for too long”, while Robert Altman said: “As an actor he is an excellent cook. As a cook, he’s a fantastic actor.” He had three children by his second marriage to Suzy Marthe Falconnet Millais. They are Ian Everett Millais (50), Joshua Rengault Millais (48) and Tara Romany Maria Millais (41).
Film & TV roles
McCabe & Mrs. MillerMcCabe & Mrs. Miller
McCabe & Mrs. Miller is a 1971 American Western film starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, and directed by Robert Altman. The screenplay is by Altman and Brian McKay from the novel McCabe by Edmund Naughton. The cinematography is by Vilmos Zsigmond and the soundtrack includes three songs by...
(1971) .... Butler
Images
Images (film)
Images is a 1972 British-American psychological thriller film directed by Robert Altman.-Plot:Wealthy housewife and children's author Cathryn receives a series of disturbing and eerie phone calls in her home in London one dreary night...
(1972) .... Marcel
The Samson Riddle (1973) (Play)
The Dogs of War
The Dogs of War (film)
The Dogs of War is a 1980 war film based upon the novel The Dogs of War by Frederick Forsyth, directed by John Irvin. It stars Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger as part of a small, international unit of mercenary soldiers privately hired to depose President Kimba of a fictional "Republic of...
(1980) .... Roy Endean
The Wicked Lady
The Wicked Lady (1983 film)
The Wicked Lady is a 1983 British drama film directed by Michael Winner. It was screened out of competition at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. It is a remake of the 1945 film of the same name, which was one of the popular series of Gainsborough melodramas....
(1983) .... Uncle Martin
Deceptions (1985) (TV)
Kavanagh QC (1996) (TV).... Vice Admiral Kinross
Chicago Joe and the Showgirl
Chicago Joe and the Showgirl
Chicago Joe and the Showgirl is a 1990 British crime drama film directed by Bernard Rose and written by David Yallop. The film was inspired by the real-life Hulten/Jones murder case of 1944, famously known as the Cleft Chin Murder.-Plot:...
(1990) .... U.S. colonel
Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1990) (TV).... Martin Silk
Foreign Affairs (1993) (TV) .... Sir Thomas Fellowes
External links
- Obituary in The Times
- McCabe and Mrs. Miller
- Dogs of War
- Hugh Millais - Daily Telegraph obituary