This website is dedicated to . Sir John Mills (1908 - 2005) He was one of Britain's best known and best loved actors, and he died on, Saturday, 23 April, 2005   aged 97  after a short illness Veteran British actor Sir John Mills, one of the country's most beloved and best-known screen stars, died, at 6:30am (12:30 a.m. CDT) aged 97 after a short illness, a member of his staff said. The former song-and-dance man, who appeared in more than 100 films in a 70-plus year career, was among the most notable of British film stars, winning a best supporting actor Oscar in 1971 for "Ryan's Daughter".   "Sir John Mills died peacefully at home after a short illness," a member of his staff said. The actor's family was travelling to Britain from the United States and was expected to arrive by Monday, the BBC reported. Mills, whose daughter Hayley has also had a highly successful acting career, was born on Feb. 22, 1908 in Felixstowe, eastern England, John Lewis Mills started in the theater at the age of 19, helped in part by his friendship with Noel Coward.  His output in the 1940s and 1950s was prolific. During his long career he appeared in more than 100 films Mills made his name in patriotic films during and after World War II including "The October Man," "Scott of the Antarctic," "Dunkirk" and "Ice Cold in Alex." Handsome and dapper, he embodied to many the archetypal British war hero, either as the cool-headed gentleman officer or the resigned working class soldier. His first big break came in 1946, when he played Pip in a film version of Charles Dickens' novel "Great Expectations." He always maintained his favorite movie was the 1960 production "Tunes of Glory," in which he co-starred with Alec Guinness as a highly-strung English officer given the job of leading a hostile Scottish army battalion. He won the best actor award at the Venice Festival for the film and went on to take an Oscar as best supporting actor a decade later for "Ryan's Daughter," directed by David Lean. A versatile actor, Mills had a minor role in the 1987 film "Who's that Girl?" and made his final film appearance in 2003 in "Bright Young Things," directed by British comedian Stephen Fry. In it, at the age of 95, he had a cameo role as a man snorting cocaine at a party. He fathered one of Britain's leading theatrical families. Both his daughters, Juliet and Hayley, are successful actresses who found their stage feet at an early age in some of their father's productions. Sir John starred with Hayley in the 1959 film Tiger Bay. Mills, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1977, was divorced from his first wife, the actress Aileen Raymond, in 1940 after nine years of marriage. He is survived by his second wife, Mary Hayley Bell.