The Original 'Parent Trap': What Haley Mills Remembers About Her Time on the Set

The original Parent Trap might be over 60 years old, but that doesn't hurt its standing as a cult classic. It follows two young teenagers who end up at a summer camp together, and soon learn not only are they twins, but their divorced parents split them up when they were babies. Desperate to get to know their missing parents — and put their family back together — the two swap places at the end of summer, and chaos ensues. The film was remade in 1998 and eventually earned a place in the hearts of generations of Disney fans. 

Now, with Haley Mills making a recent comeback for another Trap movie, we’ve decided to go behind the scenes to learn if life off-screen was just as rambunctious as it was on. Keep scrolling for more. 

The original ‘Parent Trap’ made Disney history

Released in 1961, The Parent Trap marked Disney’s 25th film to be released. Walt Disney himself even worked on the project, as it was issued five years before his death. 

It was also the first ever of any full-length Disney films to feature the musical work of brothers Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, who are best known for their song “It’s a Small World” — which is played during the hit theme park ride of the same name. 

The film almost had a different name 

Hayley Mills, who plays twins Suan Evers and Sharon McKendrick in the film, wrote a memoir in 2021 entitled Forever Young. In it, she claimed that the project's original name was We Belong Together before production changed it to The Parent Trap. Needless to say, we’re so glad they did!

Only three of the cast members saw the 1998 remake 

The 1998 remake — starring Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson — is certainly a cult classic as well; however, only three of the original cast of The Parent Trip lived to see it. They were Haley Mills (who played the twins), Maureen O’Hara (who played Maggie McKendrick) and Joanna Barnes (who played Vicki Robinson). 

Mills herself even praised the remake, saying, "I felt like this déjà vu thing going on. I thought she [Lohan] was very, very good. The split screens were so brilliant. It's really strange, because so much of the dialogue is the same. They changed the story a little bit, but I did think she was very good."

Brian Keith (who played Mitch Evers) died in 1997, so he missed it by just a year; however, he loved the original and saw it multiple times before his death. 

Susan Henning served as Hayley Mills’ body double

Director David Swift brought in Susan Henning, who was around Mills' height, hair color and age, so Mills would have someone to react to while filming. 

“I especially loved the fight between me and my twin, played by Susan Henning,” remembers Mills. “We really loved doing that. And I got my comeuppance because I put the cream pie into her face, and then when I switched roles, I got the cream pie in my face. Instant karma, that was. That was the moment I knew what it felt like to be an American teenager."

Henning only worked on three other projects throughout her entire acting career. 

The original ‘Parent Trap’ is almost identical to a 1945 film 

Twice Blessed, released by MGM Studios in 1945, has the exact same plot as The Parent Trap. It starred Preston Foster, Gail Patrick, Lee and Lyn Wilde, Richard Gaines and Jean Porter. Twice Blessed never became as popular as The Parent Trap, though, and is often forgotten about as the inspiration of the film. 

Haley Mills had to develop certain accents for ‘The Parent Trap’ 1961

Originally from Marylebone, Londonthe actress did have to work on her various American accents for her work in the film. 

Remembers Mills: “A Californian accent was a little easier for me because I was surrounded by it. The Boston accent was somewhat elusive. And I think that shows in the film. But I was helped by the fact that the twins kept switching places. And they themselves got their accents muddled up, and I got my accent muddled up as well. So we were all in the same boat.” 

Maureen O’Hara and Haley Mills's mother-daughter relationship went way beyond the screen

Mills and O’Hara played mother-daughter on screen, and it turns out that was quite easy for the two to achieve in real life. 

"She [O’Hara] was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I remember I was very in awe of her in the beginning. She was so very real and down to earth,” Mills remembered. “She was very warm and demonstrative and extremely talkative. She never stopped talking and laughing and hugging you. She was a real force of nature. When she walked on set, there was this energy telling us that Maureen had arrived. And she was so beautiful; I couldn't take my eyes off of her when I first met her. It was all-natural, too. She took her beauty for granted, but I never did because I had never seen anyone so beautiful."

One cast member did appear in the remake 

Joanna Barnes was the only cast member to appear in the 1998 remake. She played Meredith Blake’s (Elaine Hendrix) mother, Vicki — a clear nod to her character in the original.

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