William Mills (actor)

William Mills (1701–1750) was a British stage actor.

The son of veteran stage actor John Mills and his wife Margaret Mills, he was born in London and baptised at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 29 June 1701. Under his father's guidance he made his debut as a child actor in 1712.

Like his father, he was a long-standing member of the Drury Lane theatre company. He took part in the Actor Rebellion of 1733, and left to work at the Haymarket Theatre for a season before returning to Drury Lane. His last appearance was in The Merchant of Venice in February 1750 and he died two months later on 18 April, shortly before a benefit was to be staged for him, and was buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields.

He was married to the actress Theodosia Mills until her death in 1733, after which he married another actress Elizabeth Holliday. With his first wife he had a daughter also called Theodosia who likewise became an actress.

Selected roles

 * Diego in Love in a Veil by Richard Savage (1718)
 * Mandrocles in The Spartan Dame by Thomas Southerne (1719)
 * Auletes in Busiris, King of Egypt by Edward Young (1719)
 * Artamas in The Siege of Damascus by John Hughes (1720)
 * Idwall in The Briton by Ambrose Philips (1722)
 * Duke of Buckingham in Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester by Ambrose Philips (1723)
 * Charles in Love in a Forest by Charles Johnson (1723)
 * Aegon in Hecuba by Richard West (1726)
 * Aegeus in Medea by Charles Johnson (1730)
 * Vice Chancellor in The Humours of Oxford by James Miller (1730)
 * Olinphus in Timoleon by Benjamin Martyn (1730)
 * Trueman in The London Merchant by George Lillo (1731)
 * Aristarchus in The Triumphs of Love and Honour by Thomas Cooke (1731)
 * Medon in Eurydice by David Mallet (1731)
 * Wronglove in Caelia by Charles Johnson (1732)
 * Clerimont in The Miser by Henry Fielding (1733)
 * Beaumont in The Mother-in-Law by James Miller (1734)
 * Caelius in Junius Brutus by William Duncombe (1734)
 * Gaylove in The Universal Gallant by Henry Fielding (1735)
 * Harcourt in The Man of Taste by James Miller (1735)
 * Mahomet in The Christian Hero by George Lillo (1735)
 * Bellario in The Universal Passion by James Miller (1737)
 * Truemore in Art and Nature by James Miller (1738)
 * Artamon in The Fatal Retirement by Anthony Brown (1739)
 * Rustan in Mustapha by David Mallet (1739)
 * Andrew II in Elmerick by George Lillo (1740)
 * Stargaze in The Astrologer by James Ralph (1744)
 * Metullus in Regulus by William Havard (1744)
 * Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (1750)