A Lanarkshire movie buff met his Hollywood idol in a "magical moment to last a lifetime".
William Hackett Queen, who has penned Movie Memories columns for Lanarkshire Live, got to spend time with acting royalty in The Parent Trap and Pollyanna superstar Hayley Mills.
Airdrie man William was invited to meet the 76-year-old at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow, where she was starring in a play version of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
It was the first time William, 72, had laid eyes on his favourite film star since watching her on stage in thriller Dial M For Murder at London's Apollo Theatre back in 1993.
A thrilled William told Lanarkshire Live : "We spent considerable time talking about her Disney movies and I acted out some scenes, playing all the parts from some of her films.
"She told me her sister Juliet is currently touring America in a new play starring opposite her husband Maxwell Caulfield.
"Hayley also shared photos of her two sons and grandchildren before introducing me to one of her co-stars, Rula Lenska, who told me about her work on Coronation Street .
"Hayley kindly told Rula, I have just experienced something I have never witnessed before; William acted out a scene - word perfect - playing all the parts from The Chalk Garden and a scene from Pollyanna. I told him he should be an actor himself!"
William was also touched to hear the Hollywood icon is a fan of his work.
He explained: "The time with Hayley was up all too soon but it was a very stimulating and memorable day with memories I will treasure forever.
"Hayley said she loved my Movie Memories column on her work that featured in the Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser, and that my articles are fantastic.
"She very kindly arranged two complimentary tickets to the play and extended an invitation to visit her at her house in London next year.
"We then said a fond farewell for the time being and I assured her there would be more reviews of her films in the future."
William’s Airdrie home is a treasure trove of photographs, memorabilia and prized possessions celebrating the art of cinema that would shame most museums.
As a young boy growing up in the town in the fifties and sixties, William was such a regular presence at Airdrie’s Pavilion cinema that doorman Jimmy Frew would greet his arrival with the immortal phrase, “Is that you in here the night again, Hackett?”
And, fittingly, his favourite actress stars in his answer to the question that strikes fear into the heart - and a scramble through the memory banks of many a film critic struggling to condense it down to a single choice; what’s your favourite movie?
“I would say The Chalk Garden with Hayley Mills. It’s a wonderful picture,” says William.
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