By Carrie Sanderson February 04, 2025

Clan MacMillan have lent their abundant talent to a range of different fields. They have excelled in politics, literature, and on the stage, and helped to cement the family’s impressive reputation. 

Meet the Famous MacMillans

Harold MacMillan

One MacMillan managed to make it to the very top of parliament, holding the spot of Prime Minister from 1957 until 1963.

Harold MacMillan was born on the 10th of February 1894 to a publisher and an artist. He studied at Eton, before going on to Balliol College, Oxford. After university, he served in WWI before entering the world of politics, initially as a Member of Parliament in 1924. His smarts, pragmatism, and grit impressed his colleagues and he quickly rose through the ranks of the Conservative party. When they were elected in 1951, he was made Minister of Housing, then Minister of Defence, Foreign Secretary, before eventually landing the role of Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

In 1957, MacMillan took over from Sir Anthony Eden as Prime Minister, inheriting a party and a country that was demoralised and turbulent. Supposedly, he even told the Queen that he wasn’t confident the government could last longer than 6 weeks. 

Harold Macmillan in 1961 Harold MacMillan in 1961

They ended up sticking around for significantly longer than that! 

During MacMillan’s first term he managed to restore the Conservative party’s reputation, which had been badly damaged by the Suez crisis, and increased their majority in the 1959 general election. 

He also succeeded in improving the relationship between the UK and America, forming close bonds with Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. Other areas of foreign policy were rockier, with Britain’s application for the new European Economic Community being rejected by the French president in January of 1963. This is said to have devastated MacMillan, but luckily one of his biggest international achievements was just around the corner; in August of the same year, MacMillan was heavily involved in negotiating the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which earned him praise across the globe. 

After this point, the government began to struggle with a number of crises. The economy was becoming unstable, and MacMillan’s sacking of 6 cabinet members prompted further mistrust from the public. He decided to resign in October 1963, but was certainly not idle in his retirement! He became chairman of his family’s highly successful publishing firm and brought out a 6-volume autobiography. He was created Earl of Stockton in 1984 and passed away in 1986.

Terry McMillan

Our next famous face for today is a celebrated American author, most known for her nuanced and vibrant portrayals of African American women’s lives, which are full of humour, truth, and emotion. 

Terry McMillan was born in 1951 in Michigan and cultivated a love for literature while working at the local library as a teenager. After finishing school, she moved to Los Angeles, where she happened to live just opposite Los Angeles City College. After finding out she could attend classes there for free, she enrolled in a writing course part-time, alongside working as a secretary. Her talent was immediately apparent, and she soon won a scholarship to transfer to the University of California at Berkley, where she gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism in 1977. 

Terry Mc Millan at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival by David Shankbone Terry McMillan by David Shankbone

McMillan published her first book, Mama, in 1987, and took a very hands-on role in promoting it. She wrote to thousands of booksellers, pitching her work, and the book quickly sold out its first run of 5000 copies. However, it was her third novel, Waiting to Exhale, that won her national acclaim in 1992. It was the second largest book deal ever awarded in publishing at the time and it remained on the New York Times bestseller list for multiple months. By 1995, it had sold over 3 million copies. In 1995, it was adapted into a film with the same title, and attracted big names in Hollywood, starring Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, and Lela Rochon. 

This was the start of a long and successful run of movie and tv adaptations for McMillan. In 1998, another of her novels, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, was made into a film, also starring Angela Bassett, and in 2020, her book Disappearing Acts was produced as a cable feature. 

Last year, McMillan signed a deal with Lifetime to produce a series of movies under the banner of ‘Terry McMillan presents,’ so be sure to keep an eye out for what’s to come next! 

Kenneth MacMillan

Our final talented MacMillan has also made a splash in the arts, though this time in the world of dance. 

Kenneth MacMillan was a choreographer and dancer renowned for his extremely powerful and moving work and his contributions to ballet. 

MacMillan was born in Dunfermline in 1929 and was evacuated to Nottinghamshire during the Second World War. While there, he began ballet lessons with a dedicated teacher who eventually helped him to gain a place at the Sadler’s Wells Ballet School. 

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Alessandra Ferri by Gary Friedman Kenneth MacMillan's choreography in action by Gary Friedman

He soon began dancing with the company, but struggled with severe stage fright, so decided to focus his attention on choreographing and directing instead. His first full length ballet, Romeo and Juliet, was a massive international success, and became a staple of both the Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. 

MacMillan also took his career to Europe, choreographing Song of the Earth for the Stuttgart Ballet in 1965 and becoming the director of the Deutsche Oper Ballet in West Berlin in 1966. An irresistible opportunity soon drew him back to London however, and in 1970 he returned to the UK to succeed Sir Frederic Ashton as co-director (with John Field) of the Royal Ballet. Three months later, he became the sole director and remained in that position until 1977, when he resigned to take over the role of principal choreographer instead. His great talents were recognised when he was knighted in 1983, and he continued to work prolifically, creating many beloved and enduring shows. 

Sir Kenneth Mac Millan 1929 1992 Choreographer lived here by Spudgun67 Commemoration plaque - photo by Spudgun67

His dedication to the art of ballet lasted right until the very end of his life, as he sadly died backstage at the Royal Opera House while his ballet, Mayerling, was being performed. The curtain calls were cut short due to the tragic news, and the audience reacted with shock and sorrow. As they left the theatre that night, there was a sense that they had lost one of the all-time greats.

To this day, MacMillan is celebrated for his service to theatre and ballet and remains a huge inspiration to aspiring dancers, directors, and choreographers. 

That brings us to the end of this month’s Famous Faces blog. We have had a great time discovering the brilliant talents of the MacMillan family and hope you have, too! 

If you would like to learn more about this mighty clan, head over to our Clan MacMillan page, and make sure you keep an eye out for the rest of our content to come. 

Image Sources:

Harold MacMillan By Cecil W. Stoughton, Public Domain

Terry McMillan at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival By David Shankbone - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Alessandra Ferri dance central roles in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's setting of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem By Gary Friedman, Los Angeles Times - https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/zz0002vn2k, CC BY 4.0

Blue plaque erected in June 2018 by English Heritage at 14 Lyford Road, Wandsworth, London SW18 3LG, London Borough of Wandsworth By Spudgun67 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0