Sir John Mills, the veteran actor, is to walk down the aisle tomorrow for the first time at the age of 92, six decades after he and his 89 year old wife had their plans for a church wedding scuppered by the second world war.

Mary Hayley Bell and John Mills were married at Marylebone register office in central London in 1941 while he was on leave from his sergeant's post in the army. They always regretted forfeiting a traditional service.

To celebrate the couple's diamond wedding anniversary, 50 guests including their daughter the actress Hayley Mills and the actor Stephen Fry, will congregate at St Mary's Church in Denham, Buckinghamshire, to witness their renewing of vows.

Sir John said from his Tudor home in Denham yesterday: "I've been thinking for a couple of months now that I'd done her out of a church wedding. It wasn't my fault, of course, it was Hitler's, but I approached the rector of St Mary's and he thought it would be a good idea to have another go. Mary and I are both very romantic and the first wedding was quite a low-key affair."

The Oscar winning actor, beloved for his roles in Hobson's Choice and Great Expectations, met his wife in Shanghai in 1929 when he was on tour with a theatre group, and Mary's father, a colonel, took her to see one of his productions. "I thought she was terribly pretty," said Sir John. "She was very young - only 15. Her father mixed me a couple of startling gin slings and suggested that I play tennis with his daughter. I lost six love, six love."

Twelve years later they met again in London and the relationship blossomed. "I'm not a very clever man," said Sir John. "But I had sense enough to marry the colonel's daughter. She has given me three first class productions: our children Juliet, Jonathan and Hayley."

The wedding in Marylebone was attended by eight of the couple's closest friends and family, after which Sir John returned straight to the war. "We were just so thrilled to get married that we didn't much mind it was in a register office," he said. "But I have been meaning to put it right for a long time."

Mary gave up her acting career and began writing novels and screenplays, several of which were made into films in which her husband starred. The secret of their marriage, one of the entertainment industry's most enduring, was, said Sir John, never being apart. Mary would always accompany her husband when he was on location and on a recent trip to Spain, Sir John observed with a jolt that it was the first time he and Mary had been apart in 55 years.

The service, to be held at 4pm, will be an informal affair, with music to include the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful and the Jerome Kern love song, All the Things You Are.

"I won't be nervous before the ceremony," said Sir John last night, "because for once I don't have any lines to remember."