The Parent Trap is a 1961 American romantic comedy film written and directed by David Swift. It stars Hayley Mills in a dual role as a pair of teenage twins who switch places with each other in order to reunite their divorced parents, played by Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith. Although the plot is very close to that of the 1945 film Twice Blessed, The Parent Trap is based on the 1949 children's novel Das doppelte Lottchen by German author Erich Kästner.