Ann Miller

Ann Miller
in Small Town Girl (1953)
Born	Johnnie Lucille Collier April 12, 1923(1923-04-12) Chireno, Texas
Died	January 22, 2004 (aged 80) Los Angeles, California
Years active	1934 - 2001
Spouse(s)	Reese Milner (1946-1947) Bill Moss (1958-1961) Arthur Cameron (1961-1962)

Johnnie Lucille Ann Collier, better known as Ann Miller (April 12, 1923^[1] – January 22, 2004) was an American singer, dancer and actress.

Early life

Miller was born in Chireno in Nacogdoches County in east Texas, the daughter of Clara Emma (née Birdwell) and John Alfred Collier, a criminal lawyer who represented the Barrow Gang, Machine Gun Kelly, and Baby Face Nelson, among others.^[2][3] Miller's maternal grandmother was Cherokee.^[2] Miller's father insisted on the name Johnnie because he had wanted a boy, but she was often called Annie.^[2] She took up dancing to exercise her legs to help her rickets. She was considered a child dance prodigy. In an interview featured in a "behind the scenes" documentary on the making of the compilation That's Entertainment III, she said that Eleanor Powell was an early inspiration.

Career

The handprints of Ann Miller in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

At the age of 13 Miller had been hired as a dancer in the "Black Cat Club" in San Francisco (she had told them she was 18). It was there she was discovered by Lucille Ball and talent scout/comic Benny Rubin. This led Miller to be given a contract with RKO in 1936 at the age of 13 (she had also told them she was 18) and she remained there until 1940. The following year, Miller was offered a contract at Columbia Pictures. She finally hit her mark (starting in the late 1940s) in her roles in MGM musicals such as Kiss Me Kate, Easter Parade, and On the Town.

Miller popularized pantyhose in the 1940s as a solution to the problem of continual torn stockings during the filming of dance production numbers. The common practice had been to sew hosiery to briefs worn by Miller. If torn, the entire garment had to be removed and resewn with a new pair. At Miller's request, hosiery was manufactured for her as a single pantyhose. ^[4]

Miller was famed for her speed in tap dancing. Studio publicists concocted press releases claiming she could tap 500 times per minute, but in truth, the sound of ultra-fast "500" taps was looped in later. Because the stage floors were slick and slippery, she actually danced in shoes with rubber soles. Later she would loop the sound of the taps while watching the film and actually dancing on a "tap board" to match her steps in the film.^[4]

In 1970, satirist Stan Freberg, father of the funny commercial, used Miller and her tap-dancing skills in a television commercial for "Great American Soups." Miller initially plays a housewife asked by her "husband" what she's prepared for dinner. She throws off her house frock to reveal a sequined dance outfit, and the kitchen set splits open to reveal a huge Hollywood stage, showcasing a giant can of soup, atop which Miller sings and dances, accompanied by a double chorus line. At the end of the commercial, she returns to the kitchen set, where the husband character exclaims, "Why do you have to make such a production out of everything?" According to Freberg, the commercial cost so much to produce that little money was left in the advertising budget to purchase airtime for it. The commercial can be seen on the video accompanying Freberg's boxed set release, "The Tip of the Freberg."

She was known, especially later in her career, for her distinctive appearance, which reflected a studio-era ideal of glamor: massive black bouffant hair, heavy makeup with a slash of crimson lipstick, and fashions that emphasized her lithe figure and long dancer's legs. Her film career effectively ended in 1956 as the studio system lost steam to television, but she remained active in the theatre and on television. She starred on Broadway in the musical "Mame" in 1969, in which she wowed the audience in a tap number created just for her. In 1979 she astounded audiences in the Broadway show Sugar Babies with fellow MGM veteran Mickey Rooney, which toured the United States extensively after its Broadway run. In 1983 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre.

She appeared in a special 1982 episode of The Love Boat, joined by fellow showbiz legends Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Della Reese, Van Johnson, and Cab Calloway in a storyline that cast them as older relatives of the show's regular characters. In 2001 she took her last role, playing Coco in auteur director David Lynch's critically acclaimed Mulholland Drive. Her last stage performance was a 1998 production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies, in which she played the hardboiled survivor Carlotta Campion and received rave reviews for her rendition of the anthemic "I'm Still Here".

Miller with Betty Garrett (left) and Vera-Ellen (right) in On the Town (1949)

Miller also performed a guest appearance on Home Improvement as a dance instructor to Tim and Jill. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Ann Miller has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6914 Hollywood Blvd.

Miller was parodied on Saturday Night Live. She was played by Molly Shannon as a talk show host, with Debbie Reynolds (played by Cheri Oteri), on a show called Leg Up.

She died at the age of 80 from cancer, which had metastasized to her lungs, and was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Filmography

Features

♦ Documentary

Short subjects

References

Further reading

• Oderman, Stuart, Talking to the Piano Player 2. BearManor Media, 2009. ISBN #1-59393-320-7.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ann Miller

Ballet portal

• Ann Miller at the Internet Movie Database
• Ann Miller at the Internet Broadway Database
• Profile @ Turner Classic Movies
• BBC obituary
• Ann Miller at Find a Grave
• Photographs and literature