Ann Miller

For other people of the same name, see Anne Miller.

Ann Miller
in Easter Parade (1948)
Born	Johnnie Lucille Collier (1923-04-12)April 12, 1923 Chireno, Texas, U.S.
Died	January 22, 2004(2004-01-22) (aged 80) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Lung cancer
Resting place	Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
Years active	1934–2001
Spouse(s)	Reese Milner (1946–1947) Bill Moss (1958–1961) Arthur Cameron (1961–1962)

Johnnie Lucille Collier (April 12, 1923 – January 22, 2004), known professionally as Ann Miller, was an American dancer, singer and actress. She is remembered for her work in Hollywood musical films of the 1940s and '50s.

Early life

Miller was born in Chireno, Texas to 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. Miller's maternal grandmother was Cherokee. Miller's father insisted on the name Johnnie because he had wanted a boy, but she was often called Annie. 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 film 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 reportedly 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 signed with Columbia Pictures, where, starting with Time Out for Rhythm, she starred in 11 B movie musicals from 1941 to 1945, ending her contract in 1946 with one “A,” The Thrill of Brazil. The ad in Life magazine featured Miller's leg in a large, red, bow-tied stocking as the "T" in "Thrill."

She finally hit her mark in MGM musicals such as Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949) and Kiss Me Kate (1953).

Miller popularized pantyhose in the 1940s—she had been wearing them since 1938—as a solution to the continual problem of tearing stockings during the filming of dance production numbers. The common practice had been to sew hosiery to briefs. 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.

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.

Miller appeared as a mystery guest on What's My Line.

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" (Dave Willock) what she has 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 big '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.^{[citation needed]}

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 song "I'm Still Here".

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

Miller also appeared as a dance instructor to Tim and Jill in Home Improvement episode "Dances with Tools" (1993).

Between 1995 and 2001, Molly Shannon parodied Miller several times on Saturday Night Live in a sketch entitled Leg-Up!

Death

Miller died, aged 80, from lung cancer, and was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

According to her New York Times obituary, Miller married three times, to Reese Llewellyn Milner in 1946, to William Moss in 1958 and to Arthur Cameron in 1961, and in between marriages dated such well-known men as Howard Hughes, Conrad Hilton and Louis B. Mayer.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Miller has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6914 Hollywood Blvd. In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1934	Anne of Green Gables	Child Extra	Uncredited
1935	The Good Fairy	Schoolgirl in Orphanage	Uncredited
1936	The Devil on Horseback	Dancer	Uncredited
1937	New Faces of 1937	Herself	Dance Specialty
1937	The Life of the Party	Betty
1937	Stage Door	Annie
1938	Radio City Revels	Billie Shaw
1938	Having Wonderful Time	Camp Guest	Uncredited
1938	You Can't Take It with You	Essie Carmichael
1938	Room Service	Hilda
1938	Tarnished Angel	Violet 'Vi' McMaster
1940	Too Many Girls	Pepe
1940	Hit Parade of 1941	Anabelle Potter
1940	Melody Ranch	Julie Shelton
1941	Time Out for Rhythm	Kitty Brown
1941	Go West, Young Lady	Lola
1942	True to the Army	Vicki Marlow
1942	Priorities on Parade	Donna D'Arcy
1943	Reveille with Beverly	Beverly Ross
1943	What's Buzzin', Cousin?	Ann Crawford
1944	Hey, Rookie	Winnie Clark
1944	Jam Session	Terry Baxter
1944	Carolina Blues	Julie Carver
1945	Eadie Was a Lady	Eadie Allen and Edithea Alden
1945	Eve Knew Her Apples	Eve Porter
1946	The Thrill of Brazil	Linda Lorens
1948	Easter Parade	Nadine Hale
1948	The Kissing Bandit	Fiesta Specialty Dancer
1949	On the Town	Claire Huddesen
1950	Watch the Birdie	Miss Lucky Vista
1951	Texas Carnival	Sunshine Jackson
1951	Two Tickets to Broadway	Joyce Campbell
1952	Lovely to Look At	Bubbles Cassidy
1953	Small Town Girl	Lisa Bellmount
1953	Kiss Me Kate	Lois Lane 'Bianca'
1954	Deep in My Heart	Dance specialty in 'Artists and Models'
1955	Hit the Deck	Ginger
1956	The Opposite Sex	Gloria
1956	The Great American Pastime	Mrs. Doris Patterson
1976	Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood	President's Girl 2
2001	Mulholland Drive	Catherine 'Coco' Lenoix

Stage Work

• George White's Scandals of 1939 (1939)
• Can-Can (1968)
• Mame (1969)
• Hello, Dolly! (1971)
• Anything Goes (1972)
• Blithe Spirit (1973)
• Anything Goes (1974)
• Panama Hattie (1976)
• Anything Goes (1977)
• Cactus Flower (1978)
• Sugar Babies (1979)
• Sugar Babies (1988)
• Follies (1998)

Further reading

• Miller, Ann, Miller's High Life. Doubleday, 1972. ISBN #0-385-03440-7.
• Oderman, Stuart, Talking to the Piano Player 2. BearManor Media, 2009. ISBN #1-59393-320-7.

External links

• Ann Miller at the Internet Movie Database
• Ann Miller at the Internet Broadway Database
• Profile @ Turner Classic Movies
• BBC obituary
• "Ann Miller". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 9, 2010. 
• Photographs and literature
• Great American Soup Commercial at YouTube