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Sidney Miller (actor)

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Sidney Miller
Sid Miller (at the piano) performing with Donald O'Connor on The Colgate Comedy Hour (1952)
Born
Sid L. Miller

(1916-10-22)October 22, 1916
Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedJanuary 10, 2004(2004-01-10) (aged 87)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actor, television director, writer and songwriter
Years active1931–1997
Spouse(s)Iris Burton (1956–1967) (divorced; one son Barry Miller)
Dorothy Green (1967–1984)
June Rohlrlick (1994–2004) (his death; three children)

Sidney L. Miller (October 22, 1916 – January 10, 2004) was an actor, director and songwriter.[1]

Biography

His first (uncredited) acting role was in Penrod and Sam (1931). In 1937, he made his radio debut on the Jack Benny Program episode "Christmas Shopping". He played a man whom Benny mistakes for a department store floorwalker.[2] The actor was also a regular performer on Cavalcade of America, Suspense and Nightbeat.

Miller had a small, but memorable role as would-be wrestling announcer Mo Kahn in MGM's Boys Town (1938), alongside Mickey Rooney. He reprised the character in the sequel, Men of Boys Town (1941).

He co-starred and co-directed, alongside his good friend Donald O'Connor, in one of the first musical sitcoms on television, Here Comes Donald. After joining Disney, he wrote for The Mickey Mouse Club (1955).

Miller directed episodes of numerous successful television programs throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including Bachelor Father, Peter Loves Mary, Get Smart, Bewitched, The Ann Sothern Show and My Mother the Car. (He had been a regular on Sothern's radio show The Adventures of Maisie.)

In 1958, he played Roscoe Dewitt, an impressionist who bothers Bob Collins in The Bob Cummings Show episode "Bob Judges a Beauty Pageant". In 1968, he played Lucille Ball character Helen North's date Doctor Ashford, who was shorter than North's three children. In 1974, he briefly appeared as a drunk driver in the Michael Sarrazin and Barbra Streisand comedy For Pete's Sake.

From 1983-1985, Sidney Miller played the voice of The Dungeon Master in the animated series Dungeons & Dragons, which was based on the role-playing game of the same name. He also provided voices for several other animated shows.

In the 1980s and 1990s, he had a small role as Slow-Burn in Memories of Me, appeared as Sol on The Father Dowling Mysteries episode "The Confidence Mystery" in 1990 and also dubbed the voice of Oompe for the 1992 American version of Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland. He had retired by the late 1990s.

He was married three times, and had an actor son, Barry Miller, from his marriage to Iris Burton. Sidney Miller died from Parkinson's disease on January 10, 2004. His resting place is in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Selected filmography

As actor

As director

Composer and songwriter

  • 1944 This Is the Life ("Yippee-I-Voot", "Gremlin Walk")
  • 1944 Follow the Boys ("Kittens With Their Mittens Laced")
  • 1944 Hot Rhythm ("Shampoo Jingle")
  • 1944 Hi, Good Lookin'! ("By Mistake")
  • 1944 Chip Off the Old Block ("I've Gotta Give My Feet a Break")
  • 1944 Sing a Jingle ("Sing a Jingle", "We're the Janes Who Make The Planes", "Mademoiselle")
  • 1943 O, My Darling Clementine ("Diggin the Docey Doe")
  • 1943 Moonlight in Vermont ("Something Tells Me", "Be A Good Girl", They Got Me in the Middle of Things", "Pickin' the Beets", "Dobbin and a Wagon of Hay", "After the Beat")

References

  1. ^ "Sidney Miller, 87; Prolific Actor, Director, Songwriter". Los Angeles Times. January 17, 2004. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
  2. ^ Sidney Miller's radiography at OTR
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