Profile
Photos
Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgAtzqM4fsU
">Ann
Miller
in Small Town
Girl (1953)
Lucille Collier
April 12, 1923
Chireno, Texas,
U.S.
22, 2004 (aged 80)
Los
Angeles, California, U.S.
- 2001
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, 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.[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.[citation
needed]
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).[citation
needed] 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.[citation
needed] The
following year, Miller was offered a contract at Columbia
Pictures. She finally hit her mark
(starting in the late 1940s and Early 1950s ) 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.[citation
needed] 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" (Dave
Willock) 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 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".[citation
needed]
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 by Molly Shannon.
She died, aged 80, from cancer, which
had metastasized to her lungs, and was interred in the Holy
Cross Cemetery in Culver
City, California.