A MINI MILLER BIO

. Denny Miller was born in Bloomington, Indiana, where his father, Ben Miller, was a physical education instructor at Indiana University. He and his brother, Kent, began playing basketball almost from the day they were born. It was at University High School in Los Angeles where Denny and Kent came to the attention of coach John Wooden. They were given full-ride scholarships to UCLA. In his senior year, Denny was discovered on Sunset Boulevard by a talent agent, who signed him with MGM. His first role was a bit part in Some Came Running (1958), starring Dean Martin. 

He then became the first blond Tarzan in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959).  MGM had him under contract for 20 months; in that time he worked eight weeks as "Tarzan". After that he did guest spots on a string of TV series, finally becoming a regular on "Wagon Train" (1957) as Duke Shannon (his name was then Scott Miller). In 1964 he appeared in two episodes of "Gilligan's Island" and in  the following two years he starred with Juliet Prowse in "Mona McCluskey". 

In the decades to follow he was signed for countless appearances in movies, television and commercials (he was the "Gorton Fisherman" for years). He has worked with scores of other well-known actors. He is especially fond of thinking back to his role with Peter Sellers in the hilarious film, The Party. A partial filmography of Denny's roles is featured at IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base). He has also written books on his years in show business, as well as books on health and fitness ~ an amazing career and person. For more on Denny see our other ERBzine features (below) and visit his Denny Miller Website.

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Collages by Bill Hillman

A message from Nancy Miller:

I want to thank you for the lovely tribute you posted about Denny. I thank all of you for your kind emails and posts. I will begin to respond to each of you soon.

Denny was diagnosed with ALS in January. He chose to deal with this horrible disease like he had lived his life - privately, with grace and dignity.

So little is really known about ALS and there is no cure. The recent Bucket Challenge has been amazing; raising a huge amount of money for research and public awareness. The Challenge is another example of the impressive social conciseness of so many!

Denny was a student athlete, TARZAN, Duke Shannon, Wild Bill Kelso, The Trusted Fisherman, and so much more. He was a gentleman and a gentle man! However we choose to remember him, he will live on in our hearts.

~ Nancy