Sidney Miller (actor)
Sidney L. Miller | |
---|---|
Sid Miller (at the piano) performing with Donald O'Connor on The Colgate Comedy Hour (1952) | |
Born |
Sid Miller October 22, 1916 Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Died |
January 10, 2004 87) Los Angeles, California, U.S. | (aged
Occupation | Actor, television director, writer and songwriter |
Years active | 1931–1997 |
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 (born Sid Miller; October 22, 1916 – January 10, 2004) was an actor, director and songwriter.[1]
Biography
Sidney Miller's first acting role was in the movie Penrod and Sam (1931), although uncredited. In 1937, he made his radio debut on the Jack Benny Program episode "Christmas Shopping", as 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 and directed 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
- 1931 Penrod and Sam
- 1933 Rafter Romance
- 1935 Dinky
- 1938 Boys Town
- 1938 Cipher Bureau
- 1939 Panama Patrol
- 1939 Scouts to the Rescue
- 1939 Babes in Arms
- 1939 Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever
- 1940 City for Conquest
- 1941 Men of Boys Town
- 1942 Mr. Wise Guy
- 1943 Moonlight in Vermont
- 1945 There Goes Kelly
- 1953 Walking My Baby Back Home
- 1954 Dragnet (TV series)
- 1954–1955 The Donald O'Connor Show (TV series)
- 1958 The Bob Cummings Show (TV series)
- 1968 Yours, Mine and Ours
- 1970 Adam-12 (TV series)
- 1972 Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
- 1975 Marcus Welby, M.D. (TV series)
- 1975 Ellery Queen (TV series)
- 1977 The World's Greatest Lover
- 1981 The Smurfs (Animated series)
- 1983 Star 80
- 1983–1985 Dungeons & Dragons (Animated series)
- 1984 The Challenge of the GoBots (Animated series)
- 1986 Small Wonder(TV series)
- 1986 Cagney & Lacey (TV series)
- 1988 Memories of Me
- 1990 Father Dowling Mysteries (TV series)
- 1992 Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
As director
- 1954–1955 The Donald O'Connor Show (TV series)
- 1955–1957 The Mickey Mouse Club (TV series)
- 1957 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (TV series)
- 1958–1960 Bachelor Father (TV series)
- 1959–1961 The Ann Sothern Show (TV series)
- 1960 Peter Loves Mary (TV series)
- 1963 My Favorite Martian (TV series)
- 1965 Bewitched (TV series)
- 1965 McHale's Navy (TV series)
- 1965 Dr. Kildare (TV series)
- 1965 The Smothers Brothers Show (TV series)
- 1965 My Mother the Car (TV series)
- 1965 The Addams Family (TV series)
- 1965–1966 Please Don't Eat the Daisies (TV series)
- 1966 Honey West (TV series)
- 1967 The Monkees (TV series)
- 1967 Get Smart (TV series)
- 1977 The Skatebirds (TV series)
Composer and songwriter
- 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")
- 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")
References
- ↑ "Sidney Miller, 87; Prolific Actor, Director, Songwriter". Los Angeles Times. January 17, 2004. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
- ↑ "Copyright 2013, J. David Goldin". www.radiogoldindex.com.