Ann Miller Biography
Johnnie Lucille Collier, also known as Ann Miller, was an American actress, dancer, and singer who was born and brought up in Chireno, Texas, United States of America. She is greatly remembered for her work in the Classical Hollywood cinema musicals of the 1940s and 1950s.
Her early work included roles in Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It with You (1938) and the Marx Bros. film Room Service (1938). Miller later would star in the movie musical classics Charles Walters’ Easter Parade (1948), Stanley Donen’s On the Town (1949), and George Sidney’s Kiss Me Kate (1953). Her final film role would be in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001). In 1960, Miller received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
10 Quick Facts About Ann Miller
- Name: Ann Miller
- Age: 80 years old at the time of her death
- Birthday: 12 April
- Zodiac Sign: Aries
- Height: 5 feet 7 inches
- Nationality: American
- Occupation: Actress, Dancer, Singer
- Marital Status: Was Married to Arthur Cameron
- Salary: Not available
- Net worth: $4 million
Ann Miller Age
Miller was 80 years old at the time of her death, she was born Johnnie Lucille Collier on April 12, 1923, in Chireno, Texas, United States of America. She celebrated her birthday on April 12, every year, and her birth sign is Taurus. Miller died on January 22, 2004, in Los Angeles, California.
Ann Miller Height and Weight
Miller had a height of 5 feet 7 inches. Her weight cannot be known since she is dead. Known for her captivating personality, Ann had brown eyes and her hair color was brown.
Ann Miller Family
Miller was born in Texas to Clara Emma (mother) and John Allison Collier (father). His dad was a criminal lawyer who represented the Barrow Gang, Machine Gun Kelly, and Baby Face Nelson, among others. Cherokee was her maternal grandmother.
Her father insisted on the name Johnnie because he had wanted a boy, but she was often called Annie. When she was 5 years old, she began to take dance classes after suffering from a case of rickets. Emma, her mom, believed that these classes would help strengthen her young daughter’s legs.
They lived in Texas until she was nine, when her parents divorced, reportedly due to her father’s infidelities. Her mother moved with her to Los Angeles. It was hard for her mother to find work since she was deaf.
Nonetheless, since Miller looked much older than she was, she began to work as a dancer in nightclubs and supported both of them. It was during this time that she adopted the stage name Ann Miller, which she kept throughout her entire career.
Ann Miller Spouse
Miller was married and divorced three times. Her first marriage was in 1946 to millionaire Reese Milner which ended in divorce a short time after the death of their newborn daughter. It was in her last semester while pregnant with daughter Mary that she fell and went into early labor. The baby only lived for 3 hours on November 12, 1946.
Miller then married oilman William Moss in 1958 but divorced him shortly thereafter. Her 1961 marriage to another oilman, Arthur Cameron, was again annulled.
In between marriages dated such well-known men as Howard Hughes, Conrad Hilton, and Louis B. Mayer. Miller was financially successful in spite of being unlucky in love. The money she made touring with Sugar Babies made her rich.
Ann Miller Net Worth
Miller has an estimated net worth of $4 million dollars as of 2021. This includes her assets and money. Her primary source of income was her career as an Actress. Through her various sources of income, she had been able to accumulate good fortune but preferred to lead a modest lifestyle.
Ann Miller Measurements and Facts
Here are some interesting facts and body measurements you should know about Miller.
Ann Miller Wiki
- Full Names: Johnnie Lucille Collier.
- Popular As: Ann Miller.
- Gender: Female.
- Occupation / Profession: Actress.
- Nationality: American.
- Race / Ethnicity: White.
- Religion: Not Known.
- Sexual Orientation: Straight.
Ann Miller Birthday
- Age / How Old?: (Died Aged 80 Years Old).
- Zodiac Sign: Taurus.
- Date of Birth: April 12, 1923.
- Place of Birth: Chireno, Texas.
- Date of Death: January 22, 2004.
- Place of Death: Los Angeles, California.
- Birthday: April 12th.
Ann Miller Body Measurements
- Body Measurements: Pending Update.
- Height / How Tall?: 5 feet 7 inches.
- Weight: Moderate.
- Eye Color: Brown.
- Hair Color: Brown.
- Shoe Size: Pending Update.
- Dress Size: Pending Update.
- Breast Size: Pending Update.
- Waist Size: Pending Update.
- Hip Size: Pending Update.
Ann Miller Family and Relationship
- Father (Dad): John Allison Collier.
- Mother: Clara Emma.
- Siblings (Brothers and Sisters): Pending Update.
- Husband/Spouse: Was Married to Arthur Cameron.
- Dating / Boyfriend: Not Applicable.
- Children: Pending Update.
Ann Miller Net Worth and Salary
- Net Worth: $4 million dollars as of 2021.
- Salary: Pending Update.
- Source of Income: Career as an Actress.
Ann Miller Career
At age 13, in 1936, Miller became a showgirl at the Bal Tabarin. She was hired as a dancer in the “Black Cat Club” in San Francisco (she reportedly told them she was 18). There, she was discovered by Lucille Ball and talent scout/comic Benny Rubin (although some sources say this occurred at Bal Tabarin).
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 apparently provided a fake birth certificate, procured by her father with the name “Lucy Ann Collier”) and she remained there until 1940. In 1937, she played Ginger Rogers’ dancing partner in Gregory La Cava’s Stage Door.
In 1938, Miller played the quirky, continually dancing Essie Carmichael in the best-picture Oscar-winner, Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take it With You. In 1941, she signed with Columbia Pictures, where, starting with Time Out for Rhythm, she starred in 11 B movie musicals from 1941 to 1945.
In July 1945, with World War II still raging in the Pacific, she posed in a bathing suit as a Yank magazine pin-up girl. She ended her contract in 1946 with one “A” film, The Thrill of Brazil.
The ad in Life magazine featured Miller’s leg in a stocking tied with a large red bow as the “T” in “Thrill”. She finally hit her mark in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals such as Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949), and Kiss Me Kate (1953).
In later life, Miller claimed to have invented pantyhose in the 1940s 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. Miller asked a hosiery maker to produce a single combined garment.
Miller was famed for her speed in tap dance. 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 waxed and too slick for regular tap shoes, she had to dance in shoes with rubber treads on the sole. Later, she would loop the sound of the taps while watching the film and actually dance on a “tap board” to match her steps in the film.
Miller was known later in life for her distinctive appearance, which reflected a studio-era ideal of glamour: 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 theater and on television. In 1969, she starred on Broadway in the musical Mame, in which she wowed the audience in a tap number created just for her.
In 1979, Miller 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.
Miller 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.
Her last stage performance was a 1998 production of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, in which she played hard-boiled Carlotta Campion and received rave reviews for her rendition of the song “I’m Still Here”. At the age of 63, Miller sang and tap-danced to “42nd Street” at the opening of the Disney MGM Studios on May 1, 1989.
This would be her last live dance performance. Miller was the subject of This Is Your Life on British television in 1993 when she was surprised by Michael Aspel at the studios of CBS in Television City, Hollywood.
Miller appeared as a dance instructor in the Home Improvement episode “Dances with Tools” (1993) Between 1995 and 2001, Molly Shannon parodied Miller several times on Saturday Night Live in a recurring sketch titled “Leg-Up!” In 2001, she took her last role, playing “Coco” in director David Lynch’s critically acclaimed Mulholland Drive.
Outside of acting, Miller published two books. Her first book was an autobiography, Miller’s High Life (1972). Her second book was Tapping into the Force (1990), about her experiences in the psychic world.
Ann Miller Movies
- Easter Parade 1948
- On the Town 1949
- Stage Door 1937
- You Can’t Take It with You 1938
- Hit the Deck 1955
- Mulholland Drive
- Kiss Me Kate (film)
- New Faces of 1937
- Small Town Girl 1953
- Deep in My Heart 1954
- Lovely to Look At 1952
- Too Many Girls
- ROOM SERVICE 1938
- Reveille with Beverly
- The Opposite Sex 1956
- Texas Carnival
- Two Tickets to Broadway
- Priorities on Parade
- The Kissing Bandit
- Time Out for Rhythm
- Melody Ranch
- Radio City Revels
- The Thrill of Brazil
- The Great American Pastime
- Eadie Was a Lady
- What’s Buzzin’, Cousin?
- Watch the Birdie
- True to the Army
- Go West, Young Lady
- Hit Parade of 1941
- Carolina Blues 1944
- Hey, Rookie
- The Life of the Party 1937
- That’s Entertainment! III
- Jam Session 1944
- Eve Knew Her Apples
- Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
- Tarnished Angel
- Mulholland Dr. 1999
- American Masters Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer
- Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration
- Hollywood Musicals of the ’50s 1999
- Romance and Rhythm Film
- Hollywood Musicals of the ’40s 1999
Ann Miller Awards and Achievements
Miller is the recipient of many awards. She is among them who received the Best Legs Award from the Hall of Fame. The George M. Cohen award for the best female entertainer in 1980 and the prestigious Sarah Siddons Award for best performer of the year for “Sugar Babies” in 1984.
Miller was also nominated for a Tony award for “Sugar Babies” and an also a nominee for the Laurence Olivier award in London in 1989 for “Sugar Babies” She was just honored on “This Is Your Life” television show in England, which included twenty stars who came to honor her.
Miller received an award for the best dance number from the Dance Awards of America for the MGM Disney television dance special. She was honored in 1992 for the Life Time Achievement Award bestowed upon by the University of Southern California. Recently, she received the Ms. Wonderful Award from the Thalians and then the Gene Autry Golden Boot Award for her performances in western films in the 1940s.
The Gypsy Award for her lifetime achievement from the Dance Society of America in 1993 was received and most of Hollywood came to honor her. In 1994 she received the Flo-Bert Tap Dancers of America Award in New York and a lifetime achievement award from the Inner Critics Circle of Arizona was received in July of 1994.
Ann Miller Death
When Miller was 80 years old, she died from lung cancer. Her remains were interred in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Ann Miller Trivia
Miller has written two books, an autobiography “Miller’s Highlife” and “Tapping Into the Force” which is about her psychic abilities. Also, she is an avid reader, particularly of books about archeology, a science in which she participates actively traveling to Egypt, Israel, and the middle east.
Miller lived there in Texas until she was nine years old when her mother left her philandering father and moved with Ann to Los Angeles, California. Miller had to support her mother even at that young age, who was hearing-impaired and unable to hold a job. After taking tap-dancing lessons, she got jobs dancing in various Hollywood nightclubs while being home-schooled.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ann Miller
Who is Ann Miller?
Miller was an American actress, dancer, and singer who was born and brought up in Chireno, Texas, United States of America. She is greatly remembered for her work in the Classical Hollywood cinema musicals of the 1940s and 1950s.
How old is Ann Miller?
Miller was an American national born on April 12, 1923, in Chireno, Texas.
How tall was Ann Miller?
Miller had a height of 5 feet 7 inches.
Was Ann Miller married?
Miller was married and divorced three times. Her first marriage was in 1946 to millionaire Reese Milner which ended in divorce a short time after the death of their newborn daughter.
It was in her last semester while pregnant with daughter Mary that she fell and went into early labor. The baby only lived for 3 hours on November 12, 1946.
Miller then married oilman William Moss in 1958 but divorced him shortly thereafter. Her 1961 marriage to another oilman, Arthur Cameron, was again annulled.
How much is Ann Miller worth?
Miller has a net worth of $4 million. This amount has been accrued from her leading roles in the entertainment industry.
Is Ann Miller dead or alive?
When she was 80 years old, Miller died from lung cancer. Her remains were interred in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Ann Miller Contacts
- Instagram: Pending Update.
- Twitter: Pending Update.
- Facebook: Pending Update.
- Youtube: Pending Update.
- Tiktok: Pending Update.
- Website: Pending Update.
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