[Remember that great Campbell's Soup commercial she made in the early 70's?]
Ann Miller, Tap-Dancing Star of 40's and 50's Musicals, Dies
by Richard Severo New York Times, January 22, 2004
Ann Miller, the voluptuous dancer with the lacquered raven hair and Nefertiti eye makeup whose tap-
dancing athleticism made her a staple of big-screen musicals in the 1940's and 50's, died today in
Los Angeles.
She died of lung cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Esme Chandlee, her friend and former
publicist, told The Associated Press.
She was believed to be about 80. Some sources said she was born in 1919, but Miss Miller insisted
that April 12, 1923, was the correct date, and census records appear to support this, according to
the Internet Movie Database.
Miss Miller was, in her heyday, America's female tap star, inheriting the mantle of Ginger Rogers
and Eleanor Powell. She always took a vigorous approach to dancing and her agent said she could
actually produce 500 taps a minute. Nobody ever disputed him.
As a young actress, she consistently won praise for her roles in movies like "The Easter Parade"
(1948), in which she danced most gracefully with Fred Astaire as she tried to woo him away from Judy
Garland; "Kiss Me Kate" (1953), the play within a play in which she portrayed Lois Lane, the
nightclub hoofer who became Bianca in Cole Porter's version of "Taming of the Shrew," and "On the
Town" (1949), when she was paired with Jules Munshin, the sidekick of Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly,
sailors desperately looking for girls but with only a 24-hour leave in New York. These, she said,
were her three favorite movies, and most critics would enthusiastically agree.
She first attracted attention in 1938, when she played the fudge- making, ballet-dancing daughter in
Frank Capra's "You Can't Take It With You." And in the 1980's, after a long hiatus, she made a
tremendous comeback -- and, in her fifties gained new admirers -- starring with Mickey Rooney in
"Sugar Babies," a musical salute to vaudeville that ran on Broadway. It was stardom she felt she had
been denied her earlier.
"At MGM, I always played the second feminine lead," she told the writer Bob Thomas in 1990. "I was
never the star in films. I was the brassy, good-hearted showgirl. I never really had my big moment
on the screen. 'Sugar Babies' gave me the stardom that my soul kind of yearned for."
Miss Miller was born in Texas and christened Johnnie Lucille Ann Collier. Her father, John Alfred
Collier, was a successful criminal lawyer who counted among his clients Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker
and Baby Face Nelson, three of the most notorious criminals of the day. He dreamed of having a son
he could call John Jr.; instead, he named Miss Miller Johnnie.
Her mother was the former Clara Birdwell.
Early on the Colliers moved to Houston, where her mother saw to it that she studied piano and violin
but mostly dancing, in part to build up legs that had suffered from an attack of rickets, a
condition caused by a vitamin D deficiency that can lead to softening of the bones and deformity.
When Miss Miller was about 10, her parents' marriage fell apart and her mother took her to
California. The young girl developed a dance routine and performed at meetings of local civic
organization. She got $5 a night, plus tips.
A few years later, when she was in her teens, she was seen by Benny Rubin, a comic and talent scout,
who happened to be escorting Lucille Ball. They arranged a movie audition, which led to her first
film, a nonspeaking part in "New Faces of 1937."
Other light films followed, and while she aspired to romantic roles that were being enjoyed by other
dancing stars, Ginger Rogers and Eleanor Powell, she was offered none.
In the 1940's, she appeared in a string of forgettable films. Among them were: "Melody Ranch"
(1940), which is recalled now only because it was the first time Gene Autry kissed a woman for the
cameras; "Out of Rhythm," a vehicle for Rudy Vallee; "Priorities on Parade," a 1942 feel-good movie
for soldiers that starred Jerry Colonna; "Reveille With Beverly"; "What's Buzzin' Cousin"; "Jam
Session"; "Carolina Blues," and "Eadie Was a Lady."
In 1946, she married a millionaire, Reese Llewellyn Milner. The marriage failed within a year, and
she went back to work, performing in one of her more memorable films, "Easter Parade."
In 1951 and 1952, she appeared in "Two Tickets to Broadway" and "Lovely to Look At," a remake of
Jerome Kern's "Roberta." Later in the decade she appeared in "Deep in My Heart," a tribute to
Sigmund Romberg, "Hit the Deck," set to Vincent Youmans's music,
play, "The Women."
By the late 50's she had moved from movies to nightclubs and also appeared frequently on television
programs like "The Ed Sullivan Show," "Hollywood Palace" and "Laugh-In." She scored a triumph when
in 1969 she took on the title role in the Broadway musical "Mame," which had been originated by
Angela Lansbury. The critics felt she rivaled Miss Lansbury.
Jobs were scarce after that. In 1972, she made a memorable commercial for Great American Soups, in
which she danced atop an 8-foot soup can.
She went on the road and appeared with touring companies of "Can- Can," "Panama Hattie," "Hello
Dolly" and "Blithe Spirit." Her biggest comeback of all came in 1979, with "Sugar Babies."
Two other marriages, to William Moss in 1958 and Arthur Cameron, in 1961, ended in divorce. In
between marriages, she dated Conrad Hilton, Howard Hughes and Louis B. Mayer, among others.
Miss Miller said that throughout her life she wondered "whatever happened to Lucille Collier
from Texas."
"There's a part of me that will always be Lucille Collier, and she's just waiting for this long-
winded Hollywood love affair to end with the Ann Miller creature."
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