Colleen Joy Miller (born November 10, 1932)[2] is an American former actress. She starred in several films, such as the Westerns Gunfight at Comanche Creek (1963) and Four Guns to the Border (1954).
Colleen Miller | |
|---|---|
 Miller in The Purple Mask (1955) | |
| Born | Colleen Joy Miller[1] November 10, 1932 Yakima, Washington, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1952–1972 |
| Spouses | Ted Briskin (m. 1955–1975)Walter Ralphs
(m. 1976; died 2010) |
| Children | 2 |
Early life
editThe daughter of Elias and Lillian Miller,[3] she was born in Yakima, Washington, and raised in Portland, Oregon.[4][5] Miller attended Lincoln High School in Portland[3] and graduated at age fifteen.[4] In 1949, she was chosen "Miss Portland".[3] Her mother named her after actress Colleen Moore.[6]
As a child, Miller studied ballet, but when she was older she changed to popular dancing.[6] After graduating, she worked as a professional dancer in a San Francisco ballet company, and relocated to Las Vegas after three seasons to work at the Flamingo.[5]
Career
edit
While dancing in Las Vegas, Miller was spotted by a talent agent who signed her to a contract with Howard Hughes for his RKO Pictures company.[5] She was 19 when she made her first film appearance in The Las Vegas Story, starring Jane Russell.[5]
She shared top billing with Rory Calhoun in her next film, a western titled Four Guns to the Border, which co-starred Nina Foch.[5] She then had a leading role in Playgirl as a young Midwestern girl who comes to New York City to be a model and ends up involved in a shooting and a scandal. She then was signed by Universal Pictures, where she co-starred with Tony Curtis in two films, The Purple Mask and The Rawhide Years.[7]
Miller made one more film after 1958, a western titled Gunfight at Comanche Creek opposite Audie Murphy, before retiring from acting.[8] However, she has an uncredited bit part in 1972's Stand Up and Be Counted.
Personal life
editOn January 20, 1955, Miller married camera manufacturer Ted Briskin.[9] They remained wed until 1975.[4] She married Walter Ralphs, an heir to the Ralphs supermarket chain, in 1976, until his death in 2010. She currently resides in California.[citation needed]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | The Las Vegas Story | Mary | Starred Jane Russell, Victor Mature |
| 1953 | Man Crazy | Judy Bassett | |
| 1954 | Four Guns to the Border | Lolly Bhumer | co-starred with Rory Calhoun, Walter Brennan |
| 1954 | Playgirl | Phyllis Matthews | co-starred with Barry Sullivan |
| 1955 | The Purple Mask | Laurette de Latour | co-starred with Tony Curtis |
| 1956 | The Rawhide Years | Zoe Fontaine | co-starred with Tony Curtis |
| 1957 | The Night Runner | Susan Mayes | co-starred with Ray Danton |
| 1957 | Man in the Shadow | Skippy Renchler | co-starred with Jeff Chandler and Orson Welles |
| 1957 | Hot Summer Night | Irene Partain | co-starred with Leslie Nielsen |
| 1958 | Step Down to Terror | Helen Walters | co-starred with Charles Drake and Rod Taylor |
| 1963 | Gunfight at Comanche Creek | Abbie Stevens | co-starred with Audie Murphy and Ben Cooper |
| 1972 | Stand Up and Be Counted | Nun | Uncredited |
References
edit- ^ Hopper, Hedda (February 20, 1955). "Looking at Hollywood with Hedda Hopper". The Honolulu Advertiser. Hawaii, Honolulu. p. 58. Retrieved October 15, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Hoffman, Henryk (2000). "A" Western Filmmakers: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers, Directors, Cinematographers, Composers, Actors and Actresses. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 420. ISBN 9780786406968.
- ^ a b c Korman, Seymour (February 3, 1957). "Lucky Colleen". Chicago Tribune. Illinois, Chicago. p. 123. Retrieved October 15, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "The Private Life and Times of Colleen Miller". Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen.
- ^ a b c d e Fitzgerald & Magers 2006, p. 173.
- ^ a b Scott, John L. (October 10, 1954). "Actress Inherits a Career". The Los Angeles Times. p. Part IV - 3. Retrieved May 6, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Fitzgerald & Magers 2006, p. 174–5.
- ^ Fitzgerald & Magers 2006, p. 175.
- ^ "Ted Briskin Weds Actress". The New York Times. Associated Press. January 22, 1955. p. 9. Retrieved May 6, 2021 – via ProQuest.
Works cited
edit- Fitzgerald, Michael G.; Magers, Boyd (2006). Ladies of the Western: Interviews with Fifty-One More Actresses from the Silent Era to the Television Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-476-60796-2.
External links
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