A Pictorial Tribute to Ann Miller

Ann Miller was born 100 years ago today. Long time readers of this blog probably realize that I am a big fan of Miss Miller. Indeed, she is my favourite dancer in motion pictures and one of my favourite actresses. I certainly think she was gorgeous, with dark hair and long legs. More importantly, she was an incredibly talented dancer. In fact, she has been credited as the fastest tap dancer in Golden Age of Hollywood.  She was also a talented actress, and played everything from the ambitious Nadine in Easter Parade (1948) to anthropologist Claire in On the Town (1949). For obvious reasons, Ann Miller was a popular pin-up from the early Forties into the late Fifties. I swear she did pinup pictures for nearly every major holiday. Here at A Shroud of Thoughts I am guessing she is the one actress to appear in nearly every one of my holiday pinup posts.

Ann Miller was born Johnnie Lucille Collier on April 12 1923 in in Chireno, Texas. As a child she was afflicted with rickets. It was then that she began dance lessons at age five in an effort to strengthen her legs. Her parents divorced when she was nine years old, and she moved from Houston to Los Angeles with her mother. Her mother was almost entirely deaf, so that finding work was difficult for her. Ann Miller was five foot five when she was only twelve and looked older than she really was. It was then that she began dancing professionally to make a living for the family, taking the stage name "Ann Miller." By age 13 she was a showgirl at the Bal Tabarin in San Francisco. Still only 13, she became a dancer at the Black Cat Club in San Francisco. It was either at the Bal Tabarin or the Black Cat Club that she was discovered by Lucille Ball and talent agent Benny Rubin. She was signed to RKO, falsely claiming to be 18.

At RKO Ann Miller appeared in several movies, including Stage Door (1937), You Can't Take It With You (1938), and Room Service (1938). In 1941 she signed with Columbia Pictures, where she appeared in a number of B musicals, starting with Time Out for Rhythm (1941). Her contract with Columbia ended in 1945, after which she made a number of musicals for MGM, including Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949), Lovely to Look At (1952), Kiss Me Kate (1952), and The Opposite Sex (1957). Ann Miller's last movie for several years was The Great American Pastime (1956). By the mid-Sixties the Hollywood musical was going out of fashion, and the cinema had lost ground to television.

Ann Miller turned from the cinema to the stage, appearing in such productions as Can-Can, Mame, Hello Dolly, Sugar Babies, and others. She also made infrequent appearances on television, appearing on such shows as Lux Video Theatre; Love, American Style; The Love Boat; and Home Improvement. In 1971 she starred in a famous commercial for The Great American Soup, created by Stan Freberg, that played as a production number of the sort seen in the classic Hollywood musicals. Her last two movies were Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and Mulholland Drive (2001).  Ann Miller died at age 80 from lung cancer on January 22 2004.

Below a number of photos of Ann Miller, including many of her famous holiday themed pinups.