- Dean Miller (broadcaster)
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Dean Miller Born Dean C. Stuhlmueller
November 1, 1924
Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio, USADied January 13, 2004 (aged 79)
Grosse Pointe Woods, Wayne County, MichiganAlma mater Ohio State University Occupation Film, Television actor (December Bride); Broadcaster (TV and radio) Spouse Ida Wagner Miller Children Three children, including Dean, Jr. Dean Miller, born Dean C. Stuhlmueller (November 1, 1924—January 13, 2004), was an American actor and broadcaster, perhaps best known for his role as the son-in-law in the CBS sitcom December Bride (1954–1959). Thereafter, Miller was a co-host of the NBC celebrity interview program Here's Hollywood.
Miller was born in Hamilton, Ohio, and graduated from Ohio State University in Columbus. He worked first at a radio station in Albany, New York.[1] He left for Hollywood and made his screen debut in 1952 as Archie O'Conovan in the film Skirts Ahoy! and followed up that same year with appearances as Ben Jones in Because You're Mine and as Monty Dunstan in Everything I Have Is Yours. In 1953, he played Mac in Small Town Girl and George in Dream Wife with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.[2]
In 1954, Miller was cast as 30-year-old Matt Henshaw, an architect, in December Bride, opposite Spring Byington as his widowed mother-in-law, Lily Ruskin, and Frances Rafferty as his television wife, Ruth Ruskin Henshaw.[3] Verna Felton and Harry Morgan also had recurring supporting roles in the series as Hilda Crocker, Lily's best friend, and Pete Porter, the wisecracking nextdoor neighbor who was an insurance agent. December Bride was a somewhat unusual program in that all five stars appeared in all 111 episodes. Most of the scenes were in the Henshaw's living room. The series was sufficiently successful that it spawned a spin-off, Pete and Gladys (1960–1962) starring Harry Morgan and Cara Williams as Pete and Gladys Porter.[4]
After December Bride, Miller acted only twice in a television series, as "Millionaire Harry Brown" in a 1959 episode of CBS's The Millionaire fantasy drama, and as George Manville in the 1960 segment "Happily Unmarried" of NBC's short-lived sitcom The Tab Hunter Show. He then joined Here's Hollywood, where he often interviewed stars and singers in their own homes, including Cary Grant, Paul Newman, and Elizabeth Taylor. In 1963, Miller appeared as a guest on the NBC daytime quiz show Your First Impression, with Bill Leyden and Dennis James.[2]
In 1965, Miller purchased radio station WMVR-FM (105.5), then an AM outlet in Sidney, Ohio.[1] Miller later served as a news anchorman for WDIV-TV in Detroit. He died of cancer at the age of seventy-nine in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, near Detroit. Survivors included his wife, the former Ida Wagner, who still operates the radio station, and three children. Miller is interred at Graceland Cemetery in Sidney, Ohio.[1]
References
- ^ a b c "Interviewer, '50s TV Star Dean Miller Dies". highbeam.com from Dayton Daily News, January 18, 2004. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-11913704.html. Retrieved February 9, 2009.
- ^ a b "Dean Miller". Internet Movie Data Base. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0588211/. Retrieved February 9, 2009.
- ^ Miller and Frances Rafferty died three months apart in 2004.
- ^ Alex McNeil, Total Television, New York: Penquin Books, 1996, 4th ed., p. 298
Categories:- 1924 births
- 2004 deaths
- American film actors
- American television actors
- American businesspeople
- American radio news anchors
- Ohio State University alumni
- People from Hamilton, Ohio
- People from Albany, New York
- People from the Greater Los Angeles Area
- Cancer deaths in Michigan
- People from Detroit, Michigan
- American people of German descent
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