Ruth-Anne Miller

Ruth-Anne Miller was a fictional character in the television show "Northern Exposure", played by Peg Phillips. She is a widow, an atheist, and one of the oldest citizens of the small (fictional) town of Cicely, Alaska; her 75th birthday occurs during the third season of the show.

Fictional biography

Ruth-Anne originally hails from Kansas, and moved to Alaska when her husband passed. In a later episode it is revealed that her grandfather was an early settler of Alaska and died during a blizzard, but his family never joined him, and reading his letters home is what prompted her to come to Alaska.

She has two sons: Matthew, a successful investment banker in Atlanta; and Rudy, a part-time pastoral poet and full-time truck driver in Maine. She is very proud of Rudy, but unhappy with Matthew's career-choice; even though she loves him, she wishes he were more artistic like his brother.

She owns a general store, which is also Cicely's post office, library, video rental and town archives. In later episodes she becomes somewhat romantically linked to local trapper and former stockbroker Walt Kupfer.

Revelations about Ruth-Anne over the course of the series include that she is an unapologetic cigarette smoker, had an extramarital affair during World War II, and has saved money every week to exercise the option of buying her store from Maurice (who is insulted and furious at the lack of control he now exercises over her business). She is not embarrassed by sexual discussion, so much so that when Joel Fleischmann shyly asks her for catalogs of women underwear models under a strained excuse she is at first confused, but then very matter-of-factly makes a suggestion of other material suitable for "onanistic purposes", horribly embarrassing Joel.