Cheryl Lynn Miller is an American actress and musician.

Early years

A California native, Miller is one of two children of an architect and film studio set designer, Howard Miller and accountant mother and travel agent, Elsie. She began acting as a young girl.

Career

The film ''

Casanova Brown ''Casanova Brown'' is a 1944 American comedy romantic film directed by Sam Wood, written by Nunnally Johnson, and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Frank Morgan. The film had its world premiere in western France after the Allies had libe ...

'' (1944) marked her screen debut at the age of 19 days. 1965 was a break-through year for Miller. She was featured with an elephant and a chimp on the hit TV series '' Flipper''. This caught the attention of the director (

Ivan Tors Ivan Tors (born Iván Törzs; June 12, 1916 – June 4, 1983) was a Hungary, Hungarian playwright, film director, screenwriter, and Film producer, film and television producer with an emphasis on non-violent but exciting science fiction, underwat ...

) who later cast her in the film, '' Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion''. In this film she played Paula Tracy, the daughter of

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet) or veterinary surgeon is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal r ...

Marsh Tracy (

Marshall Thompson James Marshall Thompson (November 27, 1925Ancestry.com. ''U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Social Security Applications and Cla ...

). The film led to her role again playing Paula Tracy alongside Thompson in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

, '' Daktari'', (1966–69). In the opening credits, she is shown riding the back of a lion. During the summer of 1965,

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

chose Miller as his own contractee, dubbing her "The Typical American Girl". By early 1966, filming began for '' Daktari'' in Africa, U.S.A., a 200-acre ranch about 40 miles north of the Los Angeles metro area. Later that year, Miller was one of 13 young actresses who were designated Hollywood Deb Stars of 1966. By the summer, she became Miss Golden Globe of 1966 and assisted

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

in the presentation of the

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual Awards ceremony, award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally ...

. In 1966, she was voted as honorary mayor of Studio City, California. Miller made many appearances in other television series, including ''

Leave It to Beaver ''Leave It to Beaver'' is an American television sitcom that follows the misadventures of a suburban boy, his family and his friends. It starred Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers. CBS first broadcast the show ...

'', '' Our Man Higgins'', and ''

The Donna Reed Show ''The Donna Reed Show'' is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her Pediatrics, pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage childr ...

''. She created the role of Samantha Pudding on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

, ''

Bright Promise ''Bright Promise'' is an American daytime soap opera that ran on NBC from September 29, 1969 to March 31, 1972. Synopsis The show revolved around students and faculty at the fictional Bancroft College, located in the community of Bancroft, some ...

''. She also appeared in several other films, including ''

The Monkey's Uncle ''The Monkey's Uncle'' is a 1965 American comedy film starring Tommy Kirk as genius college student Merlin Jones and Annette Funicello (former Mouseketeer from ''The Mickey Mouse Club'') as his girlfriend, Jennifer. The title plays on the idio ...

'', with

Annette Funicello Annette Joanne Funicello (October 22, 1942 – April 8, 2013) was an American actress and singer. She began her professional career at age 12, becoming one of the most popular Mouseketeers on the original ''The Mickey Mouse Club, Mickey Mouse Cl ...

and

Tommy Kirk Thomas Lee Kirk (December 10, 1941 − September 28, 2021) was an American actor, best known for his performances in films made by Walt Disney Studios such as '' Old Yeller'', '' The Shaggy Dog'', '' Swiss Family Robinson'', ''The Absent-Minde ...

and '' Guardian of the Wilderness'' with Denver Pyle as

Galen Clark Galen Clark (March 28, 1814 – March 24, 1910) was a British North American-born American conservationist and writer. He is known as the first European American to discover the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia trees, and is notable for his ro ...

John Dehner John Dehner (DAY-ner; born John Dehner Forkum; November 23, 1915February 4, 1992), also credited Dehner Forkum, was an American stage, radio, film, and television character actor. From the late 1930s to the late 1980s, he amassed a long list o ...

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the national park, National Parks", was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologi ...

and

Ford Rainey Ford Rainey (August 8, 1908 – July 25, 2005) was an American film, stage, and television actor.Myrna Oliver ''Los Angeles Times'', July 26, 2005. Early life Rainey was born in Mountain Home, Idaho, the son of Vyrna (née Kinkade), a teacher, ...

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Personal life

Miller married Stan Shapiro, a stockbroker, in 1968.

References

External links

*
Los Angeles Times

Living people Actresses from Los Angeles American film actresses American television actresses Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players People from Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles 21st-century American women Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-tv-actor-1940s-stub