Colleen Joy Miller (born November 10, 1932) is an American actress. She starred in several films, such as the Westerns '' Gunfight at Comanche Creek'' (1963) and ''

Four Guns to the Border ''Four Guns to the Border'' is a 1954 American Western film directed by Richard Carlson and starring Rory Calhoun, Colleen Miller, George Nader, Walter Brennan and Nina Foch.p.173 Fitzgerald, Michael G. & Magers, Boyd ''Ladies of the Western: ...

'' (1954).

Early life

The daughter of Elias and Lillian Miller, she was born in

Yakima, Washington Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The unin ...

, and raised in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

. Miller attended Lincoln High School in Portland and graduated at age fifteen. In 1949, she was chosen "Miss Portland". Her mother named her after actress Colleen Moore. As a child, Miller studied ballet, but when she was older she changed to popular dancing. After graduating, she worked as a professional dancer in a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

ballet company, and relocated to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...

after three seasons to work at the

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbean) ...

Career

While dancing in Las Vegas, Miller was spotted by a talent agent who signed her to a contract with

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in t ...

for his RKO Pictures company. She was 19 when she made her first film appearance in '' The Las Vegas Story'', starring

Jane Russell Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American actress, singer, and model. She was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. She starred in more than 20 films. Russell moved from th ...

. She shared top billing with

Rory Calhoun Rory Calhoun (born Francis Timothy McCown, August 8, 1922April 28, 1999) was an American film and television actor. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in supporting roles in films such as ''How to Marry a Millio ...

in her next film, a western titled ''

'', which co-starred

Nina Foch Nina Foch ( ; born Nina Consuelo Maud Fock; April 20, 1924 – December 5, 2008) was a Dutch-born American actress who later became an instructor. Her career spanned six decades, consisting of over 50 feature films and over 100 television appea ...

. She then had a leading role in ''

Playgirl ''Playgirl'' was an American magazine that featured general interest articles, lifestyle and celebrity news, in addition to nude or semi-nude men. In the 1970s and 1980s, the magazine printed monthly and was marketed mainly to women, although it ...

'' 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 Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

, where she co-starred with

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

in two films, '' The Purple Mask'' and '' The Rawhide Years''. Miller made one more film after 1958, a western titled '' Gunfight at Comanche Creek'' opposite

Audie Murphy Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was an American soldier, actor and songwriter. He was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. He received every military combat award for valor available from t ...

, before retiring from acting. However, she has an uncredited bit part in 1972's '' Stand Up and Be Counted''.

Personal life

On January 20, 1955, Miller married camera manufacturer Ted Briskin. They remained wed until 1975. She married Walter Ralphs, an heir to the

Ralphs Ralphs is an American supermarket chain in Southern California. The largest subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Kroger, it is the oldest such chain west of the Mississippi River. Kroger also operates stores under the Food 4 Less and Foods Co. names ...

supermarket chain, in 1976. She currently resides in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

Filmography

References

Works cited

External links

* 1932 births Living people American film actresses American television actresses 20th-century American actresses People from Yakima, Washington Actresses from Portland, Oregon Actresses from Washington (state) Lincoln High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni RKO Pictures contract players Western (genre) film actresses 21st-century American women {{US-film-actor-1930s-stub