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Debra Ann Miller is a professional actress, vocalist and voice-over talent with over 30 years of experience as a performer for live audiences, television, and film. Debra has balanced her career between commercial and educational theater since graduating from Michigan State University’s Department of Theater in 1985.
- She Had A Terrible Illness
- She Was A Prodigy
- She Caught Her Father Red-Handed
- She Protected Her Mother
- She Had No Choice
- She Knocked Their Socks Off
- She Wasn't Old Enough
- She Lied Through Her Teeth
- She Had The Perfect Breakout Role
- She Danced with Her Idol
Born April 12, 1923, Johnnie Lucille Collier had a long way to go before becoming Ann Miller, a dancing Hollywood sensation. Growing up in Houston, Texas, little Ann had her fair share of hardship. For one, her health was terrible, and before the age of five, she'd already been diagnosed with rickets. But unbeknownst to her, this was a blessing in ...
Worried about her daughter's weak legs, Ann's mother Clara placed her in dance lessons. To everyone's delight, Ann absolutely shone on stage. Recognizing her daughter's talent, Clara tried to push her daughter into becoming a ballerina. However, Ann had something else in mind. What she loved most about dance were the pulsing rhythms—the drums and t...
When she was only nine years old, Ann's family came apart at the seams. On one devastating occasion, Ann and her mother arrived home to find her father, John Collier, in bed with another woman. In fact, it was Ann who noticed her father's mistress in the window and tried to shield her mother from the heartbreaking sight. But that wasn't all. Biogra...
Disgusted with her father, Ann walked straight through the front door and yelled, "Get out of my mother's home." After that, everything was different. Because of her father's infidelity, she and her mother turned their backs on him entirely; they packed their bags and headed to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, her hopes of a prosperous fresh start were ...
Because Ann's mother was deaf, finding a job and a steady income was a constant struggle. Sometimes, Ann and Clara weren't able to put food on the table. And so, from a very young age, the responsibility of keeping them afloat fell to Ann. In many ways, she had to become the mother. Determined to make some money, 11-year-old Ann strapped on her dan...
In 1936, Ann began dancing at the renowned Bal Tabarin, a San Francisco club and one of the hottest city spots. One night, actress Lucille Ball and talent scout Benny Rubin sat in the audience, watching Ann's performance. Needless to say, they were deeply impressed. Afterward, Rubin came to Ann and offered to secure her an acting contract with RKO ...
Rubin told Ann that the contract was hers as long as she could prove that she was 18 years old. This was a massiveissue because, of course, Ann was only 13. Desperate to make this opportunity a reality, Ann had no choice but to turn to her cheating father for help. As a lawyer, John Collier had the power to give his daughter exactly what she wanted...
To get her foot in the door, Ann had her father break the law for her: He made her a fake certificate "proving" to RKO studios that his daughter was actually 18. To complete the ruse, her mother also offered her some key advice on how to act like an adult: "Always dress impeccably, wear makeup, and keep your mouth shut." With this mature facade in ...
The very same year, Ann landed a small role in Stage Door, and it was practically a dream come true. She starred with not only Katharine Hepburn, but one of her greatest idols, dancing royalty Ginger Rogers. When Ann learned that Ginger needed a partner for one of the numbers, she begged director Gregory La Cava to give her the part. When La Cava t...
To drive her pitch home, Ann Miller told director Gregory La Cava, "I can wear a higher top hat and a lower heel—if she could put on a little higher heel and a little lower top hat." This was the right thing to say. Ginger Rogers began laughing her head off, and before La Cava could say anything, she cried, "Okay string bean, you got it." Unsurpris...
Ann Miller (born Johnnie Lucille Collier; April 12, 1923 – January 22, 2004) was an American actress and dancer. She is best remembered for her work in the classical Hollywood cinema musicals of the 1940s and 1950s.
Ann Miller, the raven-haired, long-legged actress and dancer whose machine-gun taps won her stardom during the golden age of movie musicals, died Thursday of lung cancer. She was 81....
Actress: Mulholland Drive. Ann Miller was born Johnnie Lucille Ann Collier on April 12, 1923 in Chireno, Texas. She lived there until she was nine, when her mother left her philandering father and moved with Ann to Los Angeles, California.
- April 12, 1923
- January 22, 2004
Ann Miller (1923-2004) was an American actress, dancer, singer and author. Best known as a tap dancer, Miller practiced other forms of dance, and some of her solo routines are considered as...
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Ann Miller was an American singer, dancer and actress who starred in more than 40 Hollywood films during her career including 'Easter Parade' in 1948, with Fred Astaire and Judy Garland and 'On The Town' in 1949 with Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. She was renowned for her slim figure and long dancer's legs and for the speed of her tap dancing.
