Denny Miller's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Wagon Train Duke Shannon Lonesome Dove: The Series (CA) Sherriff Ow… Mona McCluskey Mike McClus…

Main Movie Roles

BIOGRAPHY:

Miller was born in Bloomington, Indiana where his father, Ben Miller, was a physical education instructor at Indiana University. He and his brother, Kent, began playing basketball almost from the day they were born. The Miller family left Bloomington when Denny was in the fourth grade. He and his brother played basketball in Silver Springs, Maryland, and Baldwin, New York before they moved to Los Angeles. It was at University High School in Los Angeles where Denny and Kent came to the attention of Coach Johnny Wooden. They were given full-ride scholarships to UCLA. The Miller brothers played together at UCLA for one year, and their father joined the faculty of UCLA. In his senior year, while working as a furniture mover to pay for school, he was discovered on Sunset Boulevard by a Hollywood Agent who signed him with MGM. His first role was a bit part in "Some Came Running" which was filmed in Madison, Indiana. Denny said, "I was the only one who came running. I came running to tell Dean Martin that somebody was in town to shoot him!" He became the first blond Tarzan in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959)), a cheapie/quickie which lifted most of its footage from earlier Johnny Weissmuller movies. MGM had him under contract for 20 months; in that time, he worked 8 weeks as Tarzan. After that, he did guest spots on a number of TV Series, finally becoming a regular on "Wagon Train" (1957) as Duke Shannon (his name was then Scott Miller). In 1965-6, he starred (as Denny again) with Juliet Prowse in TV's "Mona McCluskey" (1965) series.


TRIVIA:

• For years, he was the "Gorton Fisherman", appearing in numerous commercials in his yellow rain gear. In early 2005, he was replaced by another actor, 'Craig Littler' (qv), according to Gorton. Gorton indicated the change was made because of their desire to take a "change in direction" in their commercials. Miller had become the Gorton icon.
• The first blond Tarzan (_Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959)_ (qv)).
• Interviewed in Tom Weaver's book "Science Fiction Confidential" (McFarland & Co., 2002).
• Big Wally of early 70s TV commercials