Denny Miller
Actor Denny Miller's career began like a Hollywood fairytale. Miller, an athlete, played basketball for the Bruins at UCLA, where his father taught physical education. To pay his way, Miller moved furniture during his senior year. One day, while working a furniture job on Sunset Boulevard, he was spotted by an agent. The agent signed Miller to a contract with MGM, and Miller's first screen test was directed by no less than Hollywood giant George Cukor. Miller's first role was in 1958's "Some Came Running." After that, he was cast as the first blond Tarzan in the low-budget film "Tarzan, the Ape Man" (1959). The movie was cheap to make, as most of its footage was taken from an earlier film. Under his 20-month contract, Miller did guest spots on a variety of television shows produced by MGM, including "Wagon Train" (NBC/ABC 1957-1965), on which he became a series regular. Miller continued his career as a guest actor on successful shows, and made dozens of appearances, including episodes of "M*A*S*H" (CBS 1972-1983), "The Rockford Files" (NBC 1974-1980), "Charlie's Angels" (ABC 1976-1981), "Dallas" (CBS 1978-1991) and "Magnum, P.I." (CBS 1980-88). Despite his ubiquity on series television during this era, perhaps his best known came as The Gorton's Fisherman, appearing for years in commercials for the frozen food manufacturer. Later in his life, Miller wrote an autobiography about his career as a character actor, called Didn't You Used to Be What's His Name?. Denny Miller died September 9, 2014 in his adopted home of Las Vegas.
Photos
Denny Miller
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Shooting Stars | Unknown (Character) | - | 1983 |
No Score Yet |
|
Caboblanco | Horst (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Norseman | Rauric (Character) | - | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dr. Scorpion | The Dane (Character) | - | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Danger in Paradise | Unknown (Character) | - | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Gravy Train | Rex (Character) | - | 1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Doomsday Machine | Col. Don Price (Character) | - | 1972 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Blind Man's Bluff | Bill (Character) | - | 1970 |
83% |
|
The Party | "Wyoming Bill" Kelso (Character) | - | 1968 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fury River | Cooper (Character) | - | 1962 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Love in a Goldfish Bowl | Oscar Flegler (Character) | - | 1961 |
No Score Yet |
|
Tarzan, the Ape Man | Tarzan (Character) | - | 1959 |
78% |
|
Some Came Running | Dewey Cole (Character) | - | 1958 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dr. Quinn | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1996 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Bordertown | Vince Stockard (Guest Star) | 1989-1990 |
No Score Yet | 95% | Magnum, P.I. | FBI Agent Longdon (Guest Star) | 1982-1983 1986 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Fall Guy | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1982 1984 |
No Score Yet | 80% | Knight Rider | Big Ed Barton (Guest Star) | 1984 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dallas | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1984 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hart to Hart | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1984 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Simon & Simon | Gilbert Dunn (Guest Star) | 1983 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1981 |
No Score Yet | 74% | Incredible Hulk | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1978 1981 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Charlie's Angels | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1977 1979 1981 |
No Score Yet | 87% | M*A*S*H | Military Policeman (Guest Star) | 1981 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Beyond Westworld | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1980 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fantasy Island | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1980 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Rockford Files | Norman (Guest Star) | 1977-1978 |
43% | 83% | Battlestar Galactica | Ser 5-9 (Guest Star) | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Barnaby Jones | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1975 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Alice | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Bronk | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Cannon | Phil Sedakis (Guest Star) | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Six Million Dollar Man | Stellen (Guest Star) | 1974-1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Streets of San Francisco | Sims' Driver (Guest Star) | 1974 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | McCloud | Murphy Michaels (Guest Star) | 1973 |
78% | No Score Yet | The Brady Bunch | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Gunsmoke | Lijah (Guest Star) | 1971 |
No Score Yet | 58% | I Dream of Jeannie | Moose Murphy (Guest Star) | 1970 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Name of the Game | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1969 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hawaii Five-0 | John Hayes (Guest Star) | 1969 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The High Chaparral | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1968 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | I Spy | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1968 |
90% | 73% | Gilligan's Island | Tongo the ape man (Guest Star) | 1965 1967 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Fugitive | Willie Turner (Guest Star) | 1966 |
10% | No Score Yet | The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1966 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Ben Casey | Wesley Boone (Guest Star) | 1965 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Wagon Train |
Duke Shannon (Character), Unknown (Guest Star) |
1961-1964 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Deputy | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1961 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tales of Wells Fargo | Stickson (Guest Star) | 1961 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Rifleman | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1960 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Laramie | Wilkie (Guest Star) | 1960 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Have Gun -- Will Travel | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1960 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Northwest Passage | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1958 |