Denny Scott Miller (born April 25, 1934, in
Bloomington, IndianaBloomington is a city and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. According to the 2000 census, the city population was 69,291 with a 2007 estimate of 72,254....
) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, perhaps best known for his guest-starring roles on
Gilligan's IslandGilligan's Island is an American TV sitcom originally produced by United Artists Television. It aired for three seasons on the CBS network, from September 26, 1964 to September 4, 1967. It was originally sponsored by Philip Morris & Company and Procter & Gamble...
and as
TarzanTarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by fictional great apes, who later returns to civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
in the late 1950s.
Miller was a
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
star at
UCLAThe University of California, Los Angeles is a research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the United States. It was founded in 1919 and is the second-oldest general-purpose campus in the University of California system...
, where his father was a
physical educationPhysical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting...
instructor. In his senior year, while working as a furniture mover to pay for school, he was discovered on
Sunset BoulevardSunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
by a Hollywood agent who signed him with
MGMMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., or MGM, is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B...
. He became the first blond Tarzan in
Tarzan, the Ape Man (
1959The year 1959 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bullfighters.*September 18 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx marries his second wife, Barbara Blakely....
), a cheapie/quickie which lifted most of its footage from earlier
Johnny WeissmullerJohnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor who was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven world records...
movies.
Denny Scott Miller (born April 25, 1934, in
Bloomington, IndianaBloomington is a city and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. According to the 2000 census, the city population was 69,291 with a 2007 estimate of 72,254....
) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, perhaps best known for his guest-starring roles on
Gilligan's IslandGilligan's Island is an American TV sitcom originally produced by United Artists Television. It aired for three seasons on the CBS network, from September 26, 1964 to September 4, 1967. It was originally sponsored by Philip Morris & Company and Procter & Gamble...
and as
TarzanTarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by fictional great apes, who later returns to civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
in the late 1950s.
Miller was a
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
star at
UCLAThe University of California, Los Angeles is a research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the United States. It was founded in 1919 and is the second-oldest general-purpose campus in the University of California system...
, where his father was a
physical educationPhysical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting...
instructor. In his senior year, while working as a furniture mover to pay for school, he was discovered on
Sunset BoulevardSunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
by a Hollywood agent who signed him with
MGMMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., or MGM, is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B...
. He became the first blond Tarzan in
Tarzan, the Ape Man (
1959The year 1959 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* The Three Stooges make their 190th and last short film, Sappy Bullfighters.*September 18 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx marries his second wife, Barbara Blakely....
), a cheapie/quickie which lifted most of its footage from earlier
Johnny WeissmullerJohnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor who was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven world records...
movies. MGM had him under contract for 20 months; in that time, he worked eight weeks as Tarzan. After that, he did guest spots on a number of television series, such as
Northwest PassageNorthwest Passage is a 26-episode half-hour adventure television series about Major Robert Rogers during the time of the French and Indian War . The show derived its title and the main characters Rogers, Towne, and Marriner from the 1937 novel of the same name by Kenneth Roberts...
, a 1958-1959
adventureThe adventure genre, in the context of a narrative, is typically applied to works in which the protagonist or other major characters are consistently placed in dangerous situations, and a fictional character who lives by their wits and their skills is often called an adventurer...
program on
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
co-starring
Keith LarsenKeith Larsen was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer who starred in three short-lived television series between 1955 and 1961. He was married to actress Vera Miles from 1960-1971....
and
Buddy EbsenBuddy Ebsen was an American character actor and dancer. A performer for seven decades, he had starring roles as Jed Clampett in the 1960s television series, The Beverly Hillbillies and as the title character in the 1970s detective series Barnaby Jones.-Early years:He was born Christian Rudolph...
and on NBC's
westernThe Western is a fiction genre seen in film, television, radio, literature, painting and other visual arts. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in what became the Western United States , but also in Western Canada, Mexico , Alaska The Western...
series,
Overland TrailOverland Trail is a short-lived American Western series which aired on NBC from February 7 to June 6, 1960. The series starred William Bendix and Doug McClure,-Synopsis:...
, starring
William BendixWilliam Bendix was an American film actor.-Early life:Bendix, named for his paternal grandfather, was born in Manhattan, New York City, the only son of Cleveland-born Oscar and London-born Hilda Bendix...
and
Doug McClureDouglas Osborne McClure was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s...
, and
LaramieLaramie is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1963. Laramie was a Revue Studios production which originally starred John Smith as Slim Sherman, Robert Fuller as Jess Harper, Hoagy Carmichael as Jonesy and Robert Crawford, Jr., as Andy Sherman.-Synopsis:The story...
, co-starring
John SmithJohn Smith was an American actor remembered in particular for two NBC western television series. He was born in Los Angeles and died there as well of cirrhosis of the liver....
and
Robert FullerRobert Welch is a professional wrestler and manager better known by his ring names Robert Fuller and Col. Parker. Robert and his brother Ron co-owned Continental Championship Wrestling for a time.-Career:...
. From 1961-1964, Miller was a regular on
Wagon TrainWagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957-1962 and then on ABC from 1962-1965...
in the role of the
scoutReconnaissance is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information. Militarily, its shorthand Canadian and British form is recce , its American usage form is recon...
, Duke Shannon. In 1965-1966, after
Wagon Train was cancelled, he starred on NBC as the husband of
Juliet ProwseJuliet Anne Prowse was a South African dancer, whose four decade career included stage, television and film but dancing remained her true love. She was known for her striking beauty, sultry smile and famous long legs.-Early life:Prowse was born in Bombay, India and raised in South Africa.Prowse...
in the sitcom
Mona McCluskeyMona McCluskey aka Meet Mona McCluskey was an American sitcom that appeared on NBC as part of its 1965-1966 schedule. The series starred Juliet Prowse as Mona McCluskey, a movie actress who marries an United States Marine Corps |soldier], Mike McCluskey, played by Denny Scott Miller...
. He also appeared on the western series
GunsmokeGunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
as Lijah.
Miller guest-starred on
Gilligan's IslandGilligan's Island is an American TV sitcom originally produced by United Artists Television. It aired for three seasons on the CBS network, from September 26, 1964 to September 4, 1967. It was originally sponsored by Philip Morris & Company and Procter & Gamble...
in 1964 as Duke Williams in episode “Big Man on Little Stick”, and in 1967 as Tongo the Ape Man in episode “Our Vines Have Tender Apes”. He would also guest-star on another
Sherwood SchwartzSherwood Charles Schwartz is an American television producer. He worked on radio shows in the 1940s, and created the television series Gilligan's Island on CBS and The Brady Bunch on ABC...
production,
The Brady BunchThe Brady Bunch is an American television sitcom. starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis, which revolves around a large blended family...
, in 1973 as Carol Brady's egomaniacal high-school boyfriend Tank Gates in the episode "Quarterback Sneak".
In 1968, Miller appeared as "Wyoming" Bill Kelso in the
Peter SellersRichard Henry Sellers, CBE, commonly known as Peter Sellers was a British comedian and actor best known for his roles in Dr...
movie
The PartyThe Party is a 1968 comedy written and directed by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for the comic talents of Sellers...
, which he remembers as the most fun part he ever did. He appeared in the
Battlestar GalacticaBattlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, produced in 1978 by Glen Larson and starring Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict....
episode "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero" and the
Buck Rogers in the 25th CenturyBuck Rogers in the 25th Century is an American science fiction adventure television series produced by Universal Studios. The series ran for two seasons between 1979 - 1981, and the feature-length pilot episode for the series was released as a theatrical film several months before the series...
episode "The Dorian Secret". He also appeared as John Hays on "
Hawaii Five-OHawaii Five-O is an American television series that starred Jack Lord in the lead role for a fictional Hawaii state police department. The show ran for 12 seasons, from 1968 to 1980. The twelfth season was repackaged into syndication under the title McGarrett.-Overview:The CBS television network...
" in the episode "Pray Love Remember, Pray Love Remember" in 1968. His character was a college boyfriend wrongly accused of murder.
Miller later appeared as an alien invader in the television miniseries
VV is a two-part science fiction television miniseries, written and directed by Kenneth Johnson. First shown in 1983, it initiated the science fiction franchise concerning aliens known as "The Visitors" trying to gain control of Earth.-Plot summary:...
. All together, he starred in over 200 episodic television series. He played the
Gorton's FishermanGorton’s of Gloucester is a subsidiary of the Japanese seafood conglomerate Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd., producing fishsticks and other frozen seafood for the retail market in the United States. Gorton’s also has a North American foodservice business which sells to fast-food restaurants such as...
in his yellow rain gear on TV commercials for 14 years.
Denny Miller wrote an autobiography titled
"Didn't You Used To Be...What's His Name?" and a book about the
obesityObesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
problem in the United States called
"Toxic Waist?...Get To Know Sweat!". USA Book News selected this last book as a Finalist in the Health Category for "Best Books 2006".
Miller now lives with his wife, Nancy, in
Las Vegas, NevadaLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and entertainment. Las Vegas, which bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of...
, and teaches classes in relaxation.
See also
- Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor who was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven world records...
- Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by fictional great apes, who later returns to civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
- Mike Henry
- Buster Crabbe
Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe was an American athlete and actor, who starred in a number of popular serials in the 1930s and 1940s.- Birth :...
- Lex Barker
Lex Barker was an American actor best known for playing Tarzan of the Apes and leading characters from Karl May's novels.-Early life:...
- Ron Ely
Ronald Pierce "Ron" Ely is the stage name of the American actor and novelist born in Hereford, Texas. He is best known for having portrayed Tarzan in the 1966 NBC series Tarzan....
External links