# Colleen Miller > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Colleen_Miller > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Colleen_Miller.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleen_Miller > Source revision: 1356684594 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American actress (born 1932)}} {{for|the Canadian Olympic rower|Colleen Miller (rower)}} {{Use American English|date=July 2020}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Colleen Miller | image = Colleen Miller in The Purple Mask.jpg | image_size = | caption = Miller in ''[The Purple Mask](/source/The_Purple_Mask)'' (1955) | birth_name = Colleen Joy Miller{{cite news |last1=Hopper |first1=Hedda |title=Looking at Hollywood with Hedda Hopper |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24572704/colleen_miller/ |work=The Honolulu Advertiser |date=February 20, 1955 |location=Hawaii, Honolulu |page=58|via = [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)|access-date = October 15, 2018}} {{Open access}} | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1932|11|10}} | birth_place = [Yakima](/source/Yakima%2C_Washington), [Washington](/source/Washington_(U.S._state)), U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | othername = | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1952–1972 | children=2 | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Ted Briskin|1955|1975}} * {{marriage|Walter Ralphs|1976|2010|reason=died}} }} | parents = }} '''Colleen Joy Miller''' (born November 10, 1932)Hoffman, Henryk (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=IWNZAAAAMAAJ&q=November+10,+1932+%22colleen+miller%22 "A" Western Filmmakers: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers, Directors, Cinematographers, Composers, Actors and Actresses]. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 420. {{ISBN|9780786406968}}. is an American former actress. She starred in several films, such as the Westerns ''[Gunfight at Comanche Creek](/source/Gunfight_at_Comanche_Creek)'' (1963) and ''[Four Guns to the Border](/source/Four_Guns_to_the_Border)'' (1954). ==Early life== The daughter of Elias and Lillian Miller,{{cite news |last1=Korman |first1=Seymour |title=Lucky Colleen |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24573098/colleen_miller/ |work=Chicago Tribune |date=February 3, 1957 |location=Illinois, Chicago |page=123|via = [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)|access-date = October 15, 2018}} {{Open access}} she was born in [Yakima, Washington](/source/Yakima%2C_Washington), and raised in [Portland, Oregon](/source/Portland%2C_Oregon).{{cite web|work=Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen|url=https://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/189/Colleen+Miller/index.html|title=The Private Life and Times of Colleen Miller}}{{sfn|Fitzgerald|Magers|2006|p=173}} Miller attended [Lincoln High School](/source/Lincoln_High_School_(Portland%2C_Oregon)) in Portland and graduated at age fifteen. In 1949, she was chosen "Miss Portland". Her mother named her after actress [Colleen Moore](/source/Colleen_Moore).{{cite news |last1=Scott |first1=John L. |title=Actress Inherits a Career |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77117531/colleen-miller/ |access-date=May 6, 2021 |work=The Los Angeles Times |date=October 10, 1954 |page=Part IV – 3|via = [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}} 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](/source/San_Francisco) ballet company, and relocated to [Las Vegas](/source/Las_Vegas) after three seasons to work at the [Flamingo](/source/Flamingo_Las_Vegas).{{sfn|Fitzgerald|Magers|2006|p=173}} ==Career== [[File:Myrna Hansen et al.png|thumb|Photo of "[Universal](/source/Universal_Pictures) starlets" in 1954 (from left: [Myrna Hansen](/source/Myrna_Hansen), [Mamie Van Doren](/source/Mamie_Van_Doren), [Allison Hayes](/source/Allison_Hayes), Colleen Miller)]] While dancing in Las Vegas, Miller was spotted by a talent agent who signed her to a contract with [Howard Hughes](/source/Howard_Hughes) for his [RKO](/source/RKO) Pictures company.{{sfn|Fitzgerald|Magers|2006|p=173}} She was 19 when she made her first film appearance in ''[The Las Vegas Story](/source/The_Las_Vegas_Story_(film))'', starring [Jane Russell](/source/Jane_Russell).{{sfn|Fitzgerald|Magers|2006|p=173}} She shared top billing with [Rory Calhoun](/source/Rory_Calhoun) in her next film, a western titled ''[Four Guns to the Border](/source/Four_Guns_to_the_Border)'', which co-starred [Nina Foch](/source/Nina_Foch).{{sfn|Fitzgerald|Magers|2006|p=173}} She then had a leading role in ''[Playgirl](/source/Playgirl_(1954_film))'' 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](/source/Universal_Pictures), where she co-starred with [Tony Curtis](/source/Tony_Curtis) in two films, ''[The Purple Mask](/source/The_Purple_Mask)'' and ''[The Rawhide Years](/source/The_Rawhide_Years)''.{{sfn|Fitzgerald|Magers|2006|p=174–5}} Miller made one more film after 1958, a western titled ''[Gunfight at Comanche Creek](/source/Gunfight_at_Comanche_Creek)'' opposite [Audie Murphy](/source/Audie_Murphy), before retiring from acting.{{sfn|Fitzgerald|Magers|2006|p=175}} She has an uncredited bit part in 1972's ''[Stand Up and Be Counted](/source/Stand_Up_and_Be_Counted)''. ==Personal life== On January 20, 1955, Miller married camera manufacturer Ted Briskin.{{cite news |title=Ted Briskin Weds Actress |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/01/22/archives/ted-briskin-weds-actress.html |access-date=May 6, 2021 |work=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press |date=January 22, 1955 |page=9|id = {{ProQuest| }} }} They remained wed until 1975. She married Walter Ralphs, an heir to the [Ralphs](/source/Ralphs) supermarket chain, in 1976, until his death in 2010. She currently resides in [California](/source/California).{{Citation needed |date=December 2023}} ==Filmography== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1952 |''[The Las Vegas Story](/source/The_Las_Vegas_Story_(film))'' | Mary | Starred [Jane Russell](/source/Jane_Russell), [Victor Mature](/source/Victor_Mature) |- | 1953 | ''[Man Crazy](/source/Man_Crazy_(1953_film))'' | Judy Bassett | |- | 1954 |''[Four Guns to the Border](/source/Four_Guns_to_the_Border)'' | Lolly Bhumer | co-starred with [Rory Calhoun](/source/Rory_Calhoun), [Walter Brennan](/source/Walter_Brennan) |- | 1954 |''[Playgirl](/source/Playgirl_(1954_film))'' | Phyllis Matthews | co-starred with [Barry Sullivan](/source/Barry_Sullivan_(actor)) |- | 1955 |''[The Purple Mask](/source/The_Purple_Mask)'' | Laurette de Latour | co-starred with [Tony Curtis](/source/Tony_Curtis) |- | 1956 | ''[The Rawhide Years](/source/The_Rawhide_Years)'' | Zoe Fontaine | co-starred with [Tony Curtis](/source/Tony_Curtis) |- | 1957 |''[The Night Runner](/source/The_Night_Runner)'' | Susan Mayes | co-starred with [Ray Danton](/source/Ray_Danton) |- | 1957 |''[Man in the Shadow](/source/Man_in_the_Shadow_(American_film))'' | Skippy Renchler | co-starred with [Jeff Chandler](/source/Jeff_Chandler_(actor)) and [Orson Welles](/source/Orson_Welles) |- | 1957 |''[Hot Summer Night](/source/Hot_Summer_Night_(1957_film))'' | Irene Partain | co-starred with [Leslie Nielsen](/source/Leslie_Nielsen) |- | 1958 | ''[Step Down to Terror](/source/Step_Down_to_Terror)'' | Helen Walters | co-starred with [Charles Drake](/source/Charles_Drake_(actor)) and [Rod Taylor](/source/Rod_Taylor) |- | 1963 |''[Gunfight at Comanche Creek](/source/Gunfight_at_Comanche_Creek)'' | Abbie Stevens | co-starred with [Audie Murphy](/source/Audie_Murphy) and [Ben Cooper](/source/Ben_Cooper) |- | 1972 | ''[Stand Up and Be Counted](/source/Stand_Up_and_Be_Counted)'' | Nun | Uncredited |- |} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Works cited== * {{cite book|last1=Fitzgerald|first1=Michael G.|last2=Magers|first2=Boyd|title=Ladies of the Western: Interviews with Fifty-One More Actresses from the Silent Era to the Television Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s|year=2006|publisher=McFarland|isbn= 978-1-476-60796-2}} ==External links== {{Commons category|Colleen Miller}} * {{IMDb name|588125}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Colleen}} Category:1932 births Category:Living people Category:American film actresses Category:American television actresses Category:20th-century American actresses Category:People from Yakima, Washington Category:Actresses from Portland, Oregon Category:Actresses from Washington (state) Category:Lincoln High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni Category:RKO Pictures contract players Category:Western (genre) film actresses Category:21st-century American women {{US-film-actor-1930s-stub}} --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Colleen Miller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleen_Miller) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleen_Miller?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.