{{Short description|American costume designer (1933–2012)}} {{About|the fashion designer|the author|Nolan Miller (author)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox person | image = Nolan Miller.jpg | caption = | occupation = Fashion and jewelry designer | birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|1|8}} | birth_place = Burkburnett, Texas, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2012|6|7|1933|1|8}} | death_place = Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | years_active = 1975–2011 | spouse = {{marriage|Sandra Stream Miller|1980|1993|end=divorced}} }}
'''Nolan Bertrandoff Miller''' (January 8, 1933 – June 7, 2012)<ref name="Collins">{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/joancollinsobe/status/210661702113562626|title=My dear friend Nolan Miller died peacefully in his sleep last night. He was a huge part of my life and I will miss him terribly. Rest now NM|last=Collins|first=Joan|date=June 7, 2012|publisher=Twitter|accessdate=June 7, 2012|archive-date=December 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218040727/https://twitter.com/Joancollinsdbe/status/210661702113562626|url-status=live}}</ref> was an American fashion and jewelry designer on QVC and a television costume designer best known for his work on the long-running 1980s series ''Dynasty'', its spin-off series ''The Colbys'' and the 1991 miniseries ''Dynasty: The Reunion''. He collaborated on many projects with television producers Aaron Spelling and Douglas S. Cramer, including ''Charlie's Angels'', ''The Love Boat'', ''Fantasy Island'', ''Hotel'', ''Hart to Hart'', and ''Vega$''.
==Early life== Miller was born at Burkburnett, Texas in 1933. He was the fourth of five children born to William and Marie Miller.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wilson |first=Eric |date=2012-06-08 |title=Nolan Miller, Designer of ‘Dynasty’ Power Looks, Is Dead at 79 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/fashion/nolan-miller-designer-of-dynasty-looks-dies-at-79.html |access-date=2024-02-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304010912/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/fashion/nolan-miller-designer-of-dynasty-looks-dies-at-79.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Nolan later stated, "When I was about in the 5th or the 6th grade I made up my mind I fell in love with movies and I thought I want to design gorgeous costumes for gorgeous stars and it was my lifelong ambition. I never wanted anything else. I never changed".<ref name="QVC-In-memory">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi1eexCopo4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/fi1eexCopo4 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=In Memory of Nolan Miller|date=June 7, 2012|publisher=QVC on YouTube|accessdate=June 8, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He worked in the oil fields of Texas and Louisiana after high school. His family moved at least twice before settling in San Bernardino, California. He studied design at the Chouinard Art Institute, now the California Institute of the Arts. Unable to find work in the entertainment industry, he worked in a florist shop in Beverly Hills, where he met Aaron Spelling, who hired Miller to design clothes for the various television series.<ref name="QVC-In-memory"/><ref name="Wilson">{{cite web |first=Eric |last=Wilson |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/fashion/nolan-miller-designer-of-dynasty-looks-dies-at-79.html |title=Nolan Miller, Designer of ''Dynasty'' Power Looks, Is Dead at 79 |date=June 8, 2012 |accessdate=June 15, 2016 |work=The New York Times |archive-date=March 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304010912/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/fashion/nolan-miller-designer-of-dynasty-looks-dies-at-79.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
==Career== Miller designed costumes for multiple Spelling-produced television series, including ''Charlie's Angels'', ''The Love Boat'' and ''Green Acres'',<ref name="Wilson"/> but is best known as the costume designer for the 1980s prime time soap opera ''Dynasty'', and related series.<ref name="Wilson"/><ref name="Schemering">{{Cite book |last=Schemering |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Schemering |title=The Soap Opera Encyclopedia |date=September 1985 |pages=80–81 |publisher=Ballantine Books |isbn=0-345-32459-5}}</ref> His designs, in particular those made for the characters Alexis Colby (Joan Collins) and Dominique Deveraux (Diahann Carroll), set a fashion trend for thick shoulder pads, power suits and "old-Hollywood-style wardrobe of sequined gowns, luncheon suits, wide-brimmed hats, frivolous veils, fur stoles and the occasional turban."<ref name="Wilson"/> Other iconic costumes by Miller include Morticia Addams's signature dress on ''The Addams Family'', Ginger Grant's beaded gown on ''Gilligan's Island,'' and gowns featured by various legendary stars who participated in a MGM Musicals Tribute at the 1986 Academy Awards.<ref name="Wilson"/>
From 1983 to 1987, Miller was nominated six times for an Emmy Award. Nominated four times for ''Dynasty'', he won a 1984 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Series for the soap opera.<ref name="Wilson" /> He was also nominated in 1985 for the Elizabeth Taylor television movie ''Malice in Wonderland'', and in 1987 for ''The Two Mrs. Grenvilles'', starring Ann-Margret and Claudette Colbert.
Christopher Schemering notes in ''The Soap Opera Encyclopedia'' that "[t]he Nolan Miller creations became so popular that ''Dynasty'' spawned its own line of women's apparel", and later a men's fashion line.<ref name="Schemering"/> "The ''Dynasty'' Collection," was a series of fashion designs based on costumes worn by Joan Collins, Linda Evans, Stephanie Beacham and Diahann Carroll. Miller maintained a career as a private couturier in Beverly Hills, California, with clients including Taylor, Collins, Sophia Loren and Bette Davis, for whom he designed the red dress that she wore to receive the César Award in France. Miller's office was adorned with autographs of his favorite stars and sketches of these famous costumes, illustrated by his collaborator and sketch artist Donna Peterson, who had previously worked for Helen Rose.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1985-08-04 |title=NOLAN MILLER IN YOUR OWN STYLE MEET THE WARDROBE DESIGNER BEHIND THE GLITZ AND GLITTER OF ''DYNASTY'', ''LOVE BOAT'', AND MANY FILM LUMINARIES |url=https://www.mcall.com/1985/08/04/nolan-miller-in-your-own-style-meet-the-wardrobe-designer-behind-the-glitz-and-glitter-of-dynasty-love-boat-and-many-film-luminaries/ |access-date=2026-04-25 |website=The Morning Call |language=en-US}}</ref>
For two decades he designed a line of jewelry for QVC.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/18/style/glamour-boy.html |last=Kron |first=Joan |date=October 18, 1992 |title=Glamour Boy |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 3, 2019 |archive-date=April 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403092246/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/18/style/glamour-boy.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A 2005 collaboration with Joan Rivers and Kenneth Jay Lane, the ''Scoundrel Collection'', was designed for the Broadway production of the musical ''Dirty Rotten Scoundrels''.<ref>{{citation |title= The Scoundrel Collection |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFpg05zcmYw |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/yFpg05zcmYw |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|date=April 2005 |publisher=tealsunset |accessdate=April 3, 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The collection was presented on QVC with an April 25, 2005 broadcast and sold at the Imperial Theatre's concessionaire.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Dirty-Rotten-Scoundrels-Inspired-Jewelry-a-QVC-Success-20050429 |title=Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Inspired Jewelry a QVC Success |date=April 29, 2005 |accessdate=April 3, 2019 |work=Broadway World |archive-date=April 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403104526/https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Dirty-Rotten-Scoundrels-Inspired-Jewelry-a-QVC-Success-20050429 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 2000, he received the Costume Designers Guild Career Achievement Award.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://costumedesignersguild.com/career-achievement-honorees/ |title=Career Achievement Honorees |access-date=8 October 2025}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== In 1980, Miller married Sandra Stream, the daughter of one of his private clients, New Orleans socialite Matilda Gray Stream. They divorced in 1993.<ref name="Wilson"/>
Miller was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2006.<ref name="Wilson"/> He announced his retirement on July 4, 2011 on QVC.<ref name="QVC-Website">{{cite web|url=http://www.qvc.com/cgen/render.aspx?qp=class%7cJ595|title=QVC.com Retirement Dedication for Nolan Miller, and products|year=2011|via=QVC.com|accessdate=June 7, 2012|archive-date=May 5, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505204419/http://www.qvc.com/cgen/render.aspx?qp=class%7Cj595|url-status=dead}}</ref> Friend and actress Joan Collins broke the news that Miller had died in his sleep in Woodland Hills, California on June 6, 2012; he was 79 years old.<ref name="Collins"/><ref name="Wilson"/> He was predeceased by his ex-wife, Sandra, who died in November 2011; they had no children.<ref name="Wilson"/>
==Selected credits== *''These Old Broads'' (2001) (TV) *''Titans'' (2000–01) (TV) *''Sunset Beach'' (1997) (TV) (jewelry designing and furnishing) *''Pacific Palisades'' (1997) (TV) *''Models Inc'' (1994–95) (TV) *''Dynasty: The Reunion'' (1991) (TV) *''Soapdish'' (1991) *''Peter Gunn'' (1958) (TV) *''Skin Deep'' (1989) *''Malice in Wonderland'' (1985) (TV) *''Hollywood Wives'' (1985) (TV miniseries) *''The Colbys'' (1985-1987) (TV) *''Making of a Male Model'' (1983) (TV) *''Hotel'' (1983–88) (TV) *''Don't Go to Sleep'' (1982) (TV) *''Bare Essence'' (1982) (TV) *''Paper Dolls'' (1982) (TV) *''T.J. Hooker'' (1982–86) (TV) *''Matt Houston'' (1982–1985) (TV) *''Dynasty'' (1981–89) (TV) *''Honey West'' (1965) (TV) *''Hart to Hart'' (1979–84) (TV) *''Lady of the House'' (1978) *''Charlie's Angels'' (1976–81) (TV) *''Folies Bergere at The Tropicana Hotel Las Vegas'' (1975) (Vegas Revue)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Finetti |first=Marisa |date=2016 |title=Rhinestones & Feathers |url=https://davidlv.com/content/rhinestones-feathers |website=davidlv.com |access-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-date=March 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309211631/https://davidlv.com/content/rhinestones-feathers |url-status=live }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{FMD designer}} * {{IMDb name}} * {{The Interviews name}}
{{Costume Designers Guild Career Achievement Award}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Nolan}} Category:1933 births Category:2012 deaths Category:American costume designers Category:Costume Designers Guild Career Achievement Award recipients Category:Deaths from lung cancer in California Category:People from Wichita County, Texas Category:People from San Bernardino, California Category:QVC people