Biographie
After finishing high school in St. Louis, Missouri, Miller enrolled at Washington University in the same city, where he participated in dramatic and musical comedy groups. He played in the band, edited the school newspaper, and launched his professional radio career during his freshman year. Although initially rejected when applying for a job at a local radio station without prior experience, he returned days later to audition as a character actor. He performed multiple roles in a self-written sketch, portraying an Englishman, a Frenchman, an Italian, an American gangster, and a straight man. This time, he was hired as a summer replacement. After graduating, he relocated to Chicago and quickly became a prominent announcer and actor.
By 1944, before moving to Hollywood, he was featured on approximately 45 broadcasts weekly. Variety called him "Chicago's one-man radio industry." Just two days after arriving in Hollywood, he secured roles in two major programs along with several other shows. He narrated or appeared in numerous productions including The Millionaire (1955) as narrator "Michael Anthony," Insight (1960), The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo (1964), The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952), Space Patrol (1950), The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950), The F.B.I. (1965), and Love, American Style (1969), among many others. Beyond these, Miller performed extensive character voice work. A skilled dialectician, he voiced the French Sureté's Commissioner in DePatie-Freleng's "The Inspector" cartoons (alternating with voice actor Paul Frees), part of "The Pink Panther Show," and contributed various voices in other cartoons within the "Pink Panther" series. He also portrayed a wisecracking Native American on the beach during Columbus’s 1492 voyage on the early 1960s album "Stan Freberg Presents The United States Of America." Miller narrated films such as My Country 'Tis of Thee (1950), which received an Academy Award nomination, and the pseudo-documentary Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers (1956). He earned Grammy Awards in 1965 and 1966 for his recordings of Dr. Seuss stories.
His hobbies included woodworking, collecting menus, bookbinding, painting, photography, and amassing rare phonograph recordings. Additionally, he recorded the entire Holy Bible on record—the first complete audio Bible—featuring over a million words and running for about a week and a half.
