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Cheryl Lynn Miller epitomized the 1960s American 'girl-next-door'. A stunning blonde with a flawless peaches-and-cream complexion, she was from Sherman Oaks, California, the daughter of an architect and a mother employed in Sears, Roebuck and Co.'s accounting department. After graduating high school with interests in science and music, Cheryl attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. She then pursued modeling and began taking occasional supporting roles on television starting in 1957. Her hobbies included skiing, jogging, and horseback riding.
The years 1965 and 1966 marked a turning point for Cheryl. In 1965, she appeared alongside an elephant and a chimpanzee in several episodes of the popular family series Flipper (1964). Walt Disney noticed her and personally signed her for a small part in the comedy The Monkey's Uncle (1965), calling her "the typical American girl." More significantly, writer-producer Ivan Tors was impressed by her rapport with animals and cast her in a co-starring role as the lively Paula Tracy—the daughter of a veterinarian at an East African animal hospital—in Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion (1965). This film effectively served as the pilot for the CBS TV series Daktari (1966). During this time, Cheryl was also honored as one of twelve Hollywood Deb Stars of 1966 and was named Miss Golden Globe, co-presenting the Golden Globe Awards with Andy Williams.
Prior to filming, Cheryl trained for a month at Africa U.S.A., a 200-acre animal farm located forty miles north of Los Angeles, run by Ivan Tors in partnership with animal behaviorist and author Ralph Helfer, creator of Marine World. There, she learned to walk among and interact with lions, chimpanzees, cheetahs, and leopards, developing a special bond with a tame tiger named Sarang.
Daktari aired for four seasons, totaling 89 episodes. By today’s standards, the show has not aged well. Its strongest features were the charming and photogenic Cheryl, Clarence the gentle cross-eyed lion, and Judy the Chimpanzee—also known as 'Debbie the Bloop' from Lost in Space (1965), though Judy was reportedly less docile. Conversely, the show suffered from simplistic, sometimes saccharine scripts, stiff acting from Cheryl’s human co-stars, and heavy reliance on incongruous stock footage, much of it recycled repeatedly. No new footage was ever shot on location in Africa.
In August 1970, Cheryl briefly became the Dodge "Fever Girl," promoting the car brand through magazine spreads, TV commercials, and national auto shows, a role she held for a couple of years. Throughout the 1970s, she continued making occasional guest appearances on series such as Cade's County (1971), Barnaby Jones (1973), Gemini Man (1976), and Police Story (1973). She retired from acting in 1980, later stating, "I had earned enough money. I wanted to concentrate purely on my family.
