| Marvin Miller | |
| Birth Name: | Marvin Mueller |
| Birth Date: | July 18, 1913 |
| Birth Place: | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Years Active: | 1945–1985 |
| Children: | 2 |
Marvin Elliott Miller (born Marvin Mueller; July 18, 1913 – February 8, 1985) was an American actor. Possessing a deep baritone voice, he began his career in radio in St. Louis, Missouri before becoming a Hollywood actor. He is remembered for voicing Robby the Robot in the science fiction film Forbidden Planet (1956), a role he reprised in the lesser-known The Invisible Boy (1957).
Miller's next most notable role is that of Michael Anthony, the loyal assistant of Paul Frees's generous billionaire John Beresford Tipton Jr., on the TV series The Millionaire (1955 - 1960).
Born in St. Louis, Miller graduated from Washington University before commencing his career in radio. When a singer named Marvin Miller debuted on another St. Louis radio station, he began using his middle initial to distinguish himself from the newcomer. For the Mutual Broadcasting System, he narrated a daily 15-minute radio show titled The Story Behind the Story, which offered historical vignettes. He also served as announcer on several Old Time Radio shows of the 1940s and 1950s, including The Jo Stafford Show[1] and the long-running mystery series The Whistler.[2]
Miller played Dr. Lee Markham on The Woman in White on NBC radio and Howard Andrews on Midstream on the Blue Network[3] and appeared as "The voice of the Past" on the May 21, 1942 broadcast of The Right to Happiness. In 1945 - 47, he was the announcer for Songs by Sinatra.[4] He played two characters and was the announcer on The Billie Burke Show (1943–1946).[5]
In 1952, Miller had a one-man program, Armchair Adventures, on CBS Radio. He did "all voices and narration" in the 15-minute dramatic anthology.[5] He also recorded 260 episodes of a program described in a 1950 trade publication as "Marvin Miller: Famous radio voice in series of five minute vignettes about famous people." The program was syndicated via electrical transcription by The Cardinal Company.[6]
He also won Grammy Awards in 1965 and 1966 for his recordings of Dr. Seuss stories on RCA Records: in 1967 for Dr Seuss Presents - If I Ran the Zoo and Sleep Book and 1966 for Dr Seuss Presents Fox in Socks and Green Eggs and Ham.[7] He also read Bartholomew and the Oobleck, Horton Hatches the Egg, The Sneetches and Other Stories, and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories.,[8]
In the mid-1970s, Miller even lent his voice to sports films, narrating the official Indianapolis 500 films in 1975 and 1976.
In films, the heavyset Miller was often cast as a villain, many times playing Asian roles. He portrayed a sadistic henchman in the 1947 Humphrey Bogart film Dead Reckoning and was Yamada in the 1945 James Cagney film Blood on the Sun.[9] In 1946's film noir Deadline at Dawn he plays Sleepy Parsons, a blind pianist.[10] Miller played George "Gusty" Gustafson in the George Raft film noir classic Johnny Angel.[11]
Additionally, he also appeared in "Red Planet Mars" (1952), "Forbidden" (1953), "Time Stood Still" (1956) and "When the Girls Take Over" (1962).
Miller also did a great deal of voice work in animation from the 1950s into the 1970s, from the narration on the 1950 Academy Award-winning United Productions of America cartoon Gerald McBoing Boing to the 1970 The Ant and the Aardvark cartoon Scratch a Tiger.[12] [13]
From 1949 to 1950 Miller starred as Dr. Yat Fu on the short-lived ABC series Mysteries of Chinatown, with Gloria Saunders cast as his niece, Ah Toy.[14] In 1961, Miller guest-starred as Johnny Kelso, with Erin O'Brien, in "The Marble Slab" episode of the Frederick Ziv-, United Artists-, and MGM-produced Bat Masterson, starring Gene Barry.[15] Original air date was May 11, 1961.[16]
Further, in television, he was a narrator on "The F.B.I.", "Police Squad", "Electra Woman and Dyna Girl", plus appeared on "Land of the Lost" and "Love, American Style".
Miller voiced "Mr. Sun" in the AT&T educational film Our Mr. Sun, and "Hemo" in the AT&T educational film Hemo the Magnificent, parts of a series featuring Dr. Frank C. Baxter and directed by Frank Capra, which was shown on American network television in 1956 and 1957.[17] Miller crossed paths with other prolific voice-over artists many times in his career, including June Foray, playing "Deer" in Hemo the Magnificent and in the TV series Rocky and Bullwinkle along with Paul Frees, who voiced "Boris Badenov" in that program.[18] Miller and Frees also performed in separate segments on the audio recording Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America Volume One The Early Years.[19]
Miller made a guest appearance in 1963 on Perry Mason as unscrupulous attorney F.J. Weatherby in "The Case of the Lover's Leap".[20]
Miller voiced Aquaman for the Filmation studio for their 1967 series The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure.[20] He was also the voice of pilot/scientist Busby Birdwell in the company's animated series Fantastic Voyage.[21]
He was the voice of the arrogant alien "Zarn" in three episodes of the second season of Land of the Lost.[22] Miller also lent his distinct voice to The Pink Panther Show, often talking with the feline offscreen and asking questions, while also voicing The Inspector, his second Deux Deux and their boss The Commissioner.[23]
He also won Grammy Awards in 1965 and 1966, for his recordings of stories by Dr. Seuss.
In more than 200 episodes of The Millionaire, Miller played Michael Anthony, conveying the wishes of the "fabulously wealthy" John Beresford Tipton Jr., voiced by Paul Frees.
Miller died in 1985 at the age of 71 from a heart attack.[24] He is entombed at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary in Los Angeles.
For his contribution to the television industry, Marvin Miller has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6101 Hollywood Boulevard.[25]
| Film | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
| 1945 | Blood on the Sun | Yamada | ||
| Johnny Angel | George "Gusty" Gustafson | |||
| 1946 | Deadline at Dawn | Sleepy Parsons | ||
| Just Before Dawn | Casper | |||
| The Phantom Thief | Dr. Nejino | |||
| Night in Paradise | Scribe | |||
| Without Reservations | Louella's radio announcer | Uncredited Alternative title: Thanks God, I'll Take It from Here | ||
| 1947 | Dead Reckoning | Krause | ||
| The Brasher Doubloon | Vince Blair | Alternative title: High Window | ||
| The Corpse Came C.O.D. | Rudy Frasso | |||
| Intrigue | Ramon Perez | |||
| 1951 | Gerald McBoing-Boing | Narrator | Voice | |
| Smuggler's Island | Bok-Ying | |||
| Peking Express | Kwon | |||
| The Prince Who Was a Thief | Hakar | |||
| The Golden Horde | Genghis Khan | |||
| 1952 | Hong Kong | Tao Liang | ||
| Red Planet Mars | Arjenian | |||
| Off Limits | Vic Breck | Alternative title: Military Policemen | ||
| 1953 | Ben and Me | Dr. Palmer / Miscellaneous Men | Voice | |
| Forbidden | Chalmer | |||
| 1954 | King Dinosaur | Narrator | Voice | |
| Jivaro | Jivaro Chief Kovanti | |||
| The Shanghai Story | Colonel Zorek | |||
| Beauty and the Bull | Narrator | Short, Voice | ||
| 1955 | New York Confidential | Narrator | Voice, Uncredited | |
| Godzilla Raids Again | Narrator | English version, Voice | ||
| King Dinosaur | Narrator | Voice | ||
| 1956 | Forbidden Planet | Robby the Robot | Voice, Uncredited | |
| 1957 | The Deadly Mantis | Narrator | ||
| The Invisible Boy | Robby the Robot | Voice | ||
| The Story of Mankind | Armana | |||
| 1958 | Manhunt in the Jungle | Narrator | Voice | |
| Senior Prom | Narrator | Voice | ||
| Panda and the Magic Serpent | Narrator | Voice | ||
| 1959 | Sleeping Beauty | Narrator | Voice, Uncredited | |
| Sampo | Narrator | English version, Voice | ||
| 1961 | The Phantom Planet | Introductory Narrator | Voice | |
| 1962 | When the Girls Take Over | Henri Degiere | ||
| Panic in Year Zero! | Radio Announcer | Uncredited | ||
| 1965 | The Agony and the Ecstasy | Prologue Narrator | Uncredited | |
| Saturday Night in Apple Valley | ||||
| Invasion of Astro-Monster | Fuji | English version, Voice | ||
| Inside Daisy Clover | Narrator - The Daisy Clover Story | Voice, Uncredited | ||
| 1966 | Gamera the Invincible | Voice over | Uncredited | |
| 1967 | Hell on Wheels | The Announcer | ||
| 1967-1969 | The Inspector | The Commissioner / Pig-Al / Warden / Ranger / Psychiatrist | ||
| 1970 | MASH | PA Announcer | Uncredited | |
| Blood of the Iron Maiden | Claude | |||
| 1972 | Where Does It Hurt? | Catering Manager | ||
| The Sexpert | Michael Anthony | Uncredited | ||
| 1973 | Fantastic Planet | Great Tree Chief / Master Kon | English version, Voice, Uncredited | |
| The Naked Ape | Fat Man | |||
| Tidal Wave | (US version) | |||
| 1974 | How to Seduce a Woman | Racetrack Announcer | ||
| 1975 | I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now? | Jordan's Boss | ||
| 1976 | The Call of the Wild | Narrator | TV movie | |
| 1977 | Empire of the Ants | Voice, Uncredited | ||
| John Hus | Sigismund | |||
| American Raspberry | Henry Wideman | Alternative titles: Prime Time Funny America | ||
| Space Cruiser Yamato | Voice, English version | |||
| 1981 | Kiss Daddy Goodbye | Bill Morris | ||
| 1984 | Swing Shift | Rollo | ||
| 1984 | Gremlins | Robby The Robot | Voice, Uncredited | |
| 1986 | Hell Squad | The Sheik | Alternative titles: Commando Girls Commando Squad, (final film role) | |
| Television | ||||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
| 1949 | Mysteries of Chinatown | Dr. Yat Fu | unknown episodes | |
| 1952 | Space Patrol | Mr. Proteus (continuing character) & other roles | 1952–1954 13 episodes | |
| 1955 | The Millionaire | Michael Anthony | 1955–1960 206 episodes | |
| 1959 | The Danny Thomas Show | Mr. Chow | 1 episode | |
| 1961 | Bat Masterson | John Kelso | 1 episode (episode 31) | |
| 1961 | The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet | Man in Dream | 1 episode | |
| 1963 | Perry Mason | F. J. Weatherby | 1 episode | |
| 1966 | Batman | TV Announcer | 1 episode (episode 12) | |
| 1966–1974 | The F.B.I | Narrator | 117 episodes | |
| 1967 | The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure | Aquaman (voice) | 36 episodes | |
| 1967 | The Green Hornet | On-the-scene Reporter | 1 episode | |
| 1969-1970 | The Pink Panther Show | Narrator / The Inspector / Sgt Deux-Deux / The Commissioner | Bumper segments only | |
| 1972 | Mission: Impossible | Smith | 1 episode | |
| 1975 | Land of the Lost | Zarn | Voice, 3 episodes | |
| 1976 | Electra Woman and Dyna Girl | Narrator | 15 episodes | |
| 1978 | Wonder Woman | Mr. Beamer | 1 episode | |
| 1982 | Police Squad! | Narrator | 6 episodes | |