Ann Miller, "Tops in Taps," Dies in Los Angeles

Ann Miller, a triple-threat performer who was most famous as a tap-dancing star of stage and screen, died today in Los Angeles of lung cancer. Her age was variously reported as 80 and 81, but the inimitable Miller had made conflicting statements about her age during her life and she may have been a few years older.

She was born Johnnie Lucille Collier in Houston, Texas in 1923. Suffering from rickets at an early age, she took dancing lessons to help straighten her legs and began dancing professionally to help support her mother and herself. Miller made her film debut in Anne of Green Gables in 1934 and her Broadway debut in George White’s Scandals five years later.

Her other Broadway credits include Mame (she was the last star to play the title role in the original Broadway production) and Sugar Babies (with Mickey Rooney); for the latter, Miller received a Tony nomination and was subsequently nominated for an Olivier Award when the show played in London. She toured in several shows and frequently appeared on the stock and dinner theater circuit. In 1998, she won great critical acclaim for her performance as Carlotta Campion in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of the Stephen Sondheim-James Goldman musical Follies; Sondheim was reportedly thrilled with her rendition of the character’s famous anthem of survival, “I’m Still Here.”

Among the many films in which Miller was featured are New Faces of 1937, Stage Door (1937), You Can’t Take It With You (1938), Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949), Watch the Birdie (1950), and Hit the Deck (1955). Her finest musical film is generally acknowledged to be Kiss Me, Kate (1953), in which she co-starred with Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, and Tommy Rall. Miller’s last screen appearance was in Mulholland Drive (2001).

Throughout her career, Miller was acknowledged for being “tops in taps.” Her most famous television appearance was as the singing and dancing star of an elaborate, big budget television commercial for The Great American Soups. She was also a frequent guest on talk shows and variety programs, and she co-starred with Ann-Margret and Anne Meara in a 1971 TV version of the Off-Broadway musical Dames at Sea.

Known for her sparkling personality and her great sense of humor, Miller authored two books: her autobiography, titled Miller’s Highlife, and Tapping Into the Force, about her belief in psychic powers and the occult.