Biography
Born Mary Ellen Reynolds on 1 September 1898 in Evansville, Indiana, Marilyn Miller died on 7 April 1936 in New York City. She joined her family’s vaudeville troupe as a young child and accumulated ten years of stage work before reaching Broadway at sixteen. Performing as a singer and dancer, initially under the spelling Marilynn, she appeared in productions mounted by the Shubert Brothers and Florenz Ziegfeld. Her Broadway debut in a leading part came with Ziegfeld’s Sally in 1921, opposite Leon Errol and Walter Catlett; among its numbers was the enduring Jerome Kern–Buddy De Sylva song “Look For The Silver Lining.”
Miller next starred in another Ziegfeld vehicle, Sunny, in 1925, again in the title role and alongside Jack Donahue, with Clifton Webb and Cliff Edwards also in the cast; the score yielded the lasting Kern–Otto Harbach–Oscar Hammerstein II hit “Who?” In 1928 she enjoyed a further Ziegfeld success in Rosalie, once more playing the central character and introducing George and Ira Gershwin’s “How Long Has This Been Going On?”
Contemporary accounts described the petite, graceful performer as volatile, short-tempered and profane. Audiences nevertheless adored her and overlooked the details of her private affairs, which encompassed a liaison with Ziegfeld as well as three marriages: first to actor Frank Carter, killed in an automobile accident; then to actor Jack Pickford, younger brother of Mary Pickford; and finally to dancer Chester O’Brien, whom she wed during the run of her last Broadway appearance. That production, the 1933 Irving Berlin revue As Thousands Cheer, proved another hit and featured Miller and Webb performing “Easter Parade.”
Chronic sinus trouble and an intractable jaw infection later undermined her health, resulting in her premature death. A 1940 Hollywood film, Look For The Silver Lining, presented a simplified account of her career with June Havoc in the lead. Three of Miller’s own motion pictures survive, offering only faint traces of her stage charisma: the 1929 Technicolor adaptation of Sally, costarring Joe E. Brown; the 1930 version of Sunny, again featuring Donahue; and the weaker 1931 release Her Majesty, Love, which also included Errol, W.C. Fields and Ben Lyon.
Miller next starred in another Ziegfeld vehicle, Sunny, in 1925, again in the title role and alongside Jack Donahue, with Clifton Webb and Cliff Edwards also in the cast; the score yielded the lasting Kern–Otto Harbach–Oscar Hammerstein II hit “Who?” In 1928 she enjoyed a further Ziegfeld success in Rosalie, once more playing the central character and introducing George and Ira Gershwin’s “How Long Has This Been Going On?”
Contemporary accounts described the petite, graceful performer as volatile, short-tempered and profane. Audiences nevertheless adored her and overlooked the details of her private affairs, which encompassed a liaison with Ziegfeld as well as three marriages: first to actor Frank Carter, killed in an automobile accident; then to actor Jack Pickford, younger brother of Mary Pickford; and finally to dancer Chester O’Brien, whom she wed during the run of her last Broadway appearance. That production, the 1933 Irving Berlin revue As Thousands Cheer, proved another hit and featured Miller and Webb performing “Easter Parade.”
Chronic sinus trouble and an intractable jaw infection later undermined her health, resulting in her premature death. A 1940 Hollywood film, Look For The Silver Lining, presented a simplified account of her career with June Havoc in the lead. Three of Miller’s own motion pictures survive, offering only faint traces of her stage charisma: the 1929 Technicolor adaptation of Sally, costarring Joe E. Brown; the 1930 version of Sunny, again featuring Donahue; and the weaker 1931 release Her Majesty, Love, which also included Errol, W.C. Fields and Ben Lyon.
Albums
