1936–1956: Film actress RKO In 1936, at age 13, Miller was hired as a showgirl at the
Bal Tabarin. Due to employment laws regarding establishments that sold liquor, Miller lied and gave her age as 18. Miller appeared in small roles in films like
Anne of Green Gables (1934),
The Good Fairy (1935), and
The Devil on Horseback (1936). While working at Bal Tabarin, Miller was discovered by
Lucille Ball and talent scout/comic
Benny Rubin. Miller was famed for her speed in
tap dancing. Studio publicists drafted press releases claiming that she could tap 500 times per minute, but because the stage floors were waxed and too slick for regular tap shoes, she had to dance in shoes with rubber treads on the soles. Then, like all other film dancers of the time -- including Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, Gene Kelly, etc., -- she would then loop or 'dub' the sound of the taps while watching the film and dance on a "tap board" to match her steps in the film. In later life, Miller claimed to have invented
pantyhose in the 1940s as a solution to the continual problem of torn stockings during the filming of dance-production numbers. The common practice had been to sew hosiery to briefs, and if torn, the entire garment had to be removed and resewn with a new pair. Miller asked a hosiery maker to produce a single combined garment.
Republic and Columbia Pictures Miller made two films for Republic,
Hit Parade of 1941 (1940) and
Melody Ranch (1940) with Gene Autry. In 1941, Miller signed with
Columbia Pictures starring in 11
B musicals from 1941 to 1945, beginning with
Time Out for Rhythm with Rudy Vallee. Miller followed it with
Go West, Young Lady (1941),
True to the Army (1942),
Priorities on Parade (1942),
Reveille with Beverly (1943), ''
What's Buzzin', Cousin? (1943), Hey, Rookie (1943), Sailor's Holiday (1944), Jam Session (1944), Carolina Blues (1945), Eadie Was a Lady (1945), and Eve Knew Her Apples (1945), a musical remake of It Happened One Night''. In July 1945, Miller posed in a bathing suit as a
Yank pin-up girl. She ended her contract in 1946 with one A film,
The Thrill of Brazil. An advertisement for the film in
Life featured Miller's leg in a stocking tied with a large red bow as the "T" in "Thrill."
MGM After leaving Columbia and recovering from an injury, Miller was hired as a contract player at
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her first appearance was in
Easter Parade (1948), in which she co-starred alongside
Fred Astaire and
Judy Garland. During her tenure at MGM, Miller usually appeared as the secondary female lead in musical films such as
The Kissing Bandit (1948),
On the Town (1949),
Watch the Birdie with
Red Skelton,
Texas Carnival (1951) with
Esther Williams,
Two Tickets to Broadway (1951),
Lovely to Look At (1952),
Small Town Girl (1953),
Kiss Me Kate (1953),
Deep in My Heart (1954),
Hit the Deck (1955), and
The Opposite Sex (1956). Her last MGM film was a flop non-musical comedy
The Great American Pastime (1956).
1957–1989: Stage work '', 1979 As the studio system and musical films began to fade in the late 1950s, Miller turned her attention to theater and television appearances. She became known later for her distinctive appearance, which reflected a studio-era ideal of glamour - large, black, bouffant hair, heavy makeup with a splash of crimson lipstick, and fashions that emphasized her figure and long legs. In May 1969, Miller made a comeback on Broadway when she took over the title role in the musical
Mame, dancing a tap number created for her. Miller remained in the role until the show closed in January 1970. The following year, she headlined a television production of
Dames at Sea alongside
Ann-Margret for
NBC. She also appeared in an iconic television commercial for "The Great American Soup" (created by
Stan Freberg), in which she rose through the floor atop an eight-foot-high cylinder designed to resemble a giant soup can. The advertisement was intended as a spectacular song-and-dance number in the tradition of the musicals in which she had starred. Miller began touring with theater productions such as
Hello, Dolly! and
Panama Hattie. In 1979, she appeared in the Broadway show
Sugar Babies with fellow MGM veteran
Mickey Rooney, for which she was nominated for a
Tony Award. The duo toured the country extensively after the show's Broadway run. In 1983, she won the
Sarah Siddons Award for her work in
Chicago theatre, On May 1, 1989, at the age of 66, Miller sang and tap-danced to "42nd Street" at the opening of the
Disney MGM Studios, her last live dance performance. Miller appeared in a special 1982 episode of
The Love Boat, joined by fellow showbiz legends
Ethel Merman,
Carol Channing,
Della Reese,
Van Johnson, and
Cab Calloway in a storyline that cast them as older relatives of the show's regular characters. Miller also published two books. Her first was an autobiography, ''Miller's High Life
(1972). Her second was Tapping into the Force'' (1990), a book about her experiences in the
psychic world.
1990–2001: Final projects at
Walt Disney World's
Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park During the 1990s, Miller rose as a popular figure to interview for her time in the
Golden Age of Hollywood. She was the subject of
This Is Your Life on British television in 1993, when she was surprised by
Michael Aspel at the studios of
CBS Television City. That same year, she appeared as a dance instructor in the
Home Improvement episode "Dances with Tools". Miller's last stage performance was a 1998 Paper Mill Playhouse production of
Stephen Sondheim's
Follies, in which she played hard-boiled Carlotta Campion and received rave reviews for her rendition of the song "
I'm Still Here". Miller played her last role as landlady Coco in director
David Lynch's critically acclaimed 2001 film
Mulholland Drive. Between 1995 and 2001,
Molly Shannon parodied Miller several times on
Saturday Night Live in a recurring sketch titled "Leg-Up!" ==Personal life==