Geri Miller

Geraldine Miller was born to Mr. and Mrs. Morris Miller in Clifton, New Jersey, on April 27, 1942. After graduating from Clifton High School in 1960, she attended Berkeley College in New Jersey. == Career ==

While attending Berkeley College, Miller built a portfolio as a model and dancer before being recruited as a chorus line girl at the Peppermint Lounge nightclub in New York City. Miller made her first film appearance as a go-go dancer in Fail Safe (1964). She recorded the songs "We All Warned You" and "Peppermint Jerk" as the lead singer of The Peppermints, a trio of dancers. Miller was fired from the Peppermint Lounge after her lover James Brown sent her a telegram to the nightclub. Miller discovered that journalist Earl Wilson was one of the judges, so she went to his office and gave him a picture of herself in a "daring outfit". Miller appeared with Muhammad Ali in the ill-fated Broadway production Buck White in 1969. She appeared in several sexploitation films, including The Wall of Flesh (1968), Sex by Advertisement (1968), Meeting on 69th Street (1969), Monique, My Love (1969), and The Telephone Book (1971). She starred as Josie in Warhol's play Pork, which was controversial due to the nudity and sexual acts simulated. The play had a two-week run at La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York City in May 1971. The production was brought to the Roundhouse in London for a six-week run in August 1971. Miller caused a scandal in London when she was arrested for exposing her breasts during a photo session in front of Clarence House, the residence of the Queen Mother. In 1974, Miller stated that Warhol did not pay her enough for her film roles. Following their falling out, she withdrew from the public. In the book The Andy Warhol Diaries, Warhol mentioned in a diary entry on November 30, 1985, that Miller called him from a women's shelter, and he referred to her as a "young senile person". "In her Trash days she was our most sensible superstar—then in the seventies she suddenly got crazy. One day she was very down to earth, worrying about her topless dancing career, and then the next week she showed up barefoot to 860, saying that the Mafia gave her LSD because she knew too much!" recalled Warhol. == Personal life ==

In October 1962, Miller met singer James Brown at the Peppermint Lounge. Miller turned down Brown's marriage proposal because she was ashamed of her secret drug habit. "I said no, even though I loved him. … I was taking uppers all the time because I needed to keep up with… life. I was sad to turn him down, but I didn't want him to find out", she said. By June 1965, she had reportedly dated guitarist Lenny Davidson of The Dave Clark Five, drummer Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys, and Gordon Waller of Peter and Gordon, who surprised her with a painting. In the mid-1960s, Miller dated Dino Danelli, drummer of the rock group The Young Rascals. They lived together for some time in her Manhattan apartment at 310 West 47th St. After his group found success, Miller found it hard to cope with his affairs. "He was the first guy to break my heart. I was so sad. We split, and he moved out and into his own place", she recalled. == References ==