Movies

Ann Miller (born Johnnie Lucille Collier; April 12, 1923[1] – January 22, 2004) was an American actress, dancer and singer. She is best remembered for her work in the Classical Hollywood cinema musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Her early work included roles in Frank Capra's You Can't Take It with You (1938) and the Marx Bros. film Room Service (1938). She later starred in the movie musical classics Charles Walters' Easter Parade (1948), Stanley Donen's On the Town (1949) and George Sidney's Kiss Me Kate (1953). Her final film role was in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive (2001).

In 1960, Miller received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2017, The Daily Telegraph named her one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.

Early life :

Johnnie Lucille Collier (other sources give other birthnames, such as Lucille Collier and Lucy Ann Collier) was born in Chireno, Texas, to Clara Emma (née Birdwell) and John Alfred Collier, a criminal lawyer who represented the Barrow gang, Machine Gun Kelly, and Baby Face Nelson, among others. She was an only child.[6] Her maternal grandmother was Cherokee. She began to take dance classes at the age of five, after suffering from rickets. Her mother believed that these classes would help strengthen her young daughter's legs.

She lived in Houston, Texas, until she was nine, when her parents divorced, reportedly due to her father's infidelities. Her mother moved with her to Los Angeles. As her mother was deaf, finding work was hard for her; however, because Miller looked much older than she was, she began to work as a dancer in nightclubs and supported both of them. About this time, she adopted the stage name Ann Miller, which she kept throughout her career.

She was considered a child dance prodigy. In an interview in a "behind the scenes" documentary on the making of the compilation film That's Entertainment! Part III (1994), she said Eleanor Powell was an early inspiration.