Diana Millay
Encyclopedia
Diana Millay is an American
actress. She is best known for her work in television, having guest starred in close to 200 primetime TV shows and later played continuing roles on two daytime offerings, Dark Shadows
and The Secret Storm
.
Diana started her career as a model, first as a child for the Montgomery Ward
catalog, and later as a top Conover
model for John Robert Powers
.
Every year during high school summer vacation, she appeared in summer stock
productions, playing leading or featured roles in classic stage plays such as Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
, The Girl on the Via Flaminia, Come Back, Little Sheba
, Time of the Cuckoo, The Seven Year Itch
, Ladies in Retirement
, Bell, Book and Candle
, Time Out for Ginger
, Picnic
, The Little Foxes
, Tobacco Road
, Life With Father
and many more. In total, she appeared in seven seasons of summer stock. In 1957, Broadway came calling and she starred opposite Sam Levene
and Ellen Burstyn
in Fair Game.
Her subsequent Broadway appearances include Drink to Me Only opposite Tom Poston
, Roger the Sixth opposite Alan Alda, The Glass Rooster opposite Michael Allinson
and Boeing Boeing opposite Ian Carmichael
. In addition, she spent a year touring the United States and Canada opposite Eddie Bracken
in The Seven Year Itch
.
Diana's first film role was in the United Artists movie Street of Sinners, opposite George Montgomery. Her other film credits include Paramount's Tarzan and the Great River
opposite Mike Henry & Jan Murray
and MGM's Night of Dark Shadows
opposite David Selby
.
She began her extensive television career when she guest starred on Star Tonight
in an episode entitled "Taste". She continued to appear in other "live" productions such as Robert Montgomery Presents
, Kraft Television Theatre
, Studio One
, U.S. Steel Hour, Omnibus, Pond's Theatre, Philco Television Playhouse, Playhouse 90
, and many others. Her filmed television credits include guest star roles on most of the major shows that were running during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, including Father Knows Best
, My Three Sons
, Gunsmoke
, Bonanza
, The Virginian
, Arrest and Trial
, 77 Sunset Strip
, Perry Mason
, Rawhide
, Tales of Wells Fargo
, Wagon Train
, Laramie
, Route 66
, Hawaiian Eye
, The Rifleman
, Thriller
, Maverick
, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
, Dobie Gillis, The Westerner
, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
and many others. Diana made three pilot films for prospective new TV series', Slezak and Son, Boston Terrier and Las Vegas Beat.
In 1962 she was chosen as "Miss Emmy", due in part to her extensive list of appearances on primetime TV shows.
In November 1966, executive producer Dan Curtis offered her the contract role of "Laura Collins" on his ABC-TV daytime series, the cult classic Dark Shadows
. She went on to appear in 62 episodes, and became the show's first supernatural character, playing an immortal phoenix-woman who is burned in a fire and reborn to spend another 100 years on Earth. After her present day incarnation was again consumed in a fire, she returned during the flashback story which took place in the 19th century, as yet another reincarnation of "Laura Collins".
In 1970, Diana was offered another daytime role, this time as "Kitty Styles" on the CBS soap The Secret Storm
. Her run on this show provided her the opportunity to work once again with former Dark Shadows alumni Robert Costello, who was a producer on both shows and Joel Crothers
who played "Joe Haskell" on Dark Shadows and "Ken Stevens" on The Secret Storm.
Her interests changed from acting to writing and she has published several books, including I'd Rather Eat Than Act, The Power of Halloween and How to Create Good Luck. She has also been successful in the business world, having brokered both fine art and commercial real estate.
She was married to Broadway producer Geoffrey Jones, but they separated shortly after the birth of their son, Kiley Christopher.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress. She is best known for her work in television, having guest starred in close to 200 primetime TV shows and later played continuing roles on two daytime offerings, Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows is a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements...
and The Secret Storm
The Secret Storm
The Secret Storm is a soap opera which ran on CBS from February 1, 1954 to February 8, 1974. The series was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life...
.
Diana started her career as a model, first as a child for the Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is an online retailer that carries the same name as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001...
catalog, and later as a top Conover
David Conover
David Conover was an author and documentary photographer who is credited with discovering Marilyn Monroe while taking photos for Yank magazine.His published writings include:...
model for John Robert Powers
John Robert Powers
John Robert Powers was an American actor and founder of a prominent New York City modeling agency.In 1923, John Robert Powers founded a modeling agency. The John Robert Powers Agency represented many models who went on to success in the Hollywood film industry, and even Betty Bloomer who became...
.
Every year during high school summer vacation, she appeared in summer stock
Summer Stock
For the article about the theatre genre, see Summer stock theatre.Summer Stock is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical made in 1950. The film was directed by Charles Walters and stars Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, and Phil Silvers...
productions, playing leading or featured roles in classic stage plays such as Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay is the title of a book by actress Cornelia Otis Skinner and journalist Emily Kimbrough, published in 1942. The book presents a description of their European tour in the 1920s, when they were fresh out of college from Bryn Mawr. Skinner wrote of Kimbrough, "To know...
, The Girl on the Via Flaminia, Come Back, Little Sheba
Come Back, Little Sheba (play)
Come Back, Little Sheba is a 1950 play by the American dramatist William Inge. The play was Inge's first, written while he was a teacher at Washington University in St...
, Time of the Cuckoo, The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American film based on a three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role...
, Ladies in Retirement
Ladies in Retirement
Ladies in Retirement is a 1941 film starring Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward. It is based on a 1940 Broadway play of the same title by Reginald Denham and Edward Percy which starred Flora Robson in the lead role....
, Bell, Book and Candle
Bell, Book and Candle
Bell, Book and Candle is a romantic comedy directed by Richard Quine based on the hit Broadway play by John Van Druten. It starred James Stewart and Kim Novak in their second on-screen pairing . The film, adapted by Daniel Taradash, was Stewart's last film as a romantic lead...
, Time Out for Ginger
Time Out For Ginger
Time Out For Ginger is a Broadway comedy by Ronald Alexander that ran 248 performances at the Lyceum Theatre from November 26, 1952 to June 27, 1953, before becoming hugely popular in regional theatres throughout the 1950s and early 1960s...
, Picnic
Picnic (play)
Picnic is a 1953 play by William Inge. The play premiered at the Music Box Theatre, Broadway on 19 February 1953 in a Theatre Guild production, directed by Joshua Logan, which ran for 477 performances....
, The Little Foxes
The Little Foxes
The Little Foxes is a 1939 play by Lillian Hellman. Its title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15 in the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Set in a small town in Alabama in...
, Tobacco Road
Tobacco Road
Tobacco Road refers to the tobacco-producing area of North Carolina and is often used when referring to sports played among rival North Carolina universities...
, Life With Father
Life with Father
Life with Father is the title of a humorous autobiographical book of stories compiled in 1935 by Clarence Day, Jr., which was adapted in 1939 into a long-running Broadway play by Lindsay and Crouse, which was, in turn, made into a 1947 movie and a television series.-The book:Clarence Day wrote...
and many more. In total, she appeared in seven seasons of summer stock. In 1957, Broadway came calling and she starred opposite Sam Levene
Sam Levene
Sam Levene was an American Broadway and film actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1927 with five lines in a play titled Wall Street, and over a span of nearly 50 years, appeared on Broadway in 37 Shows, of which 33 were the original Broadway Productions, many now considered legendary...
and Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn is a leading American actress of film, stage, and television. Burstyn's career began in theatre during the late 1950s, and over the next ten years she appeared in several films and television series before joining the Actors Studio in 1967...
in Fair Game.
Her subsequent Broadway appearances include Drink to Me Only opposite Tom Poston
Tom Poston
Thomas Gordon "Tom" Poston was an American television and film actor. He starred on television in a career that began in 1950...
, Roger the Sixth opposite Alan Alda, The Glass Rooster opposite Michael Allinson
Michael Allinson
Michael Allinson was an English stage and film actor.-Biography:...
and Boeing Boeing opposite Ian Carmichael
Ian Carmichael
Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE was an English film, stage, television and radio actor.-Early life:Carmichael was born in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The son of an optician, he was educated at Scarborough College and Bromsgrove School, before training as an actor at RADA...
. In addition, she spent a year touring the United States and Canada opposite Eddie Bracken
Eddie Bracken
Edward Vincent "Eddie" Bracken was an American actor.-Life and career:Bracken was born in Astoria, New York, the son of Catherine and Joseph L. Bracken. Bracken performed in vaudeville at the age of nine and gained fame with the Broadway musical Too Many Girls in a role he reprised for the 1940...
in The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch
The Seven Year Itch is a 1955 American film based on a three-act play with the same name by George Axelrod. The film was co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, and starred Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, reprising his Broadway role...
.
Diana's first film role was in the United Artists movie Street of Sinners, opposite George Montgomery. Her other film credits include Paramount's Tarzan and the Great River
Tarzan and the Great River
Tarzan and the Great River is an adventure Eastmancolor film starring Mike Henry in his second outing as a James Bond-like globetrotting Tarzan of his three Tarzan movies. The movie was produced by Sy Weintraub and Steve Shagan, written by Bob Barbash , and directed by Robert Day...
opposite Mike Henry & Jan Murray
Jan Murray
Jan Murray was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and game show host who made his name on the Borscht Belt.-Early life:Murray was born Murray Janofsky in The Bronx, New York City...
and MGM's Night of Dark Shadows
Night of Dark Shadows
Night of Dark Shadows is a 1971 horror film by Dan Curtis. It is the sequel to House of Dark Shadows. It centers on the story of Quentin Collins and his bride Tracy at the Collinwood Mansion in Collinsport, Maine....
opposite David Selby
David Selby
David Lynn Selby is an American character and stage actor. He has worked in movies, soap operas and television. The naturally black-headed Selby is best known for playing the roles of Quentin Collins on the ABC-TV serial, Dark Shadows , and as the evil and compassionate...
.
She began her extensive television career when she guest starred on Star Tonight
Star Tonight
Star Tonight, an American television anthology series, aired on ABC from February 1955 to August 1956.-Adaptations and actors:It consisted of 80 total episodes, 30 from 1955 and 50 from 1956. Each episode was a self-contained story, usually adapted from famous plays, short-stories or novels by some...
in an episode entitled "Taste". She continued to appear in other "live" productions such as Robert Montgomery Presents
Robert Montgomery Presents
Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950 until June 24, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its seven-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example,...
, Kraft Television Theatre
Kraft Television Theatre
Kraft Television Theatre is an American drama/anthology television series that began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. In January 1948, it moved to 9pm on Wednesdays, continuing in that timeslot until 1958. Initially produced by the J...
, Studio One
Studio One (TV series)
Studio One is a long-running American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by the 26-year-old Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC.-Radio:...
, U.S. Steel Hour, Omnibus, Pond's Theatre, Philco Television Playhouse, Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
, and many others. Her filmed television credits include guest star roles on most of the major shows that were running during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, including Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
, My Three Sons
My Three Sons
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...
, Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
, The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
, Arrest and Trial
Arrest and Trial
Arrest and Trial is a 90-minute American Police procedural/legal drama that ran during the 1963-64 season on ABC, airing Sundays from 8:30-10 p.m. Eastern.The majority of episodes consisted of two segments...
, 77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
, Perry Mason
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...
, Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
, Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...
, Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
, Laramie
Laramie (TV series)
Laramie is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1963. Laramie was a Revue Studios production which originally starred John Smith as Slim Sherman, Robert Fuller as Jess Harper, Hoagy Carmichael as Jonesy and Robert Crawford, Jr...
, Route 66
Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...
, Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...
, The Rifleman
The Rifleman
The Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran...
, Thriller
Thriller (US TV series)
Thriller is an anthology television series that aired during the 1960–61 and 1961–62 seasons on NBC. The show featured host Boris Karloff introducing a mix of macabre horror tales and suspense thrillers....
, Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp is a Western television series loosely based on the adventures of frontier marshal Wyatt Earp. The half-hour black and white series ran on ABC-TV from 1955 to 1961 and featured Hugh O'Brian as Earp. An off-camera barbershop quartet sang the theme song and hummed...
, Dobie Gillis, The Westerner
The Westerner (TV series)
The Westerner is a 1960 Four Star Television Western series on NBC created by Sam Peckinpah. The series stars Brian Keith as Dave Blassingame and features John Dehner as semi-regular Burgundy Smith...
, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
and many others. Diana made three pilot films for prospective new TV series', Slezak and Son, Boston Terrier and Las Vegas Beat.
In 1962 she was chosen as "Miss Emmy", due in part to her extensive list of appearances on primetime TV shows.
In November 1966, executive producer Dan Curtis offered her the contract role of "Laura Collins" on his ABC-TV daytime series, the cult classic Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows is a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements...
. She went on to appear in 62 episodes, and became the show's first supernatural character, playing an immortal phoenix-woman who is burned in a fire and reborn to spend another 100 years on Earth. After her present day incarnation was again consumed in a fire, she returned during the flashback story which took place in the 19th century, as yet another reincarnation of "Laura Collins".
In 1970, Diana was offered another daytime role, this time as "Kitty Styles" on the CBS soap The Secret Storm
The Secret Storm
The Secret Storm is a soap opera which ran on CBS from February 1, 1954 to February 8, 1974. The series was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life...
. Her run on this show provided her the opportunity to work once again with former Dark Shadows alumni Robert Costello, who was a producer on both shows and Joel Crothers
Joel Crothers
Joel Anthony Crothers was an American actor who, in 1981, was noted by columnist Liz Smith to so strongly resemble Tom Selleck that they could be twin brothers...
who played "Joe Haskell" on Dark Shadows and "Ken Stevens" on The Secret Storm.
Her interests changed from acting to writing and she has published several books, including I'd Rather Eat Than Act, The Power of Halloween and How to Create Good Luck. She has also been successful in the business world, having brokered both fine art and commercial real estate.
She was married to Broadway producer Geoffrey Jones, but they separated shortly after the birth of their son, Kiley Christopher.