Marvin Elliott Miller was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 film and voice-over actor. Possessing a deep, baritone voice, he began his career in radio in St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 before becoming a Hollywood actor. Miller is best remembered for two of his roles, as Michael Anthony, the man who passed out a weekly check on the TV series The Millionaire and as the voice of Robby the Robot

Robby the Robot

Robby the Robot is a fictional character who has made a number of appearances in science fiction movies and television programs after his first appearance in the 1956 MGM science fiction film Forbidden Planet.-Overview:...

 in the film Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film directed by Fred M. Wilcox, with a screenplay by Cyril Hume. It stars Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, and Anne Francis. The characters and its setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and its plot contains certain...

.

Radio and recordings

Born Marvin Mueller in St. Louis, Miller graduated from Washington University

Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...

 before he began his career in radio. When another Marvin Miller began singing on another St. Louis radio station, he began using his middle initial to distinguish himself from the other fellow. He narrated a daily 15-minute radio show for Mutual Radio, The Story Behind the Story, which offered historical vignettes. He also served as announcer on several OTR shows of the 1940s and 1950s, including The Whistler.

He also won Grammy Awards in 1965 and 1966 for his recordings of Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone....

 stories: in 1967 for Dr Seuss Presents – If I Ran the Zoo and Sleep Book and 1966 for Dr Seuss Presents Fox in Socks

Fox in Socks

Fox in Socks is a children's book by Dr. Seuss, first published in 1965. It features two main characters, Fox and Knox, who speak almost entirely in densely rhyming tongue-twisters....

and Green Eggs and Ham

Green Eggs and Ham

Green Eggs and Ham is a best-selling and critically acclaimed book by Dr. Seuss, first published on August 12, 1960. As of 2001, according to Publishers Weekly, it was the fourth-best-selling English-language children's book of all time....

. He also read Horton Hatches the Egg

Horton Hatches the Egg

Horton Hatches the Egg is a children's book by Dr. Seuss, first published in 1940. The character Horton appeared again in Horton Hears a Who!, published in 1954...

and The Sneetches and Other Stories

The Sneetches and Other Stories

The Sneetches and Other Stories is a collection of stories by Dr. Seuss . It is composed of four separate stories, unrelated except in the fact that most of the stories have important morals...

 & Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories

Films

In films, the heavyset Miller was often cast as a villain, many times playing Asian roles. He portrayed a sadistic henchman in the 1947 Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....

 film Dead Reckoning, and as Yamada in the 1945 James Cagney

James Cagney

James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...

 effort Blood on the Sun

Blood on the Sun

Blood on the Sun is a film starring James Cagney and Sylvia Sidney. The film is based on the history behind the Tanaka Memorial document....

. In Deadline at Dawn

Deadline at Dawn

Deadline at Dawn is a 1946 film noir, the only film directed by stage director Harold Clurman. It was written by Clifford Odets and based on a novella by Cornell Woolrich . The RKO Radio Picture was the only cinematic collaboration between Clurman and his former Group Theatre associate,...

he plays Sleepy Parsons, a blind pianist. Miller did The Ant and the Aardvark

The Ant and the Aardvark

The Ant and the Aardvark is a series of 17 theatrical short cartoons produced at DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and released by United Artists from 1969 to 1971.-Production:...

as an unnamed tiger in Scratch a Tiger.

Television

From 1949 to 1950 he starred as Dr. Yat Fu on the short-lives ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 series Mysteries of Chinatown

Mysteries of Chinatown

Mysteries of Chinatown is an American crime drama series that aired on the ABC Network from December 4, 1949 to October 23, 1950.-Premise:...

. In 1961, Miller guest-starred as Johnny Kelso, with Erin O'Brien, in "The Marble Slab" episode of the Frederick Ziv

Frederick Ziv

Frederick William Ziv was an American broadcasting producer and syndicator who is considered the father of television syndication and once operated the nation's largest independent television production company....

-, United Artists

United Artists

United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....

-, and MGM-produced Bat Masterson

Bat Masterson (TV series)

Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black and white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961...

, starring Gene Barry

Gene Barry

Gene Barry was an American stage, screen, and television actor. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films The Atomic City and The War of The Worlds and for his portrayal of the title character in the TV series Bat Masterson, among many roles.-Personal life:Barry was born...

. Original air date was May 11, 1961.

Miller voiced "Hemo" in the AT&T

AT&T

AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

 educational film Hemo the Magnificent

Hemo the Magnificent

Hemo the Magnificent is a one-hour Technicolor made-for-television educational film, released in 1957 by Bell Laboratories and directed by Frank Capra, and first telecast by CBS. It details the workings of the circulatory system...

, part of a series featuring Dr. Frank C. Baxter

Frank C. Baxter

Francis Condie Baxter was an American TV personality and educator. He was a professor of English at the University of Southern California. Baxter hosted Telephone Time in 1957 and 1958 when ABC picked up the program and ended the tenure of John Nesbitt...

 and directed by Frank Capra

Frank Capra

Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...

, which was shown on American network television in 1957. Miller crossed paths with other prolific voice-over artists many times in his career including June Foray

June Foray

June Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...

, playing "Deer" in Hemo the Magnificent and in the TV series Rocky and Bullwinkle along with Paul Frees

Paul Frees

Paul Frees was an American voice actor and character actor.-Biography:He was born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago...

, who voiced "Boris Badenov

Boris Badenov

Boris Badenov is a fictional character in the 1960s animated cartoons Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, collectively referred to as Rocky and Bullwinkle for short. He is voiced by Paul Frees....

" in that program. Miller and Frees also performed in separate segments on the audio recording Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America Volume One The Early Years

Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America Volume One The Early Years

Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America: Volume One The Early Years is an American comedy album with music and dialogue written by Stan Freberg, released as Capitol W/SW-1573 in 1961. Freberg parodies episodes of the history of the United States from 1492 until the end of the...

.

He was the voice of the arrogant alien "Zarn" in three episodes of the second season of Land of the Lost

Land of the Lost (1974 TV series)

Land of the Lost is a children's television series co-created and produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. During its original run, it was broadcast on the NBC television network....

. Miller also lent his distinct voice to The Pink Panther Show

The Pink Panther Show

The Pink Panther Show is a showcase of cartoon shorts produced by David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng between 1969 and 1979. The television series was produced by Mirisch Films and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, and was broadcast on two American TV networks:...

, often talking with the feline offscreen and asking questions.

On The Millionaire, Miller played Michael Anthony, conveying the wishes of the "fabulously wealthy" John Beresford Tipton, voiced by Paul Frees

Paul Frees

Paul Frees was an American voice actor and character actor.-Biography:He was born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago...

.

Death

Miller died in 1985 at the age of 71 from a heart attack

Myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

. He is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery

Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery

The Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery is a cemetery in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles, California. It is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in Westwood....

 in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

.

For his contribution to the television industry, Marvin Miller has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Hollywood Walk of Fame

The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

 at 6101 Hollywood Boulevard

Hollywood Boulevard

-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...

.

Selected filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1945	Johnny Angel Johnny Angel Johnny Angel is a film noir directed by Edwin L. Marin, written by Frank Gruber and Steve Fisher from the novel Mr. Angel Comes Aboard by Charles Gordon Booth. The movie features George Raft, Claire Trevor, Signe Hasso, and Hoagy Carmichael....	George "Gusty" Gustafson
1946	Without Reservations Without Reservations Without Reservations is a comedy film starring Claudette Colbert and John Wayne, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film was adapted by Andrew Solt from the novel Thanks, God! I'll Take It From Here by Jane Allen and Mae Livingston.The opening shot shows "Arrowhead"...	Louella's radio announcer	Uncredited Alternative title: Thanks God, I'll Take It from Here
1947	The Brasher Doubloon The Brasher Doubloon The Brasher Doubloon is a 1947 film noir based on the novel The High Window by Raymond Chandler....	Vince Blair	Alternative title: High Window
1951	Gerald McBoing-Boing Gerald McBoing-Boing Gerald McBoing-Boing is an animated short film produced by United Productions of America and given wide release by Columbia Pictures on November 2, 1950...	Narrator	Voice
1951	The Golden Horde The Golden Horde (film) The Golden Horde is a 1951 Historical Adventure film directed by George Sherman and starring Ann Blyth and David Farrar. Many of the exterior scenes were shot in Death Valley National Park, California, USA.-Plot synopsis:...	Genghis Khan
1952	Red Planet Mars Red Planet Mars Red Planet Mars is a 1952 science fiction film released by United Artists based on a 1932 play Red Planet written by John L. Balderston and John Hoare...	Arjenian
1953	Off Limits Off Limits (1953 film) Off Limits is a 1953 comedy film starring Bob Hope as a manager who enlists in the army to keep an eye on his boxer, who has been drafted. It was released in the UK as Military Policemen, as the characters played by Hope and his friend Mickey Rooney join the military police.-Cast:*Bob Hope as Wally...	Vic Breck	Alternative title: Military Policemen
1956	Forbidden Planet Forbidden Planet Forbidden Planet is a 1956 science fiction film directed by Fred M. Wilcox, with a screenplay by Cyril Hume. It stars Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, and Anne Francis. The characters and its setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and its plot contains certain...	Robby the Robot	voice
1957	The Story of Mankind	Armana
1959	Sleeping Beauty Sleeping Beauty (1959 film) Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "La Belle au bois dormant" by Charles Perrault...	Narrator	Uncredited
1961	The Phantom Planet The Phantom Planet The Phantom Planet is a science fiction film directed by William Marshall.Footage from the film was used in a 2010 advertising campaign for La Quinta Inns and Suites, an American hotel chain...	Introductory Narrator
1966	Gamera the Invincible Gamera (film) is a 1965 daikaiju eiga about a giant turtle named Gamera. The film is similar in nature to the popular Godzilla films, and is also the first in a series of films about Gamera...	Voiceover	Uncredited
1970	MASH MASH (film) MASH is a 1970 American satirical dark comedy film directed by Robert Altman and written by Ring Lardner, Jr., based on Richard Hooker's novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. It is the only feature film in the M*A*S*H franchise...	PA Announcer	Uncredited
1977	American Raspberry American Raspberry (film) American Raspberry is a 1977 parody film that lampoons various films of the 1970s, much like The Groove Tube, Tunnel Vision, The Kentucky Fried Movie and Amazon Women on the Moon.-Plot:American Raspberry tells the story of what happens when some strange unknown sources takes over the air waves and...	Henry Wideman	Alternative titles: Prime Time Funny America
1984	Swing Shift Swing Shift (film) Swing Shift is a 1984 feature film directed by Jonathan Demme and produced by and starring Goldie Hawn with Kurt Russell. It also starred Christine Lahti, Fred Ward and Ed Harris...	Rollo
1986	Hell Squad Hell Squad (1985 film) Hell Squad is a 1985 action drama film.-Plot:The film features a group of Las Vegas showgirls who aim to rescue the son of a diplomat....	The Sheik	Alternative titles: Commando Girls Commando Squad
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1949-1950	Mysteries of Chinatown Mysteries of Chinatown Mysteries of Chinatown is an American crime drama series that aired on the ABC Network from December 4, 1949 to October 23, 1950.-Premise:...	Dr. Yat Fu	unknown episodes
1952–1954	Space Patrol	Various roles	13 episodes
1959	The Danny Thomas Show The Danny Thomas Show The Danny Thomas Show is an American sitcom which ran from 1953-1957 on ABC and from 1957-1964 on CBS...	Mr. Chow	1 episode
1961	The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet	Man in Dream	1 episode
1963	Perry Mason Perry Mason (TV series) Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...	F. J. Weatherby	1 episode
1966	Batman Batman (TV series) Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...	TV Announcer	1 episode
1966–1974	The F.B.I	Narrator	117 episodes
1967	The Green Hornet	On-the-scene Reporter	1 episode
1972	Mission: Impossible Mission: Impossible Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...	Smith	1 episode
1975	Land of the Lost Land of the Lost (1974 TV series) Land of the Lost is a children's television series co-created and produced by Sid and Marty Krofft. During its original run, it was broadcast on the NBC television network....	Zarn (Voice)	3 episodes
1976	Electra Woman and Dyna Girl Electra Woman and Dyna Girl Electra Woman and Dyna Girl is a Sid and Marty Krofft live action children's television series from 1976. The series lasted 16 weeks as part of the umbrella series The Krofft Supershow. During the second season, it was dropped along with Dr. Shrinker...	Narrator	15 episodes
1978	Wonder Woman Wonder Woman (TV series) Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book superhero of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979....	Mr. Beamer	1 episode
1982	Police Squad	Narrator	6 episodes

External links