Miller, Marilyn (1898–1936)

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Miller, Marilyn (1898–1936)

Popular American musical-comedy actress. Born on September 1, 1898 (some sources cite 1896), in Evansville, Indiana; died suddenly of an acute infection in New York City on April 7, 1936; third and youngest daughter of Edwin D. Reynolds (an electrician) and Ada (Thompson) Reynolds; married Frank Carter (an actor), on May 24, 1919 (died 1920); married Jack Pickford (an actor), on July 30, 1922 (divorced 1927); married Chester L. O'Brien (a chorus man), on October 1, 1934; no children.

Selected theater:

appeared in Schubert revues, The Passing Show of 1914, The Passing Show of 1915, The Show of Wonders (1916), and The Passing Show of 1917; Fancy Free; Ziegfeld Follies (1918); Sally (Amsterdam Theater in New York City, 1920–1923); Peter Pan (1924); Sunny (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein, Otto Harbach, 1925); Rosalie (Sigmund Romberg, George Gershwin and others, 1928); Smiles (Vincent Youmans and others, 1930); As Thousands Cheer (Irving Berlin and Moss Hart, 1933).

Born on September 1, 1898, in Evansville, Indiana, Marilyn Miller grew up to become a musical-comedy star who sang and danced her way into the hearts of millions of Americans and was particularly associated with Jerome Kern's song "Look for the Silver Lining." Shortly after she was born, her mother Ada Thompson divorced her father Edwin D. Reynolds and married actor Oscar "Caro" Miller, whose last name was taken by the three Reynolds children. When she was four, Miller joined her oldest sister and parents as "Mlle. Sugarplum" in their vaudeville act "The Columbian Trio" (which eventually became known as "The Five Columbians"), making her stage debut in August 1903 in Dayton, Ohio. For ten years, the popular act toured the Midwest (although avoiding large cities with their strict interpretation of child labor laws) and several foreign countries. Miller may not have had particularly fond memories of those childhood years of touring; after her death, it was discovered that her will stipulated that her stepfather should receive nothing from her estate.

In 1913, Lee Shubert discovered Miller at a London nightclub. She returned to America and for four years appeared in Schubert revues: The Passing Show of 1914, The Passing Show of 1915, The Show of Wonders in 1916, and The Passing Show of 1917. In 1918, the storied Florenz Ziegfeld began managing her career, and she appeared in Fancy Free and the Ziegfeld Follies (1918). In 1920, Ziegfeld put her in the starring role in the musical comedy Sally, in which she stopped the show with "Look for the Silver Lining."

Her only straight dramatic appearance followed in 1924 in Peter Pan, directed by Charles Dillingham. The next year she starred in an elaborate production of Sunny, in which she played a circus performer who attracts the love of a wealthy society man. Miller excelled as the golden-haired wonder girl in such upbeat, flashy productions, and she appeared in three more, Rosalie (1928), Smiles (1930) and As Thousands Cheer (1933), an Irving Berlin-Moss Hart confection that also starred Ethel Waters and Clifton Webb. In 1929, she went to Hollywood to make the film version of Sally, which was followed by the movie Sunny in 1930 and Her Majesty, Love in 1931.

On April 7, 1936, with her third husband Chester L. O'Brien (a chorus man in As Thousands Cheer) at her side, the 37-year-old Miller died at Doctors Hospital in New York City of an acute infection. She was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City. In the 1946 film biography of Jerome Kern, Till the Clouds Roll By, she was portrayed by Judy Garland , who sang "Look for the Silver Lining." That song also provided the title for the film biography of Miller herself that was released in 1949, starring June Haver and Ray Bolger.