Ann Miller

Birthday beauty Ann Miller in a 1941 glamour study by photographer Whitey Schafer. She was born Johnnie Lucille Ann Collier on April 12, 1923 in Chireno, Texas - (she was named "Johnnie" by her father, who was expecting a boy). Ann is best remembered for her work in the Hollywood musicals of the 1940s and 50s, her trade mark being her long legs and fast tap dance routines. Early in her career at RKO she played dancers and ingenues in films such as "Stage Door" (1937), "You Can't Take It with You" (1938), "Room Service" (1938) and "Too Many Girls" (1940). Columbia Pictures snapped her up to appear in World War II morale boosters such as "True to the Army" (1942) and "Reveille with Beverly" (1943). And later in the 40s, MGM picked her up, showcasing her in such Technicolor gems as "Easter Parade" (1948), "On the Town" (1949) and "Kiss Me Kate" (1953). In her tap shoes, she claimed to be able to dance at 500 taps per minute. Ann made something of a comeback in the early 1970s singing and dancing in the Busby Berkeley-inspired television commercials for Heinz's "Great American Soups". She was a smash as the last actress to headline the Broadway production of "Mame" in 1969 and 1970, and an even bigger smash in "Sugar Babies" in 1979, which she played for nine years, on Broadway and on tour. Much later, she appeared in the Paper Mill Playhouse (Millburn, New Jersey) production of Stephen Sondheim's "Follies" in 1998, in which she sang the song "I'm Still Here", a perfect way to sum up her life and career. On January 22, 2004, Ann Miller passed away at age 80 of lung cancer.

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