Marvin Miller (actor)

Marvin Miller (July 18, 1913 - February 8, 1985) was an American film and voice-over actor. Possessing a deep, baritone voice, he began his career in radio in St. Louis, Missouri 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 in the film Forbidden Planet.

Radio and recordings
Born Marvin Mueller in St. Louis, Miller graduated from Washington University before he began his career in radio. 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 50's, including The Whistler.

He also won Grammy Awards in 1965 and 1966 for his recordings of Dr. Seuss stories: in 1967 for Dr Seuss Presents – If I Ran the Zoo and Sleep Book and 1966 for Dr Seuss Presents Fox in Socks and Green Eggs and Ham. He also read Horton Hatches the Egg and The Sneetches and Other Stories & 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 film Dead Reckoning, and as Yamada in the 1945 James Cagney effort Blood on the Sun. In Deadline at Dawn he plays Sleepy Parsons, a blind pianist.

Television
In 1961, Miller guest-starred as Johnny Kelso, with Erin O'Brien, in "The Marble Slab" episode of the Frederick Ziv-, United Artists-, and MGM-produced Bat Masterson (TV servies), starring Gene Barry. Also credited as appearing in that episode were Robert Bice, Pat Waltz, Rick Vallin, Paul Sorenson and Joe Yrigoyen. Original air date was May 11, 1961.

Miller voiced "Hemo" in the AT&T educational film Hemo the Magnificent, part of a series featuring Dr. Frank C. Baxter and directed by Frank Capra, 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, playing "Deer" in Hemo the Magnificent and in the TV series Rocky and Bullwinkle along with Paul Frees, who voiced "Boris Badenov" 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.

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

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

Death
Miller died in 1985 at the age of 71 from a heart attack. He is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

For his contribution to the television industry, Marvin Miller has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6101 Hollywood Boulevard.