Denny Miller
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Denny Miller (b. April 25, 1934 in Bloomington, Indiana) is an U.S. actor, perhaps best known for his guest-starring roles on Gilligan's Island and as Tarzan in the late 1950s.
Miller was a basketball star at UCLA, where his father was a physical education instructor. In his senior year, while working as a furniture mover to pay for school, he was discovered on Sunset Boulevard by a Hollywood agent who signed him with MGM. He became the first blond Tarzan in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959), a cheapie/quickie which lifted most of its footage from earlier Johnny Weissmuller movies. MGM had him under contract for 20 months; in that time, he worked 8 weeks as Tarzan. After that, he did guest spots on a number of TV series, finally becoming a regular on "Wagon Train" from 1961 to 1964 as character “Duke Shannon”. In 1965-6, he starred with Juliet Prowse in Mona McCluskey (1965).
Miller guest-starred on Gilligan's Island in 1964 as “Duke Williams” in episode “Big Man on Little Stick”, and in 1967 as “Tongo the Ape Man” in episode “Our Vines Have Tender Apes.” He would also guest-star on another Sherwood Schwartz production, The Brady Bunch, in 1973 as Carol Brady's egomaniacal high-school boyfriend "Tank Gates" in the episode "Quarterback Sneak".
He starred as "Wyoming Bill Kelso" in the Peter Sellers movie The Party, which he remembers as the most fun part he ever did.
He appeared as the clone (Theta-class life form) Ser 5-9 on original Battlestar Galactica series episode "The Gun On Ice Planet Zero".
Denny Miller later appeared as an alien invader in the television mini-series V. All together he starred in over 200 episodic televion series.
He played the Gorton's Fisherman on TV ads for 14 years.
Miller wrote an autobiography titled "Didn't You Used To Be...What's His Name?" and a book about the obesite problem in the United States called "Toxic Waist?...Get To Know Sweat!". USA Book News selected this last book as a Finalist in the Health Category for "Best Books 2006".
In June 2006, Denny attended the first Bionicon in Tampa, Fl.
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Preceded by Gordon Scott |
Actors to portray Tarzan 1959 |
Succeeded by Jock Mahoney |