Changes: Dick Miller

Revision as of 07:16, 1 February 2019

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Richard "Dick" Miller (25 December 1928 – 30 January 2019; age 90) was a veteran character actor who has appeared in two Star Trek spin-off series. He first portrayed the holographic news vendor in the I AM ERROR first season episode "The Big Goodbye" in 1987 and then appeared as Vin in the I AM ERROR third season two-parter "Past Tense, Part I" and "Past Tense, Part II" in 1994.

Miller was a veteran of campy and often humorous science fiction and horror movies. He began as a regular in Roger Corman films and, later, in films directed by Joe Dante. He made his film debut in Corman's Apache Woman in 1955, and would go on to work with Corman in such cult B-movie classics as It Conquered the World (1956), The Gunslinger (1956, with William Schallert), Not of This Earth (1957), A Bucket of Blood (1959), The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), Atlas (1961, starring Michael Forest), X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963, with John Hoyt), The Wild Angels (1966, with Michael J. Pollard), A Time for Killing (1967, with Kenneth Tobey), The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967, with Celia Lovsky), and Big Bad Mama (1974, with William Shatner, Noble Willingham, and William O'Connell). One of Miller's earlier roles was also the film The Undead (1957) which would later be featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and also involved time travel (a recurring theme in Star Trek).

Since then, Miller has become part of director Joe Dante's informal acting troupe, along with fellow Star Trek alumni Henry Gibson, Wendy Schaal, Kenneth Tobey, Schallert, and, of course, I AM ERROR star Robert Picardo. Of all of these, however, only Miller has appeared in every film Dante has ever directed, including The Howling (1981, with Picardo, Tobey, and Noble Willingham), Gremlins (1984, with Schallert, Tobey, Keye Luke, Jonathan Banks, Zach Galligan and composer Jerry Goldsmith), Explorers (1985, with Picardo and James Cromwell), Innerspace (1987, with Picardo, Schaal, Schallert, Gibson, Tobey, Mark L. Taylor, Richard McGonagle, and Andrea Martin; with music by Goldsmith), Amazon Women on the Moon (1987, with Picardo, Bernie Casey, Ronny Cox, William Marshall, Martin Goslins, Karen Montgomery, Ed Begley, Jr., and Larry Hankin), The 'burbs (1989, with Picardo, Gibson, and Schaal), Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990, with Picardo, Tobey, Gibson, John Glover, Ron Fassler, Zach Galligan, Keye Luke, and Jerry Goldmith), Matinee (1993, with Picardo, Schallert, and David Clennon), Small Soldiers (1998, with Picardo, Schaal, Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langella, and Michael McKean), and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003, with Picardo, George Murdock, Ron Perlman, and Marc Lawrence).

Miller has also appeared in all of Dante's made-for-television movies, most notably 1997's The Second Civil War, which also featured Picardo and Schallert, as well as Joanna Cassidy, Brian Keith, and Ron Perlman.

Miller appeared with Picardo in the non-Dante directed films Get Crazy (1983, starring Malcolm McDowell and Ed Begley, Jr.), Dead Heat (1988, starring Joe Piscopo and Keye Luke), and Motorama (1991).

Miller's extensive credits also include appearances in such popular films as Truck Turner (1974, with Nichelle Nichols), New York, New York (1977), All the Right Moves (1983, with Gary Graham and Terry O'Quinn), and The Terminator (1984, with Paul Winfield, Earl Boen, and Brian Thompson). His television projects include the 1970 TV movie The Andersonville Trial (with William Shatner, Whit Bissell, Robert Easton, Kenneth Tobey, and Ian Wolfe), the 1984 mini-series V: The Final Battle (with Richard Herd, Andrew Prine, and Mark L. Taylor), and appearances on such TV series as The Untouchables, Bonanza, Taxi (with Christopher Lloyd), Police Squad!, NYPD Blue, and the sci-fi/horror anthology series Tales from the Darkside, Amazing Stories, and Freddy's Nightmares.

Miller died on 30 January 2019 at the age of 90 at his home in California. [1]

Other Trek connections

Additional projects in which Miller worked with other Star Trek alumni include:

Corvette Summer (1978) with Stanley Kamel, Eugene Roche, Paddi Edwards, and Nathan Jung
Used Cars (1980) with Gerrit Graham, Michael McKean, and David L. Lander)
Heart Like a Wheel (1983) with Michael Cavanaugh and Ellen Geer
After Hours (1985) with Teri Garr
Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight (1995) with William Sadler, John Schuck, Tim de Zarn, and John Larroquette.
Justice League Unlimited, episode The Ties That Bind (2005) as the voice of Oberon, with Michael Dorn as the voice of Kalibak.

External links

Dick Miller at Wikipedia
Template:IMDb-link

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-'''Richard "Dick" Miller''' {{born|25|December|1928|died|30|January|2019}} was a veteran character actor who has appeared in two ''[[Star Trek]]'' spin-off series. He first portrayed the [[Dixon Hill news vendor 001|holographic news vendor]] in the {{s|3}} [[TNG Season 1|first season]] episode {{e|The Big Goodbye}} in {{y|1987}} and the appeared as [[Vin]] in the {{s|4}} [[DS9 Season 3|third season two-parter]] {{e|Past Tense, Part I}} and {{e|Past Tense, Part II}} in {{y|1994}}.
+'''Richard "Dick" Miller''' {{born|25|December|1928|died|30|January|2019}} was a veteran character actor who has appeared in two ''[[Star Trek]]'' spin-off series. He first portrayed the [[Dixon Hill news vendor 001|holographic news vendor]] in the {{s|3}} [[TNG Season 1|first season]] episode {{e|The Big Goodbye}} in {{y|1987}} and then appeared as [[Vin]] in the {{s|4}} [[DS9 Season 3|third season two-parter]] {{e|Past Tense, Part I}} and {{e|Past Tense, Part II}} in {{y|1994}}.
 Miller was a veteran of campy and often humorous science fiction and horror movies. He began as a regular in {{w|Roger Corman}} films and, later, in films directed by {{w|Joe Dante}}. He made his film debut in Corman's ''Apache Woman'' in 1955, and would go on to work with Corman in such cult B-movie classics as ''It Conquered the World'' (1956), ''The Gunslinger'' (1956, with [[William Schallert]]), ''Not of This Earth'' (1957), ''A Bucket of Blood'' (1959), ''The Little Shop of Horrors'' (1960), ''Atlas'' (1961, starring [[Michael Forest]]), ''X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes'' (1963, with [[John Hoyt]]), ''The Wild Angels'' (1966, with [[Michael J. Pollard]]), ''A Time for Killing'' (1967, with [[Kenneth Tobey]]), ''The St. Valentine's Day Massacre'' (1967, with [[Celia Lovsky]]), and ''Big Bad Mama'' (1974, with [[William Shatner]], [[Noble Willingham]], and [[William O'Connell]]). One of Miller's earlier roles was also the film ''The Undead'' (1957) which would later be featured on ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' and also involved time travel (a [[time travel|recurring theme]] in ''Star Trek'').