HAROLD MILLER

May 31, 1894

Harold Miller was born as Harold Edwin Kammermeyer in Redondo Beach, California.  He was a veteran of more than 425 television programs and films, most of them as a background performer, nearly all uncredited.  He made his screen debut in the Selznick Pictures 1919 release Upstairs and Down.  

 From 1938 to 1947 he was in six Lucille Ball films including Joy of Living (1938), Beauty for the Asking (1939),  The Big Street (1942), Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945), The Dark Corner (1946), and Lured (1947). 

From 1939 to 1951 he was in nine films with William Frawley (Fred Mertz).  

From 1935 to 1963 he was in 43 films with the Queen of the Extras, Bess Flowers. With television episodes that number zooms to 274 shared credits.  The last of those was Critic’s Choice, starring Lucille Ball. Flowers also holds the record of doing the most films with Ball.  

He did the screen versions of many hit stage musicals like Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Gypsy (1962), Pal Joey (1957), Anything Goes (1956), Guys and Dolls (1955), and Call Me Madam (1963). 

He started doing television in 1952 with an episode of “The Adventures of Superman”.  He returned the following year for a second ‘adventure’.  In 1956 the series did a cross-over episode with “I Love Lucy.” 

In 1954, he was part of the audience for “Over the Tea Cups”, a play attended by the Ricardo’s and Mertzes to celebrate “Ethel’s Birthday” (ILL S4;E9).  The episode was filmed on October 7, 1954, and first aired on November 29, 1954.

Miller was also in the audience of a concert in Lucille Ball’s film Lured (1947) and also played an audience member in her film Critic’s Choice (1963).  During his long career, he was frequently seen in a theatre seat: 

• 1962 ~ Perry Mason: “The Case of the Ancient
  Romeo”
• 1962 ~ Gypsy
• 1961 ~ Thriller: “Dark Legacy (1961) 
• 1961 ~ Cry for Happy
• 1956 ~ Serenade
• 1953 ~ Here Come the Girls
• 1952 ~ Somebody Loves Me
• 1951 ~ The Stooge
• 1951 ~ Golden Girl
• 1950 ~ The Toast of New
  Orleans
• 1949 ~ That Midnight Kiss
• 1948 ~ The Velvet
  Touch
• 1948 ~ B.F.’s Daughter
• 1945 ~ George White’s
  Scandals
• 1944 ~ Music for
  Millions
• 1943 ~ The Voice That Thrilled the
  World (Short) 
• 1943 ~ The Constant
  Nymph
• 1943 ~ Slightly Dangerous
• 1939 ~ Charlie Chan at Treasure
  Island
• 1938 ~ The Rage of Paris
• 1935 ~ A Feather in Her
  Hat
• 1934 ~ The Man with Two
  Faces
• 1934 ~ This Side of Heaven
• 1929 ~ On with the Show! 

In 1956, he returned to “I Love Lucy” as a passenger aboard the S.S. Constitution in “Second Honeymoon” (ILL S5;E14).  The plot of this episode very closely follows the adventures of Lorelei Lee (Marilyn Monroe) in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which Miller was also in!

Miller was often seen at sea.  He even went down on the Titanic in 1953!  Here’s a list of films where he was aboard a vessel: 

• 1958 ~ Auntie Mame 
• 1958 ~ The World Was His Jury 
• 1957 ~ An Affair to Remember
• 1956 ~ Anything Goes
• 1955 ~The Eternal Sea
• 1954 ~ The Lone Wolf: “The Werewolf Story”
• 1953 ~ The French Line
• 1953 ~ The Stranger Wore a
  Gun
• 1953 ~ Cruisin’ Down the
  River
• 1953 ~ Dangerous Crossing
• 1953 ~ Titanic
• 1952 ~ April in Paris
• 1951 ~ Payment on Demand
• 1950 ~ Please Believe Me
• 1948 ~ Luxury Liner
• 1948 ~ Romance on the High
  Seas
• 1942 ~ Now, Voyager
• 1941 ~ Our Wife
• 1941 ~ Blondie Goes Latin
• 1941 ~ The Lady Eve 
• 1940 ~ Road to Singapore
• 1939 ~ In Name Only
• 1939 ~ Love Affair
• 1936 ~ Mummy’s Boys
• 1936 ~ Dodsworth
• 1936 ~ Love Before Breakfast
• 1935 ~ Navy Wife
• 1935 ~ Dante’s Inferno
• 1931 ~ Smart Woman
• 1928 ~ Souvenirs (Short)

Miller also was a background performer (a wedding guest) in the Lucy / Desi film Forever, Darling (1956).

In 1958, he did two episodes of Desilu’s “The Adventures of Jim Bowie” and two episodes of “The Danny Thomas Show” which was filmed by Desilu.  Later that year, “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” did a reciprocal cross-over with “Danny Thomas”.    

In March 1959, he did an episode of Desilu’s “The Real McCoys”.  As usual, he was a guest at a big party. 

In 1960, Miller was a background artist on “The Man in the Funny Suit” for “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse” hosted by Desi Arnaz.   

From 1960 to 1962, Miller was part of six episodes of Desilu’s “The Untouchables”.  

In 1963, he was seen in the Lucille Ball film Critic’s Choice, as an audience member.  It would be one of his last films.  He retired after making The Incredible Mr. Limpett in 1964.  

Harold Miller died on July 18, 1972 at the age of 78.