Denny Miller, Actor/ Author

Home

Once Upon a Dime

Remember when going to the movies was a dime. I do. All that magic for 10 cents. The movies in Bourbon, Indiana, where I spent my first 16 summers, were shown on the white washed outside wall of the hardware store. Bring your own chair and if it rains you have to wait till next Saturday night.

Movies were a real treat and they still are but I never dreamed of being a cowboy or an actor or a space cadet. Basketball filled my dreams. Athletes were my heroes.

First Bloomington, Indiana was home, then Silver Springs, Maryland, then Baldwin, Long Island, New York and then Los Angeles with Mom and Professor Dad and younger brother Kent.

My wife Nancy and I have lived in Las Vegas, NV, since 2002.

I followed my basketball dreams to a scholarship to UCLA and even played the game while in the Army in Germany. The base gym was much warmer than marching in the snow.

With Coach John Wooden and my brother, Kent

At UCLA I was studying to be a coach, basketball or football. Then a very HAPPY ACCIDENT happened. I was working at a summer job moving furniture. While loading a truck with office furniture in Hollywood, I heard a voice yell "Hey you!" "Me?" I said to the guy leaning out the window of his car that was stopped by the curb. "Yes" he said. "Come here and let me see your hair line."

I was sure I didn't hear what I thought I'd heard so I put down the chair I was taking to the truck and went over to the fella. "Let me see your hair line." he repeated. I thought the guy was loony tunes so I brushed the hair out of my face, said "How's that?" and turned to go back to work. Over my shoulder I heard, "Here's my card, call me at my office." I took the card and he drove off. The card said "Talent Agent."

I showed the card to my boss who said "Just load the furniture!" We did and took it to, and I'm not making this up, a Hollywood Agency. While moving the desks and chairs into the offices three more agents gave me their cards. Nothing like this had happened to me before and it hasn't happened again.

Like I said A HAPPY ACCIDENT. Who said "Life is what happens to you while you're on your way to do something else." I called the first Agent that had given me his card and that led to an interview at Review Studios and that to a screen test.

The screen test was of the "personality" variety. That means you don't have to know how to act. Just stand or sit in front of the camera and answer questions like ---"What is your name?" "Where do you live?" What do you do?" Real tough test. I didn't forget my name so I got a 7 year contract as a studio contract player. Bye bye basketball!

Lucky? You bet! Luck got me another screen test. This one was a scene from the play Voice of the Turtle. The test was directed by Oscar winning director, George Cukor. The contract that resulted was for that of a studio contract player for MGM. That led to the role of Tarzan. Thank you Mr. Cukor.

Good luck, a good agent and good health have been with me ever since.

I hosted a special 30 year retrospective of Wagon Train, which featured clips from the eight years the series ran.

From Wagon Train - Still Rolling

Teaching Relaxation and Fitness

I tell my students that it's the only class they'll ever take that if they fall asleep in it, they'll get an "A".

In the time between acting jobs (138 TV commercials, 234 TV episodes and 20 films) I have taught fitness. My degree in Physical Education from UCLA has allowed me to teach. I've been a personal trainer, taught at Health Spas (The Palms in Palm Springs, The Okas in Ojai, CA and The Golden Door in Escondido).

I produced, wrote, directed and was on camera in a video on relaxation called HOMESTRETCH. In it I teach people how to relax using slow painless stretching, soft music, dim lights and visualization.

The video's lessons become the content of my classes when I teach relaxation in schools. I've taught at Humboldt Universirty, Fort Lewis College and for the U.S. Navy. I've also taught the method to people with arthritis at the Annenberg Center for Health and for the Arthritis Foundation. The students learn to deal with chronic pain and to increase their range of motion.

My father, Dr. Ben Miller was Professor Emeritus at UCLA for 28 years, so I'm trying to follow his path.