Ann Miller Dies at 81

Fans of musical comedy will be saddened by the passing of Ann Miller. Her performance in the film Kiss Me Kate was absolute perfection.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-01-22-miller-dies_x.htm

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20040122_547.html

4dk

Man She was a good one. I grew up watching all those old movies (loved musicals).Not many oldtimers left now. Sad, isn't it?

I liked her too. I remember my husband and I went to see her and Mickey Rooney in Sugar Babes in San Francisco in the early 80's. It was a little risque for us but we did enjoy it a lot.

Another great "hoofer" gone!! I never even heard the news, thanks for posting!

I guess all the press coverage of Michael Jackson and 'Benifer' threw this news off the map.

grgranny how lucky you were to see her in person. I'm going to watch my tape of "Kiss Me Kate" again over the weekend.

A bit of trivia; of the 'hoofers' in "Kiss Me Kate" only Tommy Rall is still living. The other hoofers being Ann Miller, Bobby Van, Bob Fosse and Carol Haney.

4dk

I loved Ann Miller-boy could she tap.

Here is some Ann Miller trivia:
Born 1923 in Chireno, Texas
Real name-Johnnie Lucille Ann Collier
Took up dancing partly to build up her leg muscles from rickets.
First Film "New Faces" 1937

Thanks for the sad news and the links, 4DK, and for the Ann Miller tidbits, Dlkksk8fan. I just watched Ann in "On the Town" on cable the other night. She had such incredibile speed in her tapping and leg moves, but such a smooth upper body style on top of it all. Ginger Rogers was a superb partner with Astaire--and, as we know, dancing what he did backwards and in high heels but my favorite solo tap dancers were Ann Miller and Vera-Ellen. Ann was such a stunning woman, too, with that raven hair and those jewel-tone costumes. Plus she did that last part as the quintessential seen-it-all, done-it-all Hollywood dame "Coco" in David Lynch's "Mullholland Drive" a few years ago. And nobody could have delivered Lynch's ironic lines like Ann Miller, "If that dog craps in my courtyard again I'm going to bake his little butt for breakfast!" I'm glad Lynch asked Miller to do that role and that besides all her great musicals, she had one last role in a big-time Hollywood movie. As they say, with full respect, "Man, what a dame!" I'm going to have to rent "Kiss Me Kate" soon too.
Rgirl