2007.1.388

• photography

Black and white photograph of actress/dancer Ann Miller. Miller is wearing a dark shirt or jacket with a collar that buttons up the front. There is a white ruffle at the cuffs and she has a large white ruffled bow at her neck. She is wearing a pearl necklace and earrings and has her pointed left hand raised; this same hand is holding a white glove. Caption on front below image reads: "(LA7) SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 3--SHE WANTS $10,000 A MONTH ALIMONY--Actress Ann Miller gestures outside the court building in Santa Monica, Calif., today while waiting for multimillionaire Arthur Cameron to show up for a hearing on her petition for $10,000 a month temporary alimony. she says they were married in a Mexico City civil ceremony May 25, 1961, but Cameron says he recalls no marriage. Cameron sent her a telegram last March 6 terminating 'our engagement.' Miss Miller, explaining her suit for separate maintenance in which she asks for $7 million, says 'that telegram got my Irish up.' (AP Wirephoto) (see AP wire story) (rhs51415tms) 1962."

Ann MillerFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Miller (9/19/2007)Ann Miller (April 12, 19231 _ January 22, 2004) was an American dancer, singer and actress, who was christened Johnnie Lucille Collier. Born in Chireno, Texas (some sources cite Houston, where she was raised), her father insisted on the name Johnnie because he had wanted a boy, but she was often called Annie. She took up dancing to exercise her legs to help her rickets. She was considered a child dance prodigy. In an interview featured in a "behind the scenes" documentary on the making of the compilation That's Entertainment III, she said that Eleanor Powell was an early inspiration. Miller was given a contract with RKO at the age of thirteen (she had told them she was eighteen), and remained there until 1940.The following year, Miller was offered a contract at Columbia Pictures, where she bumped friend Lucille Ball from the throne as "Queen of the B-Movies". She finally hit her mark (starting in the late 1940s) in her roles in MGM musicals such as Kiss Me, Kate, Easter Parade, and On the Town. Miller was famed for her speed in tap dancing; she claimed to be able to tap 500 times per minute. She was known as well, especially later in her career, for her distinctive appearance, which reflected a studio-era ideal of glamor: massive black bouffant hair, heavy makeup with a slash of crimson lipstick, and fashions that emphasized her lithe figure and long dancer's legs.For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Ann Miller has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6914 Hollywood Blvd. She died at the age of 80 from cancer which had metastasized to her lungs, and was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Used: Oakland Tribune