Colleen Miller

American actress Colleen Miller (1932) was a second-rank star in Westerns and Film Noirs of the 1950s. The brunette beauty appeared in such films as Four Guns to the Border (1954), Playgirl (1954) and The Purple Mask (1955).


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 876. Photo: Universal International.


Vintage postcard. Photo: Universal International. Colleen Miller in The Rawhide Years (Rudolph Maté, 1956).

Signed by Howard Hughes

Colleen Miller was born in Yakima, Washington in 1932. She was the daughter of Elias and Lillian Miller. Her mother named her after actress Colleen Moore. Colleen was raised in Portland, Oregon, where she attended Lincoln High School ] and graduated at age fifteen. In 1949, she was chosen 'Miss Portland'.

After graduating, she worked as a professional dancer in a San Francisco ballet company, and relocated to Las Vegas after three seasons to work at the Flamingo. According to IMDb, the story goes that 19-year-old Miller was fishing in the California mountains when a resort photographer recruited her to pose with a prize trout.

A movie scout saw the picture in print, and she was signed to a contract by Howard Hughes for his RKO Pictures company. She was still 19 when she debuted in the Film Noir The Las Vegas Story (Robert Stevenson, 1952), starring Jane Russell.

She shared top billing with Rory Calhoun in her next film, the Technicolor Western Four Guns to the Border (Richard Carlson, 1954).

Then Miller had a leading role in the Film Noir Playgirl (Joseph Pevney, 1954) as a young Midwestern girl who comes to New York City to be a model and ends up involved in a shooting and a scandal.


Yugoslavian postcard by 3K, no. 2179.


French postcard by P.I., Paris, no. 700. Photo: H.P.S.

Fine natural talent and carefree sensuality

Colleen Miller was then signed by Universal Pictures, where she co-starred with Tony Curtis in two films, the Swashbuckler The Purple Mask (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1955) and the Western The Rawhide Years (Rudolph Mate, 1956).

She gained critical praise for her fine natural talent and carefree sensuality.

Colleen Miller made just one more movie after 1958, the Western Gunfight at Comanche Creek (Frank McDonald, 1963) with Audie Murphy.

Then she retired from acting for a domestic life with her husband Ted Briskin, a wealthy Chicago camera manufacturer, and his two children.

After their 1975 divorce, she reportedly considered resuming her career, but there are no more films with her to date. However, she married Walter Ralphs, an heir to the Ralphs grocery chain. Colleen Miller currently resides in California.


Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 1073. Photo: Universal International.


French postcard by P.I., Paris, no. 700. Photo: H.P.S. Collection: Carla Bosch.

Sources: Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia and IMDb.