Lillian Miller

Who was Lillian Miller?

Lillian Dorothy Miller, better known as Miss Miller, was a regular audience member of various American television variety shows from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Miller was first a regular audience member of The Tonight Show throughout Steve Allen's and Jack Paar's tenures as host. Miss Miller was even brought along when the New York City-based show would go on location to places such as Havana, Cuba, Hollywood, California, and Niagara Falls. She became such a fixture on the show that she was forced to join the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the TV actors' union.

When Paar left Tonight to start his prime-time Jack Paar Program in 1962, Miss Miller then became a regular on that program, as well as on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Merv Griffin Show. On at least one Paar program, shown on November 29, 1962, Miss Miller was an on-stage guest alongside Liberace and Cassius Clay. Even with numerous network and syndicator changes, as well as a changing of base from New York to Hollywood, Miss Miller remained a fixture on Griffin's program throughout its run which ended in 1986. She was sometimes featured in the commercials for Griffin's show. She was also a regular on The Carol Burnett Show, frequently bantering with Burnett during the program's opening question-and-answer with the audience.