Marilyn Suzanne Miller | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1950-01-03)January 3, 1950 (age 75) |
| Occupation | Television writer, producer |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan (B.A. 1972) |
| Notable works | Saturday Night Live |
| Notable awards | ThreeEmmy Awards |
Marilyn Suzanne Miller (born January 3, 1950)[1] is an American television writer and producer. She was one of only three female writers on the original staff ofSaturday Night Live and was also a writer for such 1970ssitcoms asThe Odd Couple,The Mary Tyler Moore Show,Rhoda,Maude, andBarney Miller.
Miller was born inNeptune,New Jersey, the oldest of four daughters to Dr. Norman R. Miller, a psychologist, and Shirley M. Miller, a writer and editor.[2] Her family moved toMonroeville, Pennsylvania nearPittsburgh, where she attendedGateway High School, graduating in 1967.[3]
As an undergraduate at theUniversity of Michigan, she pursued a degree in playwriting, graduating in 1972. She was accepted into theUniversity of Iowa'swriter's workshop, but she deferred enrollment in theMaster of Fine Arts program there for financial reasons.[1]
After college, Miller worked as a fashion copy writer for a Pittsburgh department store.[3] During that time she wrote the draft of a script forThe Mary Tyler Moore Show, and, having seen the name of executive producerJames L. Brooks in the show's credits, called Brooks atCBS to pitch the script.[4] Soon after sending Brooks the script, she was flown to Hollywood byGarry Marshall to be a junior writer forThe Odd Couple. For Brooks, she wrote forThe Mary Tyler Moore Show and the spinoffRhoda. She also went on to write forMaude,Barney Miller, andWelcome Back, Kotter.[1]
For her work on the 1974Lily Tomlin special,Lily, Miller earned anEmmy Award nomination for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy, Variety or Music Special. One of the special's producers,Lorne Michaels, was assembling the writing staff forSaturday Night Live, and he asked Miller to join. Though she at first declined, she was convinced to join the show's original writing staff at the age of 25. She was one of only three women on the staff, along withAnne Beatts andRosie Shuster,[1] however, Miller did not join the staff until theLily Tomlin-hosted episode, as it was suggested to her by Michaels, since she had previously worked on the aforementionedLily special.[5][6]
OnSNL, Miller's writing appeared in the "Judy Miller" and "Rhonda Weiss"recurring sketches, both forGilda Radner. She collaborated withSteve Martin andDan Aykroyd on the "Festrunk Brothers" ("Wild and Crazy Guys") sketches. She also wrote the classic "Dancing in the Dark" sketch for Radner and Martin in 1978. For her work onSNL she won two Emmys and received three other nominations, as well as winning severalWriters Guild of America Awards.[1]
Miller left theSNL staff in 1978 to work on Radner's one-woman Broadway revue and movie,Gilda Live.[7] After more theatrical work, including briefly returning toSNL for most of the1981-82 season, whenDick Ebersol had taken over as producer of the show, andEddie Murphy was the star of the show back then;[8] Miller returned to weekly television as a producer onThe Tracey Ullman Show, for which she won another Emmy forOutstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program in 1990. In 1991, she was the co-executive producer of the briefly revivedThe Carol Burnett Show.[1]
Miller was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer[9] in 1992. She returned to the writing staff ofSNL later that year, although she was not credited as a writer until the March 13, 1993 episode ofseason 18, by which point, Michaels had been back producing the show for several years by then.[10] She has since talked about working with younger cast members such asAdam Sandler andMike Myers, and younger writers likeDave Mandel andSteve Koren.[11][12] After seven non-consecutive seasons, Miller permanently exited the show at the end of the show's infamous20th season in 1995, alongside most of the writing staff and cast.[13]
In 1998, she wrote an episode about breast cancer forMurphy Brown, winning aHumanitas Prize.[14] In 2001, she won her third Writers Guild Award forSNL's 25th anniversary show,Saturday Night Live 25.[1]
Miller is the author ofHow to Be a Middle-Aged Babe (published in 2007), "a bawdy, smart satire of earnest women's magazines and self-help books".[15]
