Denny Miller

Denny Miller was an American actor whose career spanned film and television. Born in Bloomington, Indiana, he played basketball for the UCLA Bruins before a Hollywood agent spotted him on Sunset Boulevard while he worked as a furniture mover, leading to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and a screen test directed by George Cukor. He was the first blond actor to play Tarzan, in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959). From 1961 to 1964 he was a regular on Wagon Train as the scout Duke Shannon, and after the show ended he starred as Mike McCluskey on the sitcom Mona McCluskey from 1965 to 1966. He guest-starred on many series, appeared in more than 200 television programs, and spent 14 years as the Gorton's Fisherman in commercials. His films included The Party (1968), Making It (1971), Doomsday Machine (1972), Buck and the Preacher (1972), The Island at the Top of the World (1974), and Caboblanco (1980). He also wrote an autobiography.