Dean Miller, 75; Made His Name in ‘December Bride’

Dean Miller, 75, an actor best-known for his featured role in the popular 1950s sitcom “December Bride,” died of cancer Jan. 13 in Grosse Pointe, Mich.

Miller was a radio announcer in Cincinnati before he began his Hollywood career in romantic comedies and musicals for MGM. His first important movie was “Skirts Ahoy!” with Esther Williams in 1952. That was followed by roles in such films as “Everything I Have Is Yours,” with Marge and Gower Champion, and “The Girl Who Had Everything,” which featured Elizabeth Taylor and Fernando Lamas.

From 1954 to 1959, he played the role of Spring Byington’s son-in-law in the CBS comedy “December Bride,” a show that revolved around Byington’s character, Lily Ruskin, an attractive widow with an active social life. The show also starred Harry Morgan as the next-door neighbor who, unlike Miller’s character, couldn’t stand his mother-in-law.

In the 1960s, Miller was a host of “Here’s Hollywood,” a celebrity interview show on NBC. In the 1980s, he was a writer and host for a syndicated radio program called “Dean Miller at the Showbiz Trivia Desk.” He also owned a number of radio stations in his native Ohio.