Dennis Miller (Australian actor)

Dennis Miller (1937 – 2 October 2022) was an Australian stage, television and film actor, best known for his roles in TV movies and series.^[1]

Miller was born in Hobart, Tasmania^[2] in 1937. His family had no background in show business and had a church background on both sides. His great-grandfather built the first church in Bordertown, South Australia in the 1800s.^[2] As a youth, he played football for the Hobart Rules club Clarence.^[2]

Miller was initially studying for a degree in agricultural science at Hobart University, when he developed an interest in acting. He joined the university's Old Nick Company and later, the Hobart Repertory Company.^[2]

Miller relocated from Hobart to Melbourne, where he spent time playing a wide variety of roles in local theatre, predominantly for the Union Theatre Repertory Company (the formative Melbourne Theatre Company).^[2][3] One of these was the Alan Hopgood play And the Big Men Fly (1963), a football comedy in which he starred as Achilles Jones, alongside his future wife, Elspeth Ballantyne.^[2][4] After the production proved popular, it was filmed for television and was broadcast on 5 October 1963,^[5][6] the night of the VFL Grand Final.^[7] He later appeared in a 1974 miniseries adaptation of the play, this time playing the role of Moola Barnes.

Another early role was as Hughie in the televised play The One Day of the Year (1962).^[2] He was best known however, for the ABC rural soap opera Bellbird as Constable Des Davies^[2] and later, his recurring role on long-running police drama series Blue Heelers as ex-sergeant Pat Doyle, from 1994 to 2000.^[8]

Miller also had notable roles in serials such as The Flying Doctors,^[9] Stingers^[10] and A Country Practice.^[11] In 1990, he had a starring role in children's series Elly & Jools as Fergus Finian 'Feral' O'Farrell.^[12] Additionally, he appeared in several miniseries including Scales of Justice (1983) with Bill Hunter,^[13] The Cowra Breakout (1984),^[14] Colour in the Creek (1985),^[15] The Dirtwater Dynasty (1988),^[16] and Kangaroo Palace (1997).^[17]

Miller appeared in numerous films, both theatrically-released and made-for-TV, including The Last of the Knucklemen (1979) alongside Steve Bisley and Michael Caton^[18] and The Everlasting Secret Family (1988) with Mark Lee.^[19][20] Other film credits included Stir (1980) opposite Bryan Brown,^[21] Hoodwink (1981) with Judy Davis and Geoffrey Rush,^[22] Starstruck (1982),^[23] Heatwave (1982),^[24] Buddies (1983) with Colin Friels,^[25] and Emerald City (1988) opposite Nicole Kidman in an early role.^[26]

He also had a role in 1988 biopic A Cry in the Dark (aka Evil Angels), opposite Meryl Streep and Sam Neill, which depicted the real life story of the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain and the legal trial that followed.^[27]

Miller was married to actress Elspeth Ballantyne from 1968 to 1977. Both had leading roles in the long-running series Bellbird.^[28] They have two sons together – Matthew and Tobias.^[29]

Miller retired from the industry in 2000. He died from undisclosed causes on 2 October 2022.