Allan Miller

Not unlike his mentor Lee Strasberg, Allan Miller is far better known for the Who's Who of actors he's given acting instruction to than for the roles he's performed. Miller spent the 1950s studying at the Actors Studio under Strasberg, not making his television debut until he appeared in a 1967 episode of the then-CBS soap opera "The Edge of Night." A constant presence on the stage, he still spent the next four decades accruing an impressive array of credits both in motion pictures and on the boob tube. Best known for playing Harland Richards in the NBC soap, "Santa Barbara," Miller's earliest television spots were in primetime crime dramas ("Starsky and Hutch"; "Kojak"), sci-fi series ("Battlestar Galactica"), and sitcoms ("Soap"). On the cinematic front, he shared screen time with Gregory Peck ("MacArthur"), Al Pacino ("Cruising"), and Richard Pryor ("Brewster's Millions"). Most impressive is the cadre of talent that has studied acting under his direction-Barbra Streisand, Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, and Peter Boyle are just some of the famous names who sought out his skills as a master teacher. Miller has also been an award-winning artistic director, wrote the play "The Fox" based on a D.H. Lawrence novella, and penned "A Passion for Acting: Exploring the Creative Process."