Warren Miller (director)

For other people with the same name, see Warren Miller (disambiguation).

Warren Miller (director)
Born	(1924-10-15)October 15, 1924 Los Angeles, California, US
Died	January 24, 2018(2018-01-24) (aged 93) Orcas Island, Washington, US
Nationality	American
Occupation	Skier, film producer and director
Years active	1950–2004
Known for	Skiing films, Warren Miller Entertainment

Warren A. Miller (October 15, 1924 – January 24, 2018) was an American ski and snowboarding filmmaker. He was the founder of Warren Miller Entertainment and produced, directed and narrated films until 1988. His published works include over 750 sports films, several books and hundreds of non-fiction articles. Miller was inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame (1978), the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame (1995), and was awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards from the International Skiing History Association (2004) and the California Ski Industry Association (2008).

Biography

Early years

Warren Anthony Miller was born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, to Helena Humphrey Miller and Albert Lincoln Miller. He had two older sisters, Mary Helen Miller and Betty Jane "BJ" Miller.

As a young man he took up the hobbies of skiing, surfing, and photography. At the age of 18, with the U.S. ten months into World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the South Pacific. On Christmas vacation in 1944 he first filmed skiing with a borrowed camera in Yosemite.

Upon his discharge from the Navy in 1946, Miller bought his first 8mm movie camera, a Bell & Howell costing $77 (equivalent to $930.00 today). He and a friend, Ward Baker, moved to Sun Valley, Idaho where they lived in a teardrop trailer in the parking lot of the Sun Valley ski resort, and worked as ski instructors. In their free time, they filmed each other skiing to critique and improve their ski techniques. During the summers they shifted to the California coast where they filmed each other surfing.

Later work

After Miller showed his skiing and surfing films to friends, with accompanying commentary, he began to receive invitations to show and narrate them at parties. In 1949, he founded Warren Miller Entertainment [WME] and began producing one feature-length ski film per year. He borrowed money to rent halls and theaters, and charged admission to his shows. He booked show halls near ski resorts so that he could film the next year's footage during the day, and show the current film in the evening. Before long he was showing his films in 130 cities a year.

Miller continued to head Warren Miller Entertainment until the late 1980s when he sold the company to his son, Kurt Miller. Kurt later sold the company to Time, Inc., which sold it in 2007 to Bonnier Corporation, which was itself acquired by Active Interest Media in 2013. The company still produces a new film every year, but Miller himself was not actively involved after 2004.

While transitioning out of his executive role, Miller still maintained his creative role as director and narrator for the films into the 1990s. The makers of later films, including Warren Miller's Higher Ground (2005) and Warren Miller's Off the Grid (2006), used Miller's narration from previous films rather than recording new narration.

In late 2010, Miller presented 'An Evening with Warren Miller' to two sold-out audiences at Seattle's Benaroya Hall.

Personal life

Miller's first wife Jean, mother of his oldest son Scott, died of cancer when her son was just one and half years old. Miller then married Dorothy Marion Roberts in 1955. The marriage produced two children, a daughter Chris Ann (1957) and Kurt James (1959). The two were married for twenty years and lived in Hermosa Beach, California where the Warren Miller Production film company was located for almost 40 years.

Miller and his wife of 30 years, Laurie, lived on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands north of Seattle.

In September 2016, Miller self-published his autobiography, Freedom Found: My Life Story. Andy Bigford, former editor-in-chief and publisher of Ski Magazine, co-authored the book, and Miller's wife contributed as well. After a sold out first printing, a second printing was released in December 2017.

Miller died January 24, 2018, at his home on Orcas Island.

Filmography

#	Year	Title
1	1950	Deep And Light
2	1951	California Skis
3	1952	Wandering Skis
4	1953	Ski Fantasy
5	1954	Symphony On Skis
6	1955	Invitation To Skiing
7	1956	Have Skis, Will Travel
8	1957	Anyone For Skiing?
9	1958	Are Your Skis On Straight?
10	1959	Let's Go Skiing
11	1960	Swinging Skis
12	1961	Many Moods Of Skiing
13	1962	Around The World On Skis
14	1963	The Sound Of Skiing
15	1964	The Skiers
16	1965	The Big Ski Show
17	1966	Ski On The Wild Side
18	1967	The Ski Scene
19	1968	No Boundaries
20	1969	This Is Skiing
21	1970	Sound Of Winter
22	1971	Any Snow, Any Mountain
23	1972	Winter People
24	1973	Skiing's Great
25	1974	The Color Of Skiing
26	1975	There Comes A Time
27	1976	Skiing On My Mind
28	1977	In Search Of Skiing
29	1978	Ski A La Carte
30	1979	Winter Fever
31	1980	Ski People
32	1981	Ski In The Sun
33	1982	Snowonder
34	1983	Ski Time
35	1984	Ski Country
36	1985	Steep And Deep
37	1986	Beyond The Edge
38	1987	White Winter Heat
39	1988	Escape To Ski
40	1989	White Magic
41	1990	Extreme Winter
42	1991	Born To Ski
43	1992	Steeper And Deeper
44	1993	Black Diamond Rush
45	1994	Vertical Reality
46	1995	Endless Winter
47	1996	Snowriders
48	1997	Snowriders 2
49	1998	Freeriders
50	1999	Fifty
51	2000	Ride
52	2001	Cold Fusion
53	2002	Storm
54	2003	Journey
55	2004	Impact

Movies released since 2004, while bearing Warren Miller's name, were not directed by Warren Miller, nor was he involved in their production in any way. See the complete list for all films bearing Warren Miller's name.

Bibliography

• On Film in Print (1994) Vail, CO: Ritem and Printem ISBN 978-0963614414
• Lurching from One Near Disaster to the Next (1998) Deer Harbor, WA: Pole Pass Pub. ISBN 978-0963614421
• Wine, Women, Warren, & Skis, (2001) Warren Miller Productions; 14th edition; ISBN 978-0963614407
• Warren's World, (2002) Mountain Sports Press, ISBN 978-0967674780
• "The Good New Days" Ski (Jan 2004) Vol 68 #5:152
• "A Taste of Freedom" The Ski Journal (2010) vol 4.2 ISSN 1935-3219
• Bigford, Andy and Miller, Warren (2016) Freedom Found: My Life Story Warren Miller Company ISBN 9780963614469

External links

• Warren Miller
• Warren Miller Entertainment
• Warren Miller Foundation
• Warren Miller at the Internet Movie Database