# Old 'Tonight Show' audience member 'Miss Miller:' What was her first name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tonight-show-audience-member-miss-miller-what-was-her-first-name/429614 "2007-12-11T15:27:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tonight-show-audience-member-miss-miller-what-was-her-first-name/429614/1 "2007-12-11T15:27:22Z")
Once upon a time there was a little old lady who was a frequent front row guest at talk shows. I think, among them, Jack Paar, Steve Allen, and Merv Griffin (where I remember her). She was known simply as “Miss Miller.” I’ve seen conflicting information about her first name, though. While obviously not the, um, “singer” Mrs. Miller, Steve Allen remembered her first name as “Dorothy” and I found an online reference to a “Lillian” Miller whose 1990 obit mentioned her as being the guest. You can find various online sources that refer to either name. Which one is correct? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tonight-show-audience-member-miss-miller-what-was-her-first-name/429614/2 "2007-12-11T19:33:10Z")
You know, I have been trying to find that same information! TV geek, meet TV geek. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tonight-show-audience-member-miss-miller-what-was-her-first-name/429614/3 "2007-12-12T00:28:25Z")
Her given name was “Lillian” but she changed it to Dorothy “because a numerologist told her all those ‘L’s’ were bad luck.” From an interview in a newspaper in 1976. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tonight-show-audience-member-miss-miller-what-was-her-first-name/429614/4 "2007-12-12T00:42:53Z")
As long as Sam has provided the answer… That was Miss Miller they were parodying in the Running Man, wasn’t it? Most notable for this exchange: > [@](#): > > Damon Killian: There are still two stalkers out there. Dynamo and Fireball. Who do you think will make the next kill? > Elderly Lady: Oh my. That’s a tough one. > Damon Killian: Come on, Agnes. You can do it. Who do you think? > Elderly Lady: Alright, I think the next kill will be made by… Ben Richards. > Damon Killian: No, no. Agnes, Richards is a runner. You have to pick a stalker. > Elderly Lady: I can pick anyone I choose. And I choose… Ben Richards. That boy is one mean motherf%cker. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tonight-show-audience-member-miss-miller-what-was-her-first-name/429614/5 "2007-12-12T01:12:26Z")
All right, next question: Jack Paar addressed her as Miss Miller, but others addressed her as Mrs. Miller. Which was she? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tonight-show-audience-member-miss-miller-what-was-her-first-name/429614/6 "2007-12-12T03:52:10Z")
Since this is about a TV show, I’m moving it from GQ to CS. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tonight-show-audience-member-miss-miller-what-was-her-first-name/429614/7 "2007-12-12T04:26:51Z")
I thought I remembered her as Mrs. Miller and not Miss Miller, but according to Wiki there was one of each in circulation at about the same time: [Miss Miller](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Miller) and [Mrs. Miller](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Miller) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tonight-show-audience-member-miss-miller-what-was-her-first-name/429614/8 "2007-12-12T06:18:39Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] All right, next question: Jack Paar addressed her as Miss Miller, but others addressed her as Mrs. Miller. Which was she? [/QUOTE] My newspaper interview from 1976 said she was, at that time, 79, a widow, but she had a boyfriend with a waxed mustache. Her “hobby” began in 1940, when living in NY. She used to go to radio shows, because she didn’t have money to go to the movies. She went to “Truth or Consequences,” Irene Beasley" “John Reid King” and “The Fitzgeralds.” She actually first went on stage in 1949, helping Sammy Kaye lead his band, on the show “So You Want to Lead a Band.” Her commercials for Merv’s show won her a Cleo(according to the story). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tonight-show-audience-member-miss-miller-what-was-her-first-name/429614/9 "2007-12-12T06:36:53Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] My newspaper interview from 1976 said she was, at that time, 79, a widow, but she had a boyfriend with a waxed mustache. [/QUOTE] Miss Miller and Salvador Dali??? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tonight-show-audience-member-miss-miller-what-was-her-first-name/429614/10 "2007-12-12T08:59:56Z")
I found another article on her in the _Oakland Tribune_ (Oakland, California), 16 December 1966, p. 14-A (originally published in Long Island _Newsday_). Her full name was Lillian Dorothy Miller, and she was a spinster (as of 1966). She worked as a government typist, but retired in 1958 due to eye trouble. She was born in Massachusetts in 1897, and died in Los Angeles in 1990. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-tonight-show-audience-member-miss-miller-what-was-her-first-name/429614/11 "2007-12-13T00:45:24Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] She went to “Truth or Consequences,” Irene Beasley" “John Reid King” and “The Fitzgeralds.” [/QUOTE] Of these, “Truth or Consequences” presumably needs no introduction. “The Fitzgeralds” would be the long-running New York talk show. Irene Beasley was a singer who had several series in the 1930s and 1940s, and this could be either one of the shows under her name or the quiz program “Grand Slam”. John Reed King (note the spelling) was a major game show host and announcer of the 1940s, and this could be any one (or every one) of his programs.