Sharron Miller

Sharron Miller is an American television and film director, producer, and screenwriter. She is one of the pioneering women directors who worked regularly in mainstream Hollywood in the 1970s and 1980s (along with Elaine May, Lee Grant, Perry Miller Adato, Joan Darling, Joan Micklin Silver, Karen Arthur, Lela Swift, Gabrielle Beaumont, Nell Cox, Gwen Arner, Randa Haines, and Kim Friedman). In 1984 she was the first woman ever to win the coveted Directors Guild of America Award (DGA Award) for directing a narrative (non-documentary) work. Perry Miller Adato was the first woman to receive the DGA Award in 1977 for her documentary about Georgia O'Keeffe.

Career Born in Enid, Oklahoma and raised in Perry, Oklahoma, Miller began writing and directing short films as a teenager. After graduating from Oklahoma State University in 1971 with a degree in Theatre, she attended graduate school in Film at Northwestern University. In 1972, she went to Hollywood and worked as a script supervisor, sound editor, and film editor before becoming a professional director in 1976 when she was hired to direct the NBC television series, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams. This made her one of the handful of women directing in Hollywood at that time. She also edited the theatrical film Guardian of the Wilderness in 1976, the true story of mountaineer Galen Clark and Abraham Lincoln saving Yosemite from being destroyed by logging companies.

She has written and directed several short films, but the majority of her work has been in television where she has had a long and prolific career directing television movies and series. Early in her career she studied with acting teachers Jack Garfein, Harold Clurman, and Jeff Corey, and has demonstrated an ability to elicit strong performances from actors. Sharon Gless, Cloris Leachman and Peggy McCay all won Emmy Awards under her direction, and James Stacy received an Emmy nomination.

In 1983 Miller won the DGA Award, two Emmy Awards, the Peabody Award and the Christopher Award for the ABC Afterschool Special she produced and directed, The Woman Who Willed a Miracle. This drama follows the true story of Leslie Lemke, the blind and intellectually disabled boy with cerebral palsy who became world-famous as a savant pianist. It is one of the most well-known Afterschool Specials, receiving Emmy Awards in all the major categories.

In 1987 she was nominated for the DGA Award and an Emmy Award for directing two different episodes of the series, Cagney & Lacey (Turn, Turn, Turn part 1 and Turn, Turn, Turn part 2)

Selected filmography Film Year Title Director Producer Writer Editor 1981 Cradle Song 1978 The House of the Dead 1976 Deportee 1973 Down Home 1971 Felice

Television Year Title Notes 2002 The District Director 2001–2002 That's Life Director, Multiple episodes 1999 Hyperion Bay Director, Multiple episodes 1998 Any Day Now Director 1997-1998 Fame L.A. Director, Multiple episodes 1996 The Client Director 1996 Mr. & Mrs. Smith Director 1995 Christy Director 1994 Hotel Malibu Director, Pilot 1993 Second Chances Director, Multiple episodes 1992–1993 Homefront Director, Multiple episodes 1993 Sisters Director 1990–1992 The Trials of Rosie O'Neill Director, Multiple episodes 1991 Father Dowling Mysteries Director 1990 The Outsiders Director, Pilot 1989 China Beach Director 1988 Little Girl Lost Director, TV movie 1988 Pigeon Feathers Director, PBS American Playhouse Drama1988 Knightwatch Director, Also editor 1984–1988 Cagney & Lacey Director, Multiple episodes 1986–1987 L.A. Law Director, Multiple episodes 1986 Pleasures Director, TV movie 1984 The Paper Chase Director 1984 Maximum Security Director, Also editor 1983-1985 This is the Life Director, Multiple episodes 1983 The Woman Who Willed a Miracle Director, Also producer, ABC Afterschool Special 1979–81 In Search of ... Multiple episodes. Also producer, writer and editor 1976–78 The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams Director, Multiple episodes

Awards

Memberships Directors Guild of America Academy of Television Arts and Sciences