Ron W. Miller - Early History at Disney

Early History At Disney

Miller initially worked at Walt Disney productions for a few months in 1954 as a liaison between WED Enterprises and Disneyland before he was drafted into the army later that year. When he came home from the army, he played professional football, however later he was prompted by Walt to return to work for him.

Walt sponsored his son-in-law and got him into the Screen Director's Guild and Ron worked as a second assistant on Old Yeller (1957). He soon rose up the ranks to a variety of producer positions and also directed some of Walt's lead-ins for the popular weekly Disney television series.

In 1958, Clint Walker walked out of the popular Warner Bros. television Western, Cheyenne for a variety of reasons. Bill Orr, who was Jack Warner's son-in-law, called in Ron Miller to audition as Walker's replacement, and was impressed enough to schedule a screen test. Walt Disney stepped in and told Ron to forget acting, that Disney was grooming him for the position of producer. Walker resolved his differences with Warner Bros. and returned to the show in 1959. As a result, Miller never attempted acting again.

Instead, Miller spent his time in the film division and his co-producer credits appear on such Disney classics as Son of Flubber, Summer Magic, and That Darn Cat!. His first movie with full producer credit was Never a Dull Moment (1968).

It was obviously a great atmosphere when Walt was alive. If Walt liked something, we knew damn well it had to be good; it had to be successful. Obviously, things are not the same without him. Walt was a great leader, and in his own way, a genius. For that one genius it has taken fifty geniuses to fill his void, said Miller.

Miller continued to get producing credits on films like Tron, Pete's Dragon, and Escape to Witch Mountain.