I
ENTERTAINMENT I
Comic, Actor Miller
Is Making A Name
We Wish
Our Customers and Friends
The Very Utmost Of
Health, Joy and Prosperity
In The New Year
RITA CHARLESTON
Special to The Jewish News
W
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126
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1990
hen versatile actor/
comedian Larry
Miller graduated
from Amherst University
with an honors degree in
music theory and composi-
tion, he moved back home to
evaluate his options.
But while Mr. Miller wor-
ried about his future, not sure
which artistic path to follow,
his parents had faith. They
knew their only son was
strong and centered, and that
eventually he would find his
way.
Raised in an Orthodox
home in suburban Long
Island, in an area Mr. Miller
likes to call the "Norman
Rockwell Estates," he says his
parents were extremely sup-
portive. And when he finally
announced that he would like
to try his hand at show
business, they were neither
shocked nor annoyed.
"They knew I was a strong
guy, that they had given me
all the right values and that
I wasn't doing this frivolous-
ly," Mr. Miller explains. "It
wasn't like saying, 'Oh, look,
he's going to spend five years
experimenting with drinking
heavily. Then I'm sure he'll
straighten himself out.' Or,
`Oh, look, he works in a lot of
strip joints and dates only
strippers.'
"It wasn't that I was ex-
hibiting some sort of
pathological behavior. So
given that, and knowing that
I was working hard, they
were confident that I would
wind up doing something
creative?'
And indeed he has. From
first playing piano and drums
around New York in what he
calls "the kind of bars filled
with guys who've been in
prison as recently as that
morning," to eventually
deciding to try his hand at ac-
ting, writing and standup, Mr.
Miller's star has been on the
rise.
He has appeared in
numerous feature films, in-
cluding Out Cold, Fugitives,
and most recently, Pretty
Woman, in which he plays the
hilarious suck-up store
manager. A popular and
regular performer on the
"Tonight Show" and "Late
Night With David Letter-
man," Mr. Miller was also
recently signed by HBO for
his own half-hour comedy
special, and has co-written an
as yet untitled TV sitcom.
Larry Miller:
Seeing differences.
The pilot is scheduled to air
sometime this fall.
"I like trying to do it all," he
says during a recent
telephone interview from
his home in Los Angeles.
"Some of my friends have
suggested that I stay in one
gear and keep pounding away
at standup. But, to me, that
would be like working wit:
just one arm out and not the
other. lb me, it makes more
sense to try everything — the
standup, the writing, the
music, the acting. It keeps all
my creative juices flowing."
Mr. Miller credits his IvT
League education and, most
of all, his parents, for his
sense of style on stage, and
off. He says his father, a suc-
cessful trial attorney in New
York, and his mother, an
educator for emotionally
disturbed children, always
believed in him and made
those beliefs known.
"I've been very lucky in a
lot of things in my life," Mr.
Miller says. "I've had many(
blessings and I don't say that
lightly. One of those blessings
is the fact that I've had great;
parents who were very loving
and very supportive my whole
life. That would help any
child grow up to be the very
best they can."
Often referred to as one of
today's brightest "thinking"
comedians, Mr. Miller arrives
on stage impeccably dressed,
armed with a slow and easy
style that immediately fits in
with audiences everywhere.
Then he discusses topics of in,-
terest to us all, ranging from
aging, politics, health and
fitness, to the gap beween
generations.