Biography
The younger brother of silent screen star
Patsy Ruth Miller (Esmeralda in
Lon Chaney's
Hunchback of Notre Dame), Winston Miller played top juvenile roles in
John Ford's
The Iron Horse (1924) and the first screen version of the tearjerker
Stella Dallas (1925). Leaving screen acting at the dawn of sound in favor of Princeton University, Miller returned to Hollywood in 1935 as a writer for the newly founded Republic Pictures. Working mainly in lightweight fare and Westerns, the now veteran scribe made an easy transition to television in the 1950s and went on to become one of that medium's most successful producer-writers with an impressive list of credits that included such shows as
Rawhide,
Gunsmoke,
The Virginian,
Cannon, and
Little House on the Prairie. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide