Alice D. G. Miller (June 28, 1894 – July 24, 1985) was an early American screenwriter. She was sometimes erroneously credited as

Alice Duer Miller Alice Duer Miller (July 28, 1874 – August 22, 1942) was an American writer whose poetry actively influenced political opinion. Her feminist verses influenced political opinion during the American suffrage movement, and her verse novel ''The W ...

, another writer of no relation.

Biography

Miller was born in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, 1894, to Robert Miller and Louise Haas. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she grew up with her mother and brother in Milwaukee. Her first job was as a secretary to a businessman in town. In 1919, she and her mother arrived in Hollywood, and soon she had found work writing film scenarios. During the 1920s through the 1930s, she was credited on dozens of motion pictures, and was under contract for much of that time at

Samuel Goldwyn Studio Samuel Goldwyn Studio was the name that Samuel Goldwyn used to refer to the lot located on the corner of Formosa Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California, as well as the offices and stages that his company, Samuel Goldwyn ...

s (later

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

), and briefly at

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. Her work was in demand, and a number of studios vied to get her work. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she enlisted in the

Women's Army Corps The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an Auxiliaries, auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the U ...

Partial filmography

*'' Red Lights'' (1923) *''

Slave of Desire ''Slave of Desire'' (originally titled ''The Magic Skin'') is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by George D. Baker, produced and distributed by Goldwyn Pictures. It was based on the novel ''La Peau de chagrin'' by Honoré de Balzac, fi ...

'' (1923) *'' So This Is Marriage?'' (1924) *''

Cheaper to Marry ''Cheaper to Marry'' is a 1925 American film starring Conrad Nagel, Lewis Stone, Marguerite De La Motte and Paulette Duval. The film was directed by Robert Z. Leonard, and written by Alice D. G. Miller based upon a play by Samuel Shipman. Plot A ...

'' (1925) *''

Pretty Ladies ''Pretty Ladies'' is a 1925 American silent comedy drama film starring ZaSu Pitts and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film is a fictional recreation of the famed Ziegfeld Follies. Directed by Monta Bell, the film was written by Alice D. G ...

'' (1925) *''

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

'' (1926) *''

The Exquisite Sinner ''The Exquisite Sinner'' is a 1926 American silent film, silent drama (film and television), drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg and adapted by Alice Duer Miller from the novel ''Escape'' by Alden Brooks. Starring Conrad Nagel and Renée ...

'' (1926) *'' The Boy Friend'' (1926) *''

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

'' (1926) *''

Dance Madness ''Dance Madness'' is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard based upon a script by Frederica Sagor. The film starred Claire Windsor, Conrad Nagel, and Hedda Hopper. According to the credited screenwriter, Frederica ...

'' (1926) *''

Altars of Desire ''Altars of Desire'' is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring silent movie star Mae Murray. It was produced and released by MGM. A print of ''Altars of Desire'' survives and is preserved by MGM. Synopsis ...

'' (1927) *'' Man, Woman, and Sin'' (1927) *''

The Devil Dancer ''The Devil Dancer'' is a 1927 American silent romantic drama film directed by Fred Niblo and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. For his work on this film, '' The Magic Flame'' and '' Sadie Thompson'', cinematographer George Barnes was nominated for ...

'' (1927) *''

Man-Made Women ''Man-Made Women'' is a 1928 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Leatrice Joy. It was produced by Cecil B. DeMille and Ralph Block and distributed through Pathé Exchange. Cast *Leatrice Joy as Nan Payson ...

'' (1928) *'' Two Lovers'' (1928) *'' Four Walls'' (1928) *''

The Bridge of San Luis Rey ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' is American author Thornton Wilder's second novel. It was first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and was the best-selling work of fiction that year. Premise ''The Bri ...

'' (1929) *''

Disgraced! ''Disgraced!'' is a 1933 American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code mystery film directed by Erle C. Kenton and written by Francis Martin and Alice D. G. Miller. The film stars Helen Twelvetrees, Bruce Cabot, Adrienne Ames, William Harrigan, Ken Murr ...

'' (1933) *''

Rose-Marie ''Rose-Marie'' is an operetta-style musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II. The story is set in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and concerns Rose-Marie La Flemme, a Fren ...

'' (1936) *''

The Girl on the Front Page ''The Girl on the Front Page'' is a 1936 American comedy crime film directed by Harry Beaumont and starring Edmund Lowe, Gloria Stuart and Reginald Owen.Gates p.106-7 It was produced and distributed by Hollywood major Universal Pictures. Synop ...

'' (1936) *''

On Borrowed Time ''On Borrowed Time'' is a 1939 film about the role death plays in life, and how humanity cannot live without it. It is adapted from Paul Osborn's 1938 Broadway hit play. The play, based on a novel by Lawrence Edward Watkin, has been revived twice ...

'' (1939) *''

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the cap ...

'' (1946)

References

American women screenwriters Writers from Milwaukee 1894 births 1985 deaths Screenwriters from Wisconsin 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-screen-writer-1890s-stub