[Deathwatch] George Miller, comedian, 61

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Comedian George Miller dies at 61
Saturday, March 8, 2003 Posted: 1:13 PM EST (1813 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/03/08/obit.miller.ap/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- George Miller, a stand-up comedian who
appeared on David Letterman's late-night shows more than any other
comic, has died. He was 61. 

Miller, who had suffered from leukemia for years, died Wednesday at
UCLA Medical Center of complications from a blood clot in his brain. 

Miller appeared on NBC's "Late Night with David Letterman" and CBS'
"Late Show with David Letterman" 56 times in two decades. 

"George was my oldest friend, and one of the funniest people I ever
knew," Letterman said in a statement. "We are all very sad that he is
gone." 

Miller and Letterman met in Los Angeles in the early 1970s when both
were emerging comics. Unlike the current crop of stand-up comedians,
Miller "was just content to be a stand-up comedian. He truly wanted to
write funny things and say funny things," said Tom Dreesen, a fellow
comic from that era. 

The goal for comics was to get a spot on NBC's "The Tonight Show
Starring Johnny Carson," and Miller appeared many times on it. 

He also worked the road the way most comics do. 

"I was once fired as opening act for Seals and Crofts because I got
loaded and introduced them as Arts and Crafts," one of Miller's jokes
went. 

He was born George Wade Dornberger in Seattle and was raised alone by
his mother, Helen, said his uncle, Paul Rhymes. 

Miller came to Los Angeles in the late 1960s and performed in clubs in
Santa Monica and Pasadena before getting gigs at the Comedy Store in
Hollywood. After a 1979 labor dispute, he moved on to the Improv on
Melrose Avenue and the Laugh Factory on Sunset Boulevard, where he
continued to perform regularly. 

Before his death, he had been living in a Los Angeles apartment and in
his childhood home in Seattle. 

Miller last appeared on Letterman's show September 4.