Sidney Miller

Sidney Miller was born Sydney L. Miller in Shenandoah, PA, on October 22, 1916, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, who already had two daughters. When Sydney was 14 his father, a tailor, sold his business and moved the family to Los Angeles. There Sydney got the acting bug, and his first film was an uncredited bit part in Penrod and Sam (1931). He worked steadily, although uncredited, over the next few years, his persona that of a brash and somewhat annoying street kid. His persistence paid off, though, and in 1933 he got his first screen credit (changing his first name from "Sydney" to "Sidney"). His big break came in 1938 when he starred opposite Mickey Rooney in Boys Town (1938) in which, unlike many of Rooney's colleagues, Sidney actually got along well with the star and the two became friends. Miller had an innate musical talent and soon was writing lyrics for Rooney's musical compositions. He often worked in front of or behind the cameras in many of Rooney's films in the 1