Warren Miller (director) 

For other persons of the same name, see Warren Miller.

Warren Miller (born 15 October 1924) is an American ski and snowboarding filmmaker. His credits include over 750 sports films, several books and hundreds of published non-fiction stories. His annual films on skiing and other outdoor sports are renowned for their stunning photography, witty humor, and exhibition of incredible talent showcasing Olympians and celebrity athletes. He has received wide acclaim for his promotion of the sport of modern skiing through his films spanning over 50 years.

Contents

Biography

Early years

Warren Miller was born in Hollywood, and as a young man he took up the hobbies of skiing, surfing, and photography. At the age of 18, with the U.S. ten months into World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the South Pacific.1 Upon his discharge from the Navy in 1946 he bought his first 8mm movie camera. He and a friend moved to Sun Valley, Idaho where they camped in the parking lot of the Sun Valley ski resort, living out of a teardrop trailer and earning money as ski instructors. In their free time, they would film each other skiing to critique and improve their ski techniques. During the summers they shifted their lifestyle to the California coast where they filmed each other surfing.2

Career

Warren Miller Entertainment

Warren Miller would often show his skiing and surfing films to friends, making jokes about their exploits throughout the showing of the film. When he began to receive invitations to show and narrate his films at parties, it occurred to him that he could turn this hobby into a business. In 1949, Miller founded Warren Miller Entertainment and began a long standing tradition of producing one feature-length ski film per year. He rented out halls and theaters, usually with borrowed money, and charged admission to his shows. He booked show halls near ski resorts so that he could film the next year's footage during the day, and show the current film in the evening. Before long he was showing his films in 130 cities a year.3

Current work

Miller continued to head the company both creatively and executively until the late 1980s when he sold the company to his son, Kurt Miller. Kurt later sold the company to Time, Inc., and the company still produces a new film every year, which is then taken on a screening tour near the end of the Northern autumn and again 6 months later for the Southern Hemisphere. The screenings of the annual films are elaborate events designed as celebrations of the beginning of each skiing season.

While phasing out of his executive role, Miller still maintained his creative role as director and narrator for the films into the 1990s, but due to his age (now over 80 years old) and ailing health, Miller has distanced himself from production in recent years. The makers of recent films such as, Warren Miller's Higher Ground (2005) and Warren Miller's Off the Grid (2006), opted to use Miller's narration from previous films rather than recording new narration.456

Recent films have been criticized as a departure from the traditional Warren Miller films.citation needed Miller himself has indicated that he is not content with recent productions.citation needed Still, the films get mostly positive reviews and continue to garner a loyal fanbase of both skiers and snowboarders.

Yellowstone Ski Resort

Warren Mill is also the Honorary Director of Skiing at the Yellowstone Ski Resort.

Personal life

Warren Miller currently resides with his wife, Laurie, in Seattle, Washington, and is officially retired from filmmaking but remains an active writer. He has announced plans to publish a book about life in retirement called, "What Are You Doing with the Rest of Your Life?"

Filmography

# Year Title
1 1950 Deep And Light
2 1951 California Skis
3 1952 Wandering Skis
4 1953 Ski Fantasy
5 1954 Symphony On Skis
6 1955 Invitation To Skiing
7 1956 Have Skis, Will Travel
8 1957 Anyone For Skiing?
9 1958 Are Your Skis On Straight?
10 1959 Let's Go Skiing
11 1960 Swinging Skis
12 1961 Many Moods Of Skiing
13 1962 Around The World On Skis
14 1963 The Sound Of Skiing
15 1964 The Skiers
16 1965 The Big Ski Show
17 1966 Ski On The Wild Side
18 1967 The Ski Scene
19 1968 (unknown)
20 1969 This Is Skiing
21 1970 Sound Of Winter
22 1971 Any Snow, Any Mountain
23 1972 Winter People
24 1973 Skiing's Great
25 1974 The Color Of Skiing
26 1975 There Comes A Time
27 1976 Skiing On My Mind
28 1977 In Search Of Skiing
29 1978 Ski A La Carte
30 1979 Winter Fever
31 1980 Ski People
32 1981 Ski In The Sun
33 1982 Snowonder
34 1983 Ski Time
35 1984 Ski Country
36 1985 Steep And Deep
37 1986 Beyond The Edge
38 1987 White Winter Heat
39 1988 Escape To Ski
40 1989 White Magic
41 1990 Extreme Winter
42 1991 Born To Ski
43 1992 Steeper And Deeper
44 1993 Black Diamond Rush
45 1994 Vertical Reality
46 1995 Endless Winter
47 1996 Snowriders
48 1997 Snowriders 2
49 1998 Freeriders
50 1999 Fifty
51 2000 Ride
52 2001 Cold Fusion
53 2002 Storm
54 2003 Journey
55 2004 Impact
56 2005 Higher Ground
57 2006 Off The Grid
58 2007 Playground
59 2008 Children of Winter

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ Warren Miller by Mort Lund (2005). [1]
  2. ^ Miller, Warren (2005). [2]
  3. ^ Miller, Warren (2005). [3]
  4. ^ Miller, Warren (2005). "My Bio: Warren on Warren" (Commercial site), warrenmiller.net. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
  5. ^ "Warren Miller’s Off the Grid: The world’s largest winter sports movie announces 2006 U.S. tour." (Press release, commercial website). Skinet.net. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
  6. ^ "Warren Miller's Higher Ground." (Press release), PR Newswire, 2005-08-31, via highbeam.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.

External links