Posted on 01/25/2022 10:37:12 AM PST by nickcarraway
She starred as Harriet Conklin, the principal's daughter, on radio, TV and the big screen, then taught acting and tap dancing to kids for more than four decades.
Gloria McMillan, who played the sweet schoolgirl and principal’s daughter Harriet Conklin opposite Eve Arden in the comedy Our Miss Brooks on the radio, television and the movies, has died. She was 88.
McMillan died peacefully Wednesday at her home in Huntington Beach, California, after being diagnosed in November with a cancerous tumor in her bile duct, her husband of 35 years, Ron Cocking, told The Hollywood Reporter. “She was, indeed, a beautiful, talented and loving person,” he said.
McMillan had acted on the radio in live dramas for The Lux Radio Theatre and on Mayor of the Town with Agnes Moorehead, Lionel Barrymore and Conrad Bain before she was hired at age 13 for CBS Radio’s Our Miss Brooks, a big hit right out of the gate.
As the daughter of Gale Gordon’s pompous Osgood Conklin, she portrayed Madison High student Harriet from 1948-57 on the radio; on the CBS TV adaptation from 1952-55; and in the 1956 Warner Bros. film version.
Her character also had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Richard Crenna’s Walter Denton. “I really did have a crush on him [in real life], it was really bad,” she said in a 2007 interview.
Talking about Arden, who played high school English teacher Constance Brooks on the show, McMillan said: “She was my mentor, teacher and surrogate mother for so many years, taught me how to not use any [salty] language, not to back-talk her, just to become a professional actress. She even took me to a play. She was very, very good to me.”
McMillan was born in Portland, Oregon, on March 13, 1933. Her mother, Hazel, served as her agent. (As perhaps the first female talent agent in Hollywood, Hazel also repped Dennis the Menace star Jay North and the kids from Father Knows Best.)
McMillan began her career as a child singer and tap dancer on the radio before she and her family moved to Los Angeles when she was about 7. Soon after, her mom wrote a letter to famed actor Edward G. Robinson about how wonderful her daughter was, and he hired her for a Christmas radio program.
When McMillan married her first husband, USC student Gil Allen, in a Beverly Hills church ceremony in 1954, Gordon, her TV dad, walked her down the aisle.
After Our Miss Brooks, McMillan appeared on a 1966 episode of NBC’s Dr. Kildare; as a judge in the Barbara Feldon beauty-pageant satire Smile (1975); in the 1978-79 NBC miniseries Centennial, based on the James A. Michener novel; and on a 1990 installment of ABC’s Perfect Strangers, her final credit.
From 1974-2018, McMillan taught acting and tap dancing to kids at The Looking Glass Studio of Performing Arts in San Bernardino, California.
At its peak, the studio had 12 other professional-level teachers and more than 600 students enrolled in acting, ballet, tap, jazz, vocal, musical theater and “kinder-theater.” Its in-house Hazel McMillan Studio Theatre had seating for 70 as well as five studios for dance classes.
In addition to her husband — they were a couple for 49 years — survivors include their children, Janet, Jonathan, Christopher (a producer of live stage events and theatrical productions), Kelly and Barbara; nine grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
I like the radio show.
RIP.
What a loss. She could melt a fathers heart with “Dad-dy”. I thought she was the daughter on a few shows like The Great Gildersleeve but no.
Thanks Gloria, I’m still listening...
A great show.
RIP
Osgood Conklin was exactly like the Principal I had in High School - no nonsense allowed.
We used to watch this show when we were kids. We also watched Father Knows Best with Robert Young, Ozzie & Harriet, Mr. Peepers with Wally Cox, My Little Margie with Gale Storm, The Bob Cummings Show, Private Secretary with Ann Sothern, and after that she had The Ann Sothern Show. There were so many good TV shows back then. Today’s programming is $hit.
It seems like he allowed a lot of nonsense.
i wonder if the show is still shown on TV..i remember watching it as a kid
I had to look it up. I was 3 years old in 1950. I don't believe we had a TV at the time, and being so young, I don't even know if we had a radio then either. I was the baby. My oldest sister was born in 1940.
I am a huge Perfect Stangers fan with Bronson Pinchot and Mark Linn-Baker. Does anyone know which episode she was in?
Sorry, never watched it.
Wow, an almost young Gale Gordon. My dad could not stand Eve Arden, too much lip from that woman.
Condolences to family and friends.
Arden’s an actress playing a part.
Richard crenna was so handsome.
Gloria said she had a realtime crush on him.....aside from the part she played.
He played a nerdy character on the show.
I watched Captain Video back as a kid back then. I remember the evil robot Tobor. I didn’t figure it out until last year that Tobor is robot spelled backwards. Slow learner here, lol
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.