Ken and I are excited to announce that Retrofan Magazine commissioned us to write an article on Cheryl Miller. Retrofan is a premier print publication covering favorite TV shows. When I noticed they had never written on Daktari, I pitched an article on Cheryl Miller and they accepted. I then immediately reached out to Ken as our resident expert on Daktari to write the article with me.
Although we reached out to Cheryl on two occasions, we were not able to talk with her. However, I did make contact with Ralph Helfer and got quotes and photos from him.
Our friend Walter found this awesome find on Ebay – Cheryl Miller’s resume! She did a lot more than we realized. That gives us more to look for. How fun! Thanks, Walter!
A fan of Daktari came upon this site and saw the German article on Cheryl Miller. A German speaker, this fan took the time to translate the article so we can all read it for the first time.
Thank you Lutz; that was such a generous thing to do and we are all grateful!
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FREIZEIT REVUE 11/2012: Celebrities at home – Cheryl Miller
Daktari’s Paula Moonstruck by Wild Animals to This Very Day
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FREIZEIT REVUE visited the former actress in her native Arizona (USA). She told us, how she lives today, and how dangerous the shootings were in those days. And what blows of fate she had to cope with afterwards.
Freizeit Revue March 2013, first page
[Caption, Big Picture]Daktari-Star Cheryl Miller loves animals — equally behind the camera. To the right [small inset]: She’s fond of this lama-foal.
[Caption, left Inset 1]In 1966, with the cross-eyed lion Clarence: “That was a really dear one.”
[Caption, left Inset 2]Fond of animals: Jack Dane (Yale Summers, left), Dr. Marsh Tracy (Marshall Thompson) and his daughter Paula (Cheryl Miller).
[Caption, left Inset 3]The “Daktari” Crew with Chimp Judy. “She constantly kissed me on the lips,” the former actress told us.
[Page 2]
Freizeit Revue article on Cheryl Miller, page 2
[Caption, inset top left]Tenderly she feeds a young giraffe. The animal is trustful right away.
[Caption, inset top right]Only occasionally Cheryl sits leisurely at home. She’s into sports, visits the opera, exhibitions, or the theater.
[Caption, small inset to the right]The former actress has got things straightened out with herself. “I’m doing fine,” she says.
[Caption bottom, left]The secret of her vivid complexion: “I wash my face with water and baby oil exclusively.”
[Caption bottom, right]Curious for life: “I want to learn something new constantly,” Cheryl says, laughing.
Main text
Tenderly Chimp-Lady Judy presses her a kiss on the mouth. Cheryl Miller laughs — without noticing the leopard, who is stalking her from the rear. He’s preying on the Chimpanzee, but suddenly changes target. Out of a sudden the wild animal pounces on Cheryl, presses her to the ground severely. It takes three men to intervene, pull the big cat away from her. Shocked the rescuers gaze at the victim, looking for injuries.
“I Fought a Crocodile”
“But I took a few bruises”, Cheryl remembers. “And wetted my pants out of fear.” It’s now fourty years since the shooting of Daktari took place. And nowadays “Paula” can laugh about it. To find out, how she’s doing today, FREIZEIT REVUE-reporter Simone Vollmer travelled to Cheryl’s home state of Arizona (USA). There the former actress told her about another thrilling Daktari-anecdote: “I had to fight a crocodile under water with a plastic-knife. Its jaws were tightly shut with a wire. It tumbled me over three times. That wasn’t funny.”
But Cheryl even today cherishes a heart for wild animals. Affectionate she feeds a giraffe. Astonishing-in her presence the majestic giant turns tame. Nothing new for Cheryl. “Clarence, the cross-eyed lion, liked me. Suprisingly nearly all big cats were comfortable in my presence. They put their head in my lap and clung to me.”
“My time with Daktari was wonderful”, Cheryl relates wistfully – completely to the contrary to what happened afterwards. “A soap-opera and some fair to middling flickers.” Eventually she gave up on acting. “I had earned enough money. I wanted to concentrate purely on my family. My children (son Eric (31), stepsons Ronn (45) and Robb (43)-editor’s note) shouldn’t get the feeling that their mother was something special.”
“The heart – my ideal man died”
Cheryl had no luck with love. In 1968 she got married for the first time. The marriage failed after only two months. The second marriage too, with a businessman, broke up after a few years. Only with Robert Kasselmann (died with 68) had fortune smiled on her. “He was my ideal man,” she fancies. “Our marriage lasted for twenty years. But seven years ago, he died of a rare heart disease.” Both didn’t believe in the chances of healing. “We handled his outlook realistically,” she confesses.
An experience that Cheryl helps today. She works with incurable children in a church community. “This can be rough but fulfilling at the same time.” On her own, but not lonely. That’s the way Cheryl lives today. She has many friends, who accompany her to the theater. And sports play a big role in her life. Cheryl even takes part in the senior citizen Olympics. “I can handle bows and arrows, I swim, I ski.” And at times she’s even attracted to wild animals again. “My memories of Daktari are as vivid then, as if it were only yesterday.”
There are Daktari tribute videos popping up all over the place on YouTube! Here’s a particularly cute one honoring the chemistry between Jack and Paula (Why didn’t the writers see this through??):
One of the nicest couples on television. If only …
I was so pleased to see this picture on eBay — this was one of my favorites from my lost scrapbook. I remember my best friend wrapped the photo like a gift and hid it in a tree and led me on a delightful treasure hunt to find it. I was so thrilled and will always remember my childhood best friend for that. 🙂
YouTube has had scant few videos related to Daktari but the release of all four seasons on DVD has certainly changed things. I did a random search yesterday and came up with a ton of stuff!
First, this gem:
The Legend of Ivan Tors
This is an hour-long documentary — I didn’t even know it existed. Eagerly looking forward to this:
Here’s a trailer to Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion:
And here’s an adorable tribute to Jack and Paula:
(I think I may have posted this before, but it’s worth posting again.)
This is just a sampling. There are several lists on YouTube with much to see:
Angel was about a young scatterbrained Frenchwoman, Angelique “Angel” Smith, played by Annie Fargé, who comes to the US and marries a young architect, John Smith, portrayed by Thompson.
So excited! Someone recently posted a slew of old TV Magazines that ran with the Sunday papers. They featured Cheryl regularly. I was able to retrieve several photos I had lost with my poor scrapbook! Check it out on ebay:
from the Golden Globes
My favorite picture (remember the outtake from the last post?)
I was recently contacted by Eric Seidenglanz (Cheryl’s son) informing me of a rare collection of photos being offered for sale. He is currently putting together a book of tribute to Cheryl Miller (who fully supports the effort, happy “keep the Daktari dreams alive.”).
There is the possibility of a film being made in the future with Cheryl revisiting her role as Paula Tracy–nothing solid yet but we’ll keep on top of it.
In the meantime, feast your eyes on these fabulous photos! I collected over one hundred in my original scrapbook (now sadly gone) and have since probably quadrupled that amount collecting online pictures. I only spotted three familiar pictures out of the sixty-seven displayed. The pictures cover the span of her career from the early 1960s to the 1980s.
I’m just going to post a few as a tease – you have to take a look for yourself:
Oh! And the magazine was on display in Barnes & Noble!
Daktari TV Show 