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.
From Cheryl’s Facebook Page, dated Jun 27, 2020Cheryl with her Bocce team at Pebble BeachThe Bocce tournament supports charities.Members of the PebbleCreek Bocce Association Board of Directors gather at the kiosk at Eagle’s Nest on September 6, the final day of Fall Season registration. Left to right are Treasurer Mollie McErlean, Vice President Bob Labenz, President Cheryl Kasselmann and Secretary Gail Davidson. Not pictured are Statistician Carol Gwilt and Publicity Director Pat Milich.Newly elected PebbleCreek Bocce Association officers are (left to right) President Cheryl Kasselmann, Vice President Bob Labenz, Treasurer Mollie McErlean, Secretary Gail Davidson, Statistician Carol Gwilt and Publicity Director Pat Milich.
I am pleased to present this article about Cheryl Miller and her son Erik Seidenglanz by our Australian friend Ken Lynch (he wrote the Episode Guides for this site). He has a vast knowledge of Daktari (as many of you do, far more than me!) that he is happy to share with our readers. That’s what this site is about. If you have something you would like to contribute, write to me at daktaritvshow@gmail.com and let’s talk!
The Proud Mother
While this website is devoted to Daktari and its stars, it is interesting to note that their legacy is being continued by their children.
Cheryl Miller in her 60’s as beautiful as ever.
This article focuses on one of our favourite Daktari stars Cheryl Miller and her son Erik Seidenglanz (she also has two other step-children).
Cheryl gave birth to Erik on 7 October 1980 (over 10 years after her time on Daktari) and she has obviously been a proud and devoted Mum since that time.
Erik’s Passion for Magic
From an early age, Erik had an exceptional passion for magic. At 12, he was one of the youngest people accepted into Hollywood’s Magic Castle junior program.
Erik’s magic talent was recognized when he performed at a White House luncheon attended by Vice President Al Gore in 1993.
Erik Seidenglanz was accepted into the Magic Castle’s junior program at age 12 from douglasleferovich.com
Around that time, he did magic shows for his friends and neighbours on a street corner. Cheryl was a proud Mum and even “went up with him and parked myself across the street on the bus stop bench watching, the protective mother.” She also said his passion for magic had increased his attention for detail in school, but she admitted it also distracted at times.
Cheryl was still driving him from performance to performance in the 1990s, but usually stayed out of sight when he worked a room. “This is the time to go from boy to man without Mommy around,” Cheryl said. “Every kid wants to be good at something, find their niche. This is his niche.”
As time moved on and Erik grew older, his passions expanded. He is now better known as a conceptual artist with a particular emphasis on photography and music.
Despite his own success, Erik does not shy away from acknowledging his family connection with Cheryl in his work.
A particular example is the inclusion of these photographs of Cheryl in an exhibition he did on old time Americana’s school girl images.
The link between Erik’s interest in music and his family is evidenced by the fact that Cheryl’s house was reportedly used for 28 days in 2010 to record (as yet unreleased) music tracks.
The most interesting link with Cheryl can be viewed in a recent video recording of Erik working on a musical piece where a picture of Cheryl can be clearly seen on the wall behind him.
We wish him continued success in all of his chosen fields of interest!
Other Daktari stars’ children?
Researching this article has prompted thoughts about the achievements of other children of the Daktari stars.
Biographical information on the late Marshall Thompson indicates that he had a daughter Janet (who now compiles the very well presented official Marshall Thompson website http://www.marshall-thompson.com/ ). The late Yale Summers was survived by two children, son Jordan and daughter Jolie. There is no record of either the late Hari Rhodes or Hedley Mattingly having had any children.
If any of our readers have any information about this Next Generation of the Daktari stars, it would be nice to hear from you!
Mathijs from the Netherlands was kind enough to send this picture of Cheryl Miller with a fan named Todd (check out Google Groups Todd’s Day of TV Nostalgia). She was 55 at the time.
Recently a reader (aptly named “Cheryl”) mentioned a German magazine article that appeared last year on Cheryl Miller. She graciously shared with us the article, a beautiful two-page spread. She writes, “The magazine is called Freizeit Revue and I believe that it is issue number 11 of 2012 which I think came out last March. I found it online while doing a search on Cheryl Miller after the Daktari season 1 came out and this was for sale on a German eBay-type site called hood.de so I bought it.”
The article is of course in German so I asked if she could send us a summary of the content. She did and I also translated it through Google Translate and added my own comments in the brackets.
Title: Daktari’s Paula is still entirely crazy about wild animals.
Page two, first paragraph talks about how Judy, the chimp was giving her a kiss on the mouth but suddenly a leopard which was supposed to go after the chimp went after her and knocked her to the ground. It took three men to get the leopard off. The men stared at her with shocked looks to see if she had any injuries.
Second paragraph – She only had a few bruises but the attack scared the pants off of her. Another time she had to wrestle a crocodile with a a rubber knife underwater. The croc’s mouth was wired shut and she had to do wrestle it three times which was not fun. (Note: this was for the episode “Terror in the Bush” which I wrote about in the last post. There is a picture of her wrestling with the crocodile.)
Third paragraph talks about how much Clarence liked her.
Fourth paragraph – Cheryl says her time on Daktari was wonderful compared to what came after, a soap opera and a couple of mediocre films. Eventually she gave up acting altogether. She had saved up enough money to start a family. She didn’t want her son and stepsons to think their mother was anything special. [She has a son Eric, 31, and two stepsons, Ronn, 45, and Rob, 43.]
Fifth paragraph – she didn’t have much luck with love. Her first marriage started to fall apart after two months and a second marriage only lasted a few years. Finally in 1987 she found the man of her dreams, Robert Kasselmann. They were married about 20 years. Seven years ago he died of a rare, incurable heart disease.
Last paragraph– talks about how she works for the diocese [Diocese of Tucson] with terminally ill children which she says is very hard, yet fulfilling. She has many friends with whom she goes to the theatre. Sports play a large role in her life as well. She participated in the senior Olympics (she and her group, the Pebblecreek Panthers took the silver in the Bocce). She shoots bow and arrow, swims and cross country skis. And there is still always the wild animals. The time she spent on Daktari seems like only yesterday.
Cheryl is featured in the Pepplecreek Press displaying her medal with her teammates.
My thanks again to “Cheryl” for all this wonderful information! It sounds like Cheryl Miller Kasselmann is leading a happy and fulfilling life.
Here is the spread. If you would like the full size scan of the article, email me at daktartvshow@gmail.com and I’ll send it to you.
Freizeit Revue March 2013, first page
Freizeit Revue article on Cheryl Miller, page 2
Freizeit Revue March 2013, first page
Freizeit Revue article on Cheryl Miller, page 2
Cheryl is featured in the Pepplecreek Press displaying her medal with her teammates.
Oh! And the magazine was on display in Barnes & Noble!
Daktari TV Show 