Miller Simmons Lide
NEW YORK, NY: It is with sorrow that Diane C. Wheeler announces the passing of her beloved, Miller Simmons Lide, 88. Miller passed away on February 18, 2020 at Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital due to complications from pneumonia and COVID-19.
Miller was born August 10, 1931 in Columbia, SC, the son of David Reynolds (Ray) and Laura Kate (Simmons) Lide.
Miller attended primary and secondary schools in Columbia, SC, graduating from the University of South Carolina (USC) in 1953 (B.A. in English & Foreign Languages). Miller formally began his career as an actor while at USC acting in several the USC drama club’s theater productions. In addition to his acting, Miller participated in the Navy’s Officer Training Program. Upon completion of the program, Miller was commissioned as a Lieutenant JG.
As a young Naval officer, Miller was assigned as a communications officer in the Combat Information Center aboard the USS Lake Champlain (CV/CVA/CVS-39), an aircraft carrier. She was the prime recovery ship for the first manned Project Mercury mission (Freedom 7), the second unmanned Gemini mission (Gemini 2), and for the third manned Gemini (Gemini 5) space mission.
During the days of the Korean War, the USS Lake Champlain and Miller cruised the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Caribbean seas. This allowed Miller to experience several adventures in numerous countries including Italy, Turkey, Spain, France, Israel and Cuba.
Upon his honorable discharge from the Navy, Miller moved to New York City to pursue his acting career. Miller was the winner of the John Golden Scholarship to New York’s famed American Theatre Wing, from which he graduated in 1957. One of Miller’s first professional acting jobs was on CBS Radio daytime drama, The Right to Happiness.
Miller made his Broadway debut with Sir John Gielgud and Vivien Leigh in Chekhov’s Ivanov. Other Broadway appearances include two Peter Ustinov comedies and Ellis Rabb’s highly acclaimed 1975 revival of George S. Kaufman’s The Royal Family. He toured the United States with Katharine Hepburn in Enid Bagnold’s A Matter of Gravity, and Miller played two seasons with the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut. Featured roles in regional theater have taken him to the four corners of the United States: from Alaska to Florida, from Maine to California.
In 2014 Miller won Midtown International Theatre Festival’s Best Supporting Actor of the Year for his portrayal of Otto Hahn in Farm Hall. Miller will be seen shortly in the forthcoming documentary, Lunch with Archer King.
Miller first appeared on stage in Vermont in 1980 at St. Michael’s Playhouse in the Rathgeb O’Brien Rathgeb production of Deathtrap. This was also when Miller first met young Playhouse intern, Diane C. Wheeler.
Miller enjoyed several summers at St. Michael’s Playhouse where he played Sherlock Holmes in A Crucifer of Blood, a father in The Fantasticks, Mr. Drumm in Da, John Barrymore in I Hate Hamlet, and the doctor in Foxfire, to name a few. Miller also acted in several of the St. Michael’s Playhouse Agatha Christie murder mysteries. It was during the 1987 Playhouse production of Agatha Christie’s Spider Web that Miller and Diane began what would be their thirty-three year relationship.
Summers in Vermont acting with his friends and Playhouse favorites Joanne Rathgeb, Bill Farley, and Larry Sharp, being directed by Don Rathgeb and Margaret O’Brien, and spending time with Diane on Lake Champlain were some of Miller’s most memorable summers.
Miller also enjoyed opera, music, playing the piano and coaching other actors and actresses.
Miller is survived by his loving partner, Diane C. Wheeler of Burlington, VT as well as Diane’s family: mother Carol T. Wheeler; sister Deborah Wheeler Lessor and brother-in-law Randy K. Lessor; brother Robert B. Wheeler and sister-in-law Virginia (Ginny) Wheeler; step-mother Mary Jane AustinWheeler; nieces Jana (Aaron) Thuesen, Callie (Christopher) Lessor Berger, Kerrigan (Jake Potter) Lessor, and Abigail Wheeler; nephews Riley (Heather) Lessor, Hayden (Stephanie) Lessor, and Rowan Wheeler; grand-niece Alice Thuesen; and grand-nephews Carter Thuesen, Wyatt Thuesen, Ryder Lessor, Lincoln (LT) Lessor and Everett Potter.
Miller is also survived by his brother Dr. David R. (Bettijoyce) Lide, Jr.; niece Vanessa Lide; nephews David Allston (Jeannie) Lide, James (Deborah) Lide and Quentin (Suzanne) Lide, all of Maryland, as well as his close friend and roommate, Frank Rowley.
In addition, Miller is survived by all the actors, directors and students he encountered during his more than sixty years on the stages of the world.
A memorial service will be held in New York City at a future date. Interments will be in the Lide family plot at the Elmwood Cemetery in Columbia, SC and the Wheeler facility plot at the Wells River Cemetery in Wells River, VT at the convenience of the family. Vermont arrangements are being handled by Heald Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Miller’s name to the Actors Fund at 729 7th Ave–10th Floor, New York, NY 10019.
