Warren Miller - Legendary Ski & Snowboard Filmmaker makes a personal appearance all 4 days of Ski Dazzle - The Chicago Ski Show & Snowboard Expo!

Warren Miller has produced over 50 annual ski and snowboarding films entertaining audiences all over the world. He is legendary for his wit and humor.

(PRWEB) October 25, 2003 --WARREN MILLER MAKES PERSONAL APPEARANCE AT SKI DAZZLE®

Warren Miller, the award-winning ski and snowboard filmmaker, who has entertained audiences for over 50 years, will be available for photos and autographs during all four days of Ski Dazzle® -The Chicago Ski Show & Snowboard Expo, held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, Illinois, November 6, 7, 8, 9, 2003.

Warren Miller is synonymous with extreme skiing, snow boarding, and windsurfing, his career spanning more than seven decades.

Living on wild rabbits, oyster crackers, and ketchup, during the daytime, while spending nights inside a tiny, cramped trailer in a freezing ski-resort parking lot, may not sound romantic, but for Warren Miller this is how it all began.

Through 50 years and 500 films his profession rarely took him into the realm of luxury, but it did afford him the opportunity to enjoy skiing, windsurfing, sailing, power boating, and countless other outdoor activities in the worlds most idyllic settings. Moreover, it allowed him to capture on film, feats of sportsmanship, wherever they could be shot while torturing audiences with his own enviable, itinerant lifestyle.

Lifestyle is what Warren Miller is all about. The envy of all his audiences, Warren has experienced more than most people could in ten lifetimes. Been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt" really could be his motto, but his love for sharing his experiences, from the most humorous of perspectives, has endeared him to many generations of active people.

For half a century, diehard snow riders have rung in each ski season with a new film featuring Millers trademark wit and wry narration. "Ive been doing the same thing for five decades and its time to open my life and brain to other challenges", says Miller, who credits his popularity to the nature of his films, to what people do on weekends, from sunup to sundown, and to the guiding philosophy of his lifes work, "Everyone is searching for that elusive thing called freedom. Lets face it, all of us lurch from one near-disaster to the next, separated by moments of euphoria."

An inveterate cartoonist and story teller, Miller is the author of two successful, self-published books: the early-era ski travelogue, WINE, WOMEN, WARREN AND SKIS (1957, now in its 17th edition), and his essay collection, ON FILM, IN PRINT (1994, second edition).

Presently, he is working on a number of writing projects including his autobiography, a popular weekly newspaper column, and he has compiled sufficient heart-felt stories about extraordinary events in peoples lives to publish a "Chicken Soup"-type book, with the working title, WARREN MILLERS TALES FROM THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN, as well as coffee table picture books of his amazing photographs, with captions from his incredible wit.

The man, who admits to "having never grown up or had a real job", was, in fact, the child of a jobless era. Born in Hollywood, in 1924, Warren Miller was raised during the throes of the Great Depression, experiencing a difficult childhood, in a self-described, dysfunctional family. Buying his first still camera at age eleven, his entry into film making would come eleven years later.

Millers first experience with skis was one of envy. At age thirteen, on a winter Boy Scout hike through the San Bernardino Mountains, he saw a group of skiers go by. "They were all dry and gliding along, and we were all wet from sledding and tromping through the snow", recalls Miller. A week later he purchased his first pair of used skis at a garage sale for $2.

More enamored with surfing during his teen years, Miller was, if anything, a normal adolescent in constant pursuit of freedom. His transition from surfing to skiing came during the winter of 1941-42 when, while riding waves at the point in Malibu, California on the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, he realized that winter surfing was a cold and lonely pastime. "It was before the invention of the wetsuits, and boards weighed up to 100 pounds", remembers Miller. "No girls surfed then, however, lots of pretty ladies skied", he observed.

With that epiphany, Miller had found his calling. But it would have to wait. After tilting between majors at the University of Southern California, he left school to enlist in the Navy, deeply motivated by the desire to stay out of the Army's trenches. In 1946, after a three-year tour of duty, Miller was honorably discharged and spent his final military paycheck on an 8-mm camera.

Joined by his friend Ward Baker, Miller embarked on his first ski adventure, a six-month trip through the resorts of the west. Broke but resourceful, they managed to sneak onto most of the slopes without a lift ticket, and to survive on a diet of wild rabbits they shot along the roadside between the ski areas, oyster crackers, ketchup and the rare bowl of oatmeal. Holing up in an impossibly tiny trailer, their itinerary included an extended stay in the parking lots of all the western ski areas including Sun Valley, Idaho. It was there that they created their first short 8mm film, primarily as a tool to improve their skiing.

After several seasons of ski-bumming, financed, in part, by selling hand-drawn cartoons and copies of his self-published cartoon book, ARE MY SKIS ON STRAIGHT?, Miller had become a regular fixture at many western ski resorts, where the ski patrol regularly chased after him because he did not have a ski lift ticket.

Eventually, the publicity departments of the resorts realized he was a great asset, because he added a romantically colorful lifestyle that all the guests loved and were intrigued by. He was eventually given an actual job by Sun Valley ski school director, Otto Lang, and he met two students who were executives at Bell and Howell, Charles Percy and Hal Geneen, who lent him a 16 mm camera and paved his way into professional film making. On a shoestring budget Miller wrote, directed, shot and produced his first
full length film, DEEP AND LIGHT, (1950), the plot was based on his work as a ski instructor.
   
Renting a high school auditorium in Pasadena, California and selling tickets himself, Miller narrated each show live, accompanied by music from a record player. His innovative use of the "four-wall" theater, and his personal involvement in each project, soon created a growing wave of fans, first on the west coast, then in other states, then in other countries. As a winter-heralding, pied-piper, he has developed a cult following like no other, in that his films have never portrayed sex, violence, or obscenities, but rather have entertained millions over four generations with exciting footage and side splitting humor of clever, wry wit, and no slapstick.

Though he went on to make films on numerous subjects, from wine making to government, his name eventually became synonymous with extreme skiing, snow boarding, and windsurfing. The films were chiefly distinguished by their feats of athleticism, their creative camera shots, and of course, the famed Miller humor. For a half-century, the Miller films have introduced audiences to every new aspect of every winter and nearly every summer sport played without a court and without a score -- activities people do on weekends.

Excerpting his films for use on television, Miller himself became a fixture on local and national talk shows, where he logged segments for over twenty-five years. His work garnered high honors at numerous international film festivals, a silver Olympic medal, an award from AT&T, and Academy Award nomination for Best Short Film.

Today, Miller is a grandfather of five and father of four: son Kurt, president of Warren Miller Entertainment; son Scott, a Clio Award-winning commercial director; daughter Chris, a successful still photographer; and step-son Colin, owner of a Seattle-based finance company.

Looking back on his long career, Miller remains true to character. "Im a 14 year-old kid", he reflects, "trapped in a 73 year-old body, and I still dont know what Im going to do when I grow up."

Writing, speaking, inspiring multitudes, he is an icon that transcends all ages, income levels, and interests. He skis an average of six days a week from his winter home in Vail; windsurfs off his front porch at his home in Maui; and salmon-fishes, catches crabs, and extensively boats from his other island home in the Pacific Northwests San Juan Islands.

In the pursuit of his dream of freedom, Warren Miller IS lifestyle.

Copyright 1998 Warren Miller PO Box 350 Deer Harbor, Washington 98243.
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