Ellen Miller (Lassie)

Ellen Miller
Jan Clayton as Ellen Miller with Jon Provost as Timmy
First appearance	"The Inheritance" (1954)
Last appearance	"Timmy's Family" (1957)
Created by	Robert Maxwell Rudd Weatherwax
Portrayed by	Jan Clayton
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Farm woman Housewife Mother Daughter-in-law
Family	Jeff Miller (son) • George Miller (father-in-law) • Timmy (foster son) • Lassie (companion animal)
Spouse(s)	John Miller (deceased)

Ellen Miller is a fictional character in the long-running television series Lassie (1954–1973). Ellen is a war widow living on a weatherbeaten midwestern farm with her young son Jeff and her father-in-law George Miller. The character was created by producer Robert Maxwell and Lassie trainer Rudd Weatherwax, and was portrayed in the series by Jan Clayton. Ellen makes her debut in the premiere episode, "The Inheritance" (1954) and her last appearance in the mid-fourth season episode, "Timmy's Family" (1957). Clayton was nominated for two Emmy Awards for her performances as Ellen Miller on Lassie, and the series itself won two Emmys during her stint on the show.

Ellen Miller is a strong, loving, and intelligent woman. She is a widow whose husband John was killed in World War II. When the series opens, she lives on a small midwestern farm with her eleven-year-old son, Jeff and her father-in-law, George Miller. She attended college and entertains the daughter of a college friend in "The Ballerina." She is a musician and sometimes plays the organ in the farmhouse parlor. In one episode, she is offered a job as a singer on a radio station. Ellen provokes the jealousies of both Jeff and her father-in-law when she dates the local constable, Clay Horton. Ellen and her family provide a foster home for a seven-year-old runaway boy called Timmy. Following the death of her father-in-law, she and her son sell the farm to the Martins (who adopt Timmy and Lassie), and move to the city where she plans to teach music and Jeff plans to attend a science high school.

In 1943, Eric Knight's fictional rough collie, Lassie, made her film debut in MGM's Lassie Come Home. The success of the film generated six more MGM Lassie films, and, with the seventh feature, The Painted Hills (1951), Lassie's MGM career came to an end. Pal, a male dog, played Lassie in all seven films, and, when his MGM career had run its course, Pal's owner and trainer, Rudd Weatherwax, took all rights to the Lassie name and trademark in lieu of back pay. Weatherwax and Pal then toured America in an 18-minute program re-enacting Lassie's film exploits. Producer Robert Maxwell convinced Weatherwax that the dog's future lay television. The men developed a television scenario set on a small midwestern farm about a struggling war widow, her son, and her father-in-law.