She was born Miriam Miller on December 20, 1906 in Ironton, Ohio. Her grandfather was Col. James J. Miller, a successful publisher. When she was a child her family moved to New York City and she started taking dance lessons. At the age of fourteen she made her Broadway debut dancing in the musical Good Morning Dearie. In 1925 she was chosen to be Marilyn Miller's understudy in the musical Sunny. Then she appeared in the musicals Hit The Deck and Lovely Lady. During this time she also posed semi-nude for photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston. Miriam married Roland Tevlin in March of 1926. They split up two years later.
She was cast in the Marx Brothers film Animal Crackers but quit when she became engaged to Otis Angier, a businessman. Miriam and Otis and were married on April 30. 1930. The couple had two children - Edward Herbert and Miriam Ann. They lived in Massachusetts before moving to Clearwater, Florida in 1948. She told a reporter "I have a contented full-time career being Mrs. Angier". Sadly her husband passed away in 1976. A few years later she married Andrew Scharnagl, a plumbing company executive. He died in 1983 making her a widow for the second time. Miriam continued to live in Florida. On March 27, 1989 she died at the age of eighty-two.
