After leaving high school, Miller worked for the National Screen Service as a messenger boy. Moving steadily up the ladder, he started directing Pete Smith educational documentaries at MGM from 1935. Two of these short features, "Penny Wisdom" and "Seeds of Destiny", won Academy Awards. From 1941, he handled feature films in a variety of genres. The quality of his films has been inconsistent, but he seemed most comfortable turning out slick thrillers like
Sudden Fear (1952),
Midnight Lace (1960) and
Executive Action (1973).