Barbara Miller; Cast Popular TV Series, Winning 4 Emmys

Barbara Miller, a veteran Warner Bros. Television casting executive whose work involved some of the most popular programs on television, including “ER,” “Dallas,” “Murphy Brown” and “The Drew Carey Show,” died Sunday in Los Angeles of cancer. Her age was not revealed.

She was nominated for Emmy Awards 10 times and won four. Two of the nominations are for recent work, on “Friends” and “The West Wing,” and may win her posthumous honors at the Primetime Emmy Creative Awards presentation Sept. 14. She also won several Artios Awards and the Hoyt Bowers Lifetime Achievement Award from the Casting Society of America.

Miller worked 31 years for Warner Bros., signing on in 1971 as an assistant in casting. After a stint as a CBS director of casting, she had joined Lorimar Television, which later merged with Warner Bros. Television, as vice president of casting. In 1987 she was promoted to senior vice president of casting.

When her formal retirement was announced last year, Miller said her favorite assignments had been the “crazy yet wonderful experience” of casting “Dallas” in 10 days and the casting of “Friends” and “West Wing.” Colleagues credited her with a special talent for recognizing budding stars with potential for crossing over from television to film, including George Clooney, whom she had cast in “ER.”