Romeo Muller

Romeo Muller, Jr. (August 7, 1928 - 1992) was born in the Bronx and raised in Long Island. His talensr in the arts were eveident very early on. At Age 11, he became a puppeteer at his grade school, eventually he wrote his own plays.

His career in theatre began when he joined an acting troup called "Theater Go Round" in Virginia Beach with Producer/Friend Lesley Savage. "Romeo was an Actor, then he became a Director, Writer and Producer and we had so much fun," Says Savage. At this time Romeo wrote plays such as "Angel With The Big, Big Ears" and "The Great Getaway," which eventually became the RANKIN/BASS Off-Broadway play "A Month Of Sundays." Since Romeo was a big man at Six Foot, Two Inches Tall and Three-Hundred Pounds, he decided to stray away from acting and turn his attention to writing.

After writing material for Comedian Jack Benny, Muller was discovered by CBS Founder William Hailey and selected to be a staff writer for the prestigous STUDIO ONE an PHILCO THEATRE. He wrote one of the most popular episodes for the STUDIO ONE series entitled "Love Me To Pieces Baby."

In 1963, Romeo met with Producer/Directors Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass and began a relationship that would last for years. RANKIN/BASS asked Romeo to write a screenplay for their first Network television special entitled RETURN TO OZ, which aired on NBC's THE GENERAL ELECTRIC FANTASY HOUR. The show was a success and set the stage for the most popular Holiday television special of all-time RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER. A little known fact about Romeo's RUDOLPH script is that he embellished a very short story into an hour-long broadcast and added a variety of characters into the Special that never existed before.

Muller is also known for his role in such films as "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town", "The Little Drummer Boy", "Here Comes Peter Cottontail", and "Frosty the Snowman", among many others.

Muller passed away in 1992 at the age of 64.