Career
He performed in Lux Theater as a utility supporting player in nearly every broadcast from 1937-1939 (notably as Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), and also served as an assistant director handling the crowd scenes during that time. He continued to work the show sporadically until 1953. His career in the 1930s also included roles in the children"s Christmas series The Cinnamon Bear (as Santa Claus), the crime drama Big Town (as various gangsters and a stand-in for Edward G Robinson as Steve Wilson), the soap opera Those We Love (as con man Editor Neely), and The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air.
He later worked for Architecture Oboler on Architecture Oboler"s Plays and Lights Out.
In 1941, he starred as the Nemo-like Captain Craig McKenzie in the now mostly lost sci-fi series Latitude Zero and 12 years later, would star on the true crime anthology drama series Crime Classics. Merrill played Thomas Hyland, the host/narrator who was fascinated with crime, playing the role deadpan but with subtle humor. comedy appearances included Point Sublime (a regular as jeweler Aaron Saul) and Abbott and Costello (guesting as Santa Claus) and the Life of Riley as Punchy (a punch drunk ex-prize fighter).
He also appeared on Escape, The Manitoba Called X, Suspense, National Broadcasting Company University Theater, On Stage, The Columbia Broadcasting System Workshop, Rogue"s Gallery, and The Six Shooter. Merrill was the narrator for Retribution, a "psychological mystery series." In his later years, Merrill continued doing voice-over work, regularly doing film trailer narration work for American International Pictures.
Merrill narrated trailers for films such as lieutenant Conquered the World, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, War of the Colossal Beast, Teenage Cave Manitoba, Night of the Blood Beast, A Bucket of Blood, Horrors of the Black Museum, The Angry Red Planet, Master of the World, and Burn, Witch, Burn.
Merrill had two adopted daughters.