Arthur Miller (1915-2005)

Biography of the playwright Arthur Miller

Photo of playwright Arthur Miller

Born in New York, Oct.17, 1915.  He is a legendary playwright that enriched Broadway stages for many decades.

His plays deal with family relationships and contemporary American values. "A lot of my work goes to the center of where we belong -if there is any root to life- because nowadays the family is broken up, and people don't live in the same place for very long", Miller said in a 1988 interview.

His plays and include Death of a Salesman (1949 - Pulitzer Prize in & New York Drama Critics' Circle's best play award) and The Crucible (1953, Tony Award), based on the Salem witch trials and reflecting the communist witch-hunts of Senator Joe McCarthy.

"Death of a Salesman," which took Miller only six weeks to write, earned rave reviews when it opened on Broadway in February 1949, directed by Elia Kazan.

The story of Willy Loman, a man destroyed by his own stubborn belief in the glory of American capitalism and the redemptive power of success, was made into a movie and staged all over the world.

"I couldn't have predicted that a work like 'Death of a Salesman' would take on the proportions it has," Miller said in 1988. "Originally, it was a literal play about a literal salesman, but it has become a bit of a myth, not only here but in many other parts of the world".

In 1999, 50 years after it won the Tony Award as best play, "Death of a Salesman" won the Tony for best revival of the Broadway season. The show also won the top acting prize for Brian Dennehy, who played Loman.

His marriage to Marilyn Monroe in 1956 further catapulted the playwright to fame, though that was publicity he said he never pursued.

In a 1992 interview with a French newspaper, he called her "highly self-destructive" and said that during their marriage, "all my energy and attention were devoted to trying to help her solve her problems. Unfortunately, I didn't have much success."
Miller, then 83, received a lifetime achievement award.

"Just being around to receive it is a pleasure," he joked to the audience during the awards ceremony.

Among other plays are All my sons (1947 - New York Drama Critics' Circle's best play award), A view from the bridge (1955), and After the Fall (1964), based on his relationship with Monroe. He also wrote the television film Playing for Time (1980).

Died on February 11, 2005.


 

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