Arthur Miller - Playwright
Created | Updated Jul 1, 2004
Arthur Miller was born on October 17th 1915 in New York City. He was the son of a coat manufacturer and shopkeeper, Isidore Miller, who was ruined during the depression. Miller graduated from high school in 1932 and went to work in an automobile parts warehouse. Miller decided to become a writer and went to study journalism at the University of Michigan in 1934. There he began writing plays. After graduating from university in 1938, Miller returned to New York and joined the Federal Theatre Project, where he wrote scripts for radio programs. He wasn’t called up to fight in the war because of a football injury. In 1940 he married Mary Slattery and they had two children.
Arthur Miller’s plays are all written simply and realistically and are all about society. Miller’s first play on Broadway was “The Man Who Had All the Luck”. Although the play was not a commercial success- it closed after four performances- it won the Theatre Guild Award. His next play, “All My Sons”, (1947) won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and was made into a film the following year. Miller’s greatest achievement was “Death of a Salesman” which was published in 1949 and won both the Drama Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Another of Miller’s plays was “The Crucible”, written in 1953. Although it was about the Salem witch trials it was also about the investigation of un-American activities in the US. Arthur Miller appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities himself in 1956. He was convicted of contempt, but the conviction was appealed and reversed. Arthur Miller married the actress Marilyn Monroe and wrote the screenplay “The Misfits” for her. Miller’s other plays include “A View from the Bridge”, “After the Fall”, “Incident at Vichy” and “The Price”. Arthur Miller has also written a novel, “Focus” (1945) about anti-Semitism and an autobiography, “Timebends; A Life” which was published in 1987.
Arthur Miller’s plays are all written simply and realistically and are all about society. Miller’s first play on Broadway was “The Man Who Had All the Luck”. Although the play was not a commercial success- it closed after four performances- it won the Theatre Guild Award. His next play, “All My Sons”, (1947) won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and was made into a film the following year. Miller’s greatest achievement was “Death of a Salesman” which was published in 1949 and won both the Drama Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Another of Miller’s plays was “The Crucible”, written in 1953. Although it was about the Salem witch trials it was also about the investigation of un-American activities in the US. Arthur Miller appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities himself in 1956. He was convicted of contempt, but the conviction was appealed and reversed. Arthur Miller married the actress Marilyn Monroe and wrote the screenplay “The Misfits” for her. Miller’s other plays include “A View from the Bridge”, “After the Fall”, “Incident at Vichy” and “The Price”. Arthur Miller has also written a novel, “Focus” (1945) about anti-Semitism and an autobiography, “Timebends; A Life” which was published in 1987.
