Arthur Miller

1915-2005
American Playwright

Created by Mrs. Jenny Shickley

 Significance to American Drama
 Miller transformed American theatre in the period
immediately following the end of WWII.
 Miller was significantly influenced by both World Wars
and the economical and social depressions that followed
each.
 Miller’s tragic characters are reminiscent of both
Shakespeare and Dostoevsky, though his characters are
often “commonplace” and easily relatable.
 More than any modern playwright, “Miller has dedicated
himself to the investigation of the moral plight of the
white American working class.”
 Early Life & Family
 Born, October 17, 1915 in Manhattan, NY.
- Mother was a school teacher, and father owned a small
clothing manufacturing company.
- Mother was born in America, but father was born in Austria.
- One of three children in a solidly middle-class family.
- His family was Jewish, and Miller was fluent in Yiddish.
 1928 – Family moves to Brooklyn because of the decline in his
father’s business, which is later decimated by the Great Depression
of the 1930’s.
 Attended Abraham Lincoln High School where he played baseball
and football.
- He endured a major football injury that would later exempt
him from the draft.
- He appeared, for the most part, a non-intellectual.
 Obtaining an Education
 After graduating high school in 1932, Miller’s family could not afford
to send him to college.
 Miller worked as a clerk in an automobile parts warehouse to earn
money to attend college.
 It was at this time that Miller read Dostoevsky’s The Brothers
Karamazov and decided he wanted to become a writer.
 Miller attended the University of Michigan from 1934 to 1938 where
he earned a degree in English.
- While in college, Miller twice won the prestigious “Avery
Hopwood Award for Student Writers”, also awarded to
Tennessee Williams (another famous American
playwright).
- One of his student plays was produced in Detroit by the
Federal Theatre Project.
 A Writer’s Life Begins
 After graduation, Miller returned to New York where he worked as a
freelance writer (a writer for hire).
- Miller wrote radio scripts and plays for CBS and NBC during
WWII, but he made his living as a steam fitter.
 1940 – Married his college sweetheart, Mary Slattery (social worker), with
whom he had two children.
 1944 – The Man Who Had All the Luck, first Broadway play.
- This play was a complete failure, running only 4 days.
 1945 – FOCUS, a novel
 1947 – All My Sons, play
- Awarded New York Drama Circle Award and two Tony Awards.
 1949 – Death of a Salesmen, play
- Awarded both the New York Drama Circle Award and the
Pulitzer Prize.
- Play had over 700 performances and was translated into over 12
languages.
- This play made him a MILLIONAIRE!
 A Playwright Grows
 1952 – Death of a Salesmen, film
 1953 – The Crucible, play
- Play was written to showcase the parallel between the frenzied
Salem Witchcraft Trials and the hysterical House of Un-American
Activities Committee (HUAC) investigations into Communist
organizations in America, including prominent entertainers.
- Tony Award winning.
 1955 – “A Memory of Two Mondays,” one-act play
“A View from the Bridge,”
one-act play
 1956 – Divorced current wife, Mary, and
married actress, Marilyn Manroe.
- Miller had actually stolen Marilyn
from his former friend, Elia Kazan
(director), who had turned in 8
people as communists to the HUAC.
 A Life Subjected
 1956 – Miller is called before the HUAC.
1956 – Miller is called before the HUAC.
- He admitted to attending 4 or 5 writers’ meetings sponsored
by the Communist party in 1947.
- He supported a Peace Conference in New York, where he
signed many appeals and protests.
- He emphatically denied membership within the Communist
party.
- He refused to relinquish names of other people who attended
or participated in any of meetings or activities with
him.
 1957 – Miller is found guilty of contempt for refusing to give names to
the HUAC but appeals the ruling.
- Marilyn supported and assisted in a full-fledges media campaign
to neutralize the negative publicity and salvage Miller’s career as a
playwright.
- John Steinbeck writes a defense of Miller, which is published in
Esquire, that can be considered an ironic
accusation against HUAC for anti-American activities.
 1958 – Miller’s appeal is successful, and the charge is reversed.
 A Writer’s Life Continues
 1959 – Miller receives the Gold Medal for Drama by the National
Institute of Arts and Letters.
 1961 – Divorced by Marilyn Monroe. Marriage had actually ended a
year earlier with the production of the film Misfits.
 1962 – Marries Igne Morath, an Austrian-born photographer, with
whom he has two more children.
- Marilyn dies the same year.
 1964 – After the Fall, play
- This play is believed to hold a thinly disguised portrayal of
both his unhappy marriage with Marilyn and his
dealings with the HUAC.
 1964 – Visits European concentration camps with wife and writes
“Incident at Vichy,” which was inspired by the suffering and human
guilt that surrounds the Holocaust, its victims, and its survivors.
 The Writing of a Lifetime
 1968 - The Price, play (again
dealing with guilt and the human
condition.
 1969 – In Russia, a travel book
illustrated with is wife’s
photographs from their tour of
Russia.
 1972 – The Creation of the World
and other Business, play
 1979 – Chinese Encounters, a
travel book illustrated with is
wife’s photographs from their
tour of China.
 1984 – Salesman in Beijing, an
account of the production of his
play in China.
 1985 – Playing for Time, screen
play, an account of a French
survivors time in Auschwitz.
 1987 – Timebends: A Life,
autobiography
 1991 – The Ride Down Mount
Morgan, play (opened in
London).
 1993 – The Last Yankee, play
 1994 – Broken Glass, a play
(title refers to Kristallnacht)
 1995 – Homely Girl: And Other
Stories , collection of short-
stories.
 2004 – Finishing the Picture,
Miller’s last play
 February 10, 2005 – Miller
dies of heart failure at his
Roxbury, Connecticut home.