Arthur Miller Biography

Arthur Miller[pic 1]

Born on October 17th, 1915- in Harlem, New York- became part of an immigrant family of Polish and Jewish descent. Arthur’s father, Isidore, had a coat manufacturing business, while his mother, Augusta, was an educationalist and was passionate about reading. Arthur had a much closer bond with his mother, than his father. The Miller family was very prosperous, but in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, they almost lost everything; after that, they had to move from Manhattan to Flatbush, Brooklyn. After Arthur’s high school graduation, he worked a few jobs in order to attain some money for his dream University, The University of Michigan. He completed his first play, No Villain, in college; it made him win the school’s Avery Hopwood Award. He then decided to take playwright courses with Professor Kenneth Rowe, who inspired Miller to move back to the east and begin his independent career as a playwright.

Miller career wasn’t instant fame. In 1944, his Broadway debut of The Man Who Had All the Luck, gained a bad title. Only after four performances, it shut down from its vile reviews. A year later, Miller published his novel, All My Focus, on anti-Semitism. Having influenced by his novel, Arthur wrote his second play-All My Sons- which was a famous hit in the year 1947; it almost ran for a full year on Broadway. The playwright got Millers first Tony Award for Best Author.

Miller built a small studio in Roxbury, Connecticut, where he wrote his first act of the playwright Death of a Salesman.  It took him almost less than a day. Elia Kazan directed the play, which opened on February 10th, 1949 at the Morosco Theater. Almost everyone adored the play, and eventually it became an iconic stage work.

Death of a Salesman follows the story of an aging Brooklyn salesman, Willy Loman, whose career is diminishing and goes through a downfall by his own persistent pursuits. Brooks Atkinson, the New York Times theater critic, designated Willy Loman in his 1949 review of the play: "In his early sixties he knows his business as well as he ever did. But the unsubstantial things have become decisive; the spring has gone from his step, the smile from his face and the heartiness from his personality. He is through. The phantom of his life has caught up with him. As literally as Mr. Miller can say it, dust returns to dust. Suddenly there is nothing."

The playwright was a successor factor in Miller’s theatrical career having him earned the Pulitzer Prize, the New York Drama Critic’s Circle Award and the Tony for best Playwright, and much more. The playwright was simply prodigious.

After a month from a divorce from his former college sweetheart, Mary Slattery, in 1956, He married the Hollywood Sex Symbol Marilyn Monroe (Having had two children from Mary Slattery, Jane Ellen and Robert Ellen.) who he knew 5 years back from a Hollywood. At the time they met, the actress was dating Elia Kazan, who directed two of Miller’s playwrights. It began with a simple friendship leading to an unexpected romance. Author Norman Mailer called their marriage the union of "the Great American Brain" and "the Great American Body." This marriage gave Miller great Hollywood spotlight on his playwrights. During Miller and Monroe’s marriage, he claimed that Monroe would curtail her movie career for a full time job of being Arthur’s wife.

In 1956, Millers passport renewal was declined by the House Un-American Activities; They also called him to appear before the committee. The committee summoned him after his 1953 Tony Award-winning playwright, The Crucible, which was a production pursuing the Salem witch trials of 1692; It was an allegory about McCarthyism. Miller refused to abide by the committee’s requests, which was to out the people who were a part of some political activities.

After Miller’s stand against the committee, Brooks Atkinson wrote “He refused to be an informer. He refused to turn his private conscience over to administration by the state. He has accordingly been found in contempt of Congress. That is the measure of the man who has written these high-minded plays.” His ruling was overturned two years later.