Arthur miller biography pbs newshour
Home / Writers, Artists & Poets / Arthur miller biography pbs newshour
Miller responded to his critics by saying: ''The play is a work of fiction. And if you can't live like that, you don't stay. Timebends: A Life.
Divorce and Marilyn's Death
Miller and Monroe were married for five years, during which time the tragic sex symbol struggled with personal troubles and drug addiction.
The drama follows the travails of Willy Loman, an aging Brooklyn salesman whose career is in decline and who finds the values that he so doggedly pursued have become his undoing. Miller barely wrote during their marriage, except for penning the screenplay of The Misfits as a gift for Monroe. Penguin, 1995.
Content last updated: October 31, 2007
Arthur Miller
(1915-2005)
Who Was Arthur Miller?
Playwright Arthur Miller attended the University of Michigan before moving back East to write dramas for the stage.
He enjoyed a comfortable childhood until his father’s business was lost during the Depression and the family faced financial hardship. Timebends, an autobiography, was published in 1987 to critical acclaim, and he collaborated on the 1996 screenplay adaption of The Crucible. Essay collections include The Theater Essays of Arthur Miller (1978, 1996), and Echoes Down the Corridor: Collected Essays 1944–2000, as well as individually published volume On Politics and the Art of Acting (2001).
At the time of their marriage, he told the press that Monroe would curtail her movie career for the "full-time job" of being his wife. Miller penned the screenplay, which earned him the sole Academy Award nomination of his career.
Arthur Miller Biography
“I reflect what my heart tells me from the society around me. On February 10, 2005, the 56th anniversary of Death of a Salesman's Broadway debut, Miller died of heart failure at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, surrounded by Barley, family and friends.
Miller’s final play, Finish the Picture, was based on the difficult filming of The Misfits. He was subpoenaed to appear before HUAC and was charged with contempt of Congress for his refusal to provide names of colleagues who participated in communist activities. Short Fiction includes the collection I Don’t Need You Any More (1967); the novella Homely Girl, a Life (1995); and Presence: Stories (1987).
Directed by Elia Kazan, the play received immediate acclaim, running for 328 performances and winning the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award and two Tony Awards.
He has accordingly been found in contempt of Congress. In his autobiography, he wrote that when he was young he “imagined that with the possible exception of a doctor saving a life, writing a worthy play was the most important thing a human being could do.”
Miller's plays have become American classics that continue to speak to new generations of audiences.
Author Norman Mailer called their marriage the union of "the Great American Brain" and "the Great American Body."
Miller and Monroe's high-profile marriage placed the playwright in the Hollywood spotlight. The couple had two children, Rebecca and Daniel.