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Miller was born on Oct. 17, 1915
Born in Harlem, New York. His parents were immigrant Jewish and they are, Isidore Miller and Augusta Miller. He has 2 siblings, (a brother Kermit Miller and a sister Joan Copeland). -
Great Depression
Isidore Miller (Arthur's father) owned a successful business. They became wealthy until 1929 when the "great depression" occurred. Once they have lost everything they moved to Brooklyn. -
Education
Arthur Miller went to the University of Michigan, where he began his career of writing plays. His major was first journalism and then he switched it to English. -
League of American writers
Miller was involved in the League of American Writers which was a corporation of playwrights, novelists, poets, journalists, and literary critics by a Communist Party. At first it was an anti-fascist foundation but changed into anti-war during the Nazi-Soviet Pact and after the German capture. -
First Play
Miller's first play was "No Villain" while he was at the University of Michigan and he won the Avery Hopwood Award. Arthur Miller looked up to his professor, "Kenneth Rowe" who advised him when it came to his plays. -
Program
Arthur joined the Federal Theatre Project which was due to the Great Depression to give support to the artists' productions. -
Mary Grace Slattery-First wife
He met his first wife at the University of Michigan. He had 2 children with Mary. -
Stage Plays
He wrote 25 plays. He became well-known for 'All My Sons' which was performed on (Jan.29, 1947), 'Death of a Salesman' (Feb.10, 1949), 'The Crucible' (Jan.22, 1953), and a 'View from the Bridge' (Sep. 29, 1955), which are his popular ones too. -
'All of My Sons'
Miller started working at Brooklyn Navy Yard and wrote radio scripts because the plays he wrote were rejected by many producers. The play 'All of My Sons' received recognition and was directed by Elia Kazan. The play won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and two Tony Awards. -
Pulitzer Prize
Death of a Salesman is about a man called Willy Loman. He loses himself and who he is and cannot accept change within himself and society. This play won many Tony Awards including a Pulitzer Prize and was changed into different versions on TV and later on onto Broadway. -
Political Issues
Once he married Marilyn Monroe, Miller stopped writing plays because he was charged with "contempt of Congress" for not wanting to uncover the names of those involved in Communist activities (House Un-American Activities Committee, HUAC). After that, he wrote The 'Misfits' (1961) which wasn't recognized much. Monroe and Miller divorced after that. -
Marilyn Monroe-Second wife
Miller divorced Mary and married Monroe right after. They had their ups and down which involved miscarriages and rumors. He wrote 'The Misfits' to make Monroe seem more "serious" but after the movie, they fell apart. -
Inge Morath-Third Wife
He had 2 children with Morath, (Rebecca and Daniel). Daniel was kept secret, rumor has it that he has Down syndrome, and because of that, he was put into a nursery home. -
'After the Fall'
The play 'After the Fall' was for Marilyn Monroe and it was also the moment Kazan and Miller reunited and worked on some more scripts publicly. -
More Political Issues
Miller was a representative of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago which was about being against the Vietnam War. He was also involved in a foundation, PEN, (Poets, Essayists, Novelists) for the rights of writers. -
Collection of theatre Essays
Arthur Miller published a collection of theatre essays on his thoughts on and comments on McCarthy Era and also discussed a supported theatre. -
Timebends
He published an autobiographical project, Timebends, which discussed about his experience with his marriage with Marilyn Monroe. -
Medal
He won a the National medal of Arts which is an honor to receive such an award as an artist. -
Prizes
Arthur Miller received Japan Art Association's Praemium Imperiale award for his work/plays (theatre). -
Honor
He was elected for the National Endowment for the Humanities for the Jefferson Lecture called upon the federal governments because of the issues his plays discussed about and the foundations he was involved in as well. -
In Spain
In Spain, Arthur received Principe de Asturias Prize for Literature because he was known as the "master of modern drama". After that his wife Inge died of cancer and he received the Jerusalem Prize. -
He died on Feb. 10, 2005
Arthur Miller had congestive heart failure which was the reason of his death at 89.