Arthur Miller

Arthur Asher Miller (1915‑10‑17 – 2005‑02‑10) was an American playwright, essayist, and screenwriter whose work reshaped twentieth‑century theater. Born in Harlem to Polish‑Jewish immigrants, he grew up in a prosperous household that was shattered by the 1929 crash, forcing the family to move to Brooklyn where young Miller delivered bread before school and later financed his tuition at the University of Michigan. While at Michigan he won the Avery Hopwood Award for his first play No Villain, a triumph that redirected his ambitions from journalism to drama, and he remained a lifelong benefactor of his alma mater through scholarships and a namesake theatre. After a stint with the Federal Theatre Project and some radio work, Miller’s Broadway breakthrough came with All My Sons (1947), earning his first Tony and establishing him as a serious dramatist. The following year he wrote Death of a Salesman in less than six weeks; the play swept the Tony, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize, and it is still hailed as one of the greatest American plays. Amidst this success he married Mary Grace Slattery, then Marilyn Monroe, and later photographer Inge Morath, fathering four children, including filmmaker Rebecca Miller.

Miller’s career was marked by outspoken political engagement. He testified before the House Un‑American Activities Committee in 1956, refusing to name colleagues, which resulted in a brief contempt conviction that was later overturned. The experience inspired The Crucible (1953), an allegory of McCarthyism that remains his most produced work worldwide. Over the decades he continued to produce acclaimed pieces such as A View from the Bridge, The Price, and Broken Glass, and he ventured into film with screenplays like The Misfits. His honors include the 1949 Pulitzer, the 1984 Kennedy Center Honors, the 2001 Praemium Imperiale, and the 2003 Jerusalem Prize. Miller’s influence endures through the Arthur Miller Theatre, his archived papers, and the countless productions that keep his exploration of moral responsibility, American dreams, and personal conscience alive on stage today.