The Man Behind The Words: Meet Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller is easily one of the most influential playwrights in our American theatrical landscape. When we hear his name, we think of some of his most famous works such as Death of a Salesman or The Crucible. With work that often balances realism, political intrigue, psychological complexities, and societal issues inherent to our culture (think “the American Dream” in Death of a Salesman, for instance). There is no question as to why his works have remained a staple within our classrooms and stages.

A View from the Bridge will receive a Broadway transfer to the Lyceum Theater this October after an Olivier Award-winning run in London, and his lesser-known first work No Villain will receive its world premiere at the Old Red Lion Theater in London. With such a prominent presence still in our society, it’s important to appreciate the man behind the words. Here are some fun facts about Miller for those who might not be familiar and ardent fans alike:

• Miller was born on October 17, 1915 in Harlem, New York. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School while working various jobs to be able to go to college, and soon after went on to University of Michigan. He was briefly a journalism major and even worked for the school paper before switching to an English major after feeling inspired from writing his first play, No Villain. He won the Avery Hopwood Award, a major scholarship program at the school, for the play (the first of many awards to come for Miller!).
• After graduating in 1938, he joined the Federal Theater Project, an agency created by Roosevelt’s New Deal in order to further advance theatre careers and a national industry of work for emerging artists. Suspicions of communism led to the Project’s shutdown in 1939. This prompted him to work for the Brooklyn Navy Yard while still writing some plays on the side.
• After a rocky start as a playwright, he wrote one of his first influential plays, All My Sons, which premiered on Broadway in 1947. Soon after, he wrote and premiered another of his most famous, Death of a Salesman, in 1949. All My Sons put him on the map as a playwright of serious merit, and it earned him his first Tony Award. Death of a Salesman also won a generous amount of awards, being the first play to win all three major drama awards: the Tony Award, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award. He wrote The Crucible in 1953 and A View from the Bridge in 1955, and continued to write many other plays.
• While he has written over 20 plays and a variety of one-acts and radio/screenplays, Miller was not just a playwright. He wrote a famous novel, Focus, which deals with a character’s struggle in various parts of New York after he starts to wear glasses that make others perceive him as looking “Jewish,” thus making him a target for anti-Semitic remarks. The book was later adapted into a movie in 2001. He also wrote other short stories and children’s books. He even collaborated with his photographer wife Inge Morath for three reportages, “In Russia,” “In the Country,” and “Chinese Encounters.”
• He was married three times, one of which was to Marilyn Monroe. She even starred in a film he wrote, The Misfits, in 1961.
• Some of his many awards include 2 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 2 Emmy Awards, 3 Tony Awards along with a special Tony for lifetime achievement, John F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the George Foster Peabody Award, among others. He also received honorary degrees from Harvard University and Oxford University.
• He died February 10, 2005, at the age of 89.
• A foundation exists in his honor, the Arthur Miller Foundation, which strives to promote and increase the number of students receiving a strong education in the theatre as an “integral part of their academic curriculum.” Learn more about them here.
• Miller’s work stands the test of time because of his ability to create characters of complex depth entrenched in issues of familial relationships, societal stresses, and often a quest to find the purpose in life, all of which we as a human race can relate to in some capacity. As Miller stated himself, “The mission of theater, after all, is to change, to raise the consciousness of people to their human possibilities,” and we thank him for doing just that.

Feeling inspired? Pick up one of Arthur Miller’s plays to read today, and celebrate his legacy all throughout the month of October in honor of his 100th birthday!