Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller was born in 1915 in New York. He was of Polish-Jewish decent and the second of three children born to Isadore Miller from Galicia and Augusta, who was born in New York City, but whose parents were from Galicia, also. His father owned a successful clothing manufacturing business that went under with the Wall Street Crash of 1929. They were forced to move to Brooklyn where Arthur delivered bread in the morning to help with finances.

They were forced to move to Brooklyn where Arthur delivered bread in the morning to help with finances.
Due to a high school football injury, Arthur was exempt from military service during World War Two. He attended college for journalism at the University of Michigan, then transferred to English when he began to write plays. Arthur was a theater purist and wouldn't write for the screen. Although, his plays have been translated into movies and television.

Arthur was the recipient of many awards for his writing, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, for The Death of a Salesman, which also won the Tony Award for Best Author and the New York Drama Circle Critics Award. He wrote his first play while attending college, No Villain, of which he won the Avery Hopwood Award.

In 1956 Arthur divorced his wife of sixteen years, leaving his two children from that marriage also, to marry Marilyn Monroe. They have been having an affair for five years. He finally gave in to assisting in the filming of one of his plays when Monroe was cast in Misfits. In 1961 they divorced and nineteen months later she was dead of a drug over dose. This was also the last movie for Clark Gable and one of the last for Montgomery Cliff. In 1962 he married Inge Morath a photographer and was with her until her death in 2002.

In 1961 they divorced and nineteen months later she was dead of a drug over dose. This was also the last movie for Clark Gable and one of the last for Montgomery Cliff. In 1962 he married Inge Morath a photographer and was with her until her death in 2002.

In the early 1950's the House UnAmerican Activities Committee was on a witch hunt. They were persecuting Elia Kazan, making him name names of other Communist supporters. Although he was not included in Kazan's list, Arthur flew to see Kazan. Then Arthur wrote the play, The Crucible to highlight the actions of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. Which brought him to their attention. They denied his passport and wouldn't let him travel to London for the viewing of the play. Kazan wrote On the Waterfront to defend his own actions.

In 1956 Arthur was called before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee when he asked for another passport. He agreed to appear if they wouldn't ask him to name names. Marilyn Monroe accompanied him, putting her own career at risk. They asked him to name names and he refused. They found him guilty of Contempt, then they fined and imprisoned him. The appeal turned the decision due to being misled by the HUAAC.

Arthur died at the age of eighty-nine in 2005, on the fifty-sixth anniversary of the Broadway debut of The Death of a Salesman. He was surrounded by family and friends and laid to rest in the Roxbury Center Cemetery in Roxbury, Connecticut.