Death of a legend

February saw the arts world lose one of its greats with the passing of Arthur Miller. With his powerful words and complex characterisations, Miller’s plays have become some of the best-known of the American (and indeed, the international stage. But while his work extolled the virtues of everyday life, even as it cast a harsh light on the American Dream, his own life was anything but ordinary.

Arthur Miller was born in New York City in 1915, the son of a clothing manufacturer and seller. His father however was ruined by the Great Depression. This event had an immediate physical, and a long-term, psychological effect on the young man. The family moved to Brooklyn, where Miller appears to have had a fairly normal childhood. He once said of those times that whatever ideology he had then came from reading the Hearst newspapers.

Then in 1932, at the age of 17, Miller read a copy of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov , and decided he wanted to become a writer. He worked in a spare parts warehouse to earn money so he could go to college and fulfil his dream. Finally, he had scraped enough money together to attend the University of Michigan in Lansing in 1934. Once of his fellow students at the institution was Tennessee Williams.

Miller graduated in 1938, and he joined one of Roosevelt’s “New Deal” initiatives, the Federal Theatre Project. He also wrote scripts for radio programs. In 1940, Miller married Mary Slattery, his college sweetheart. As a child Miller had loved sports, and ironically, it was a football injury that kept him out of the armed forces when the US entered WWII in 1941.

During those years, Miller continued to work on his plays, and scored his breakthrough on Broadway in 1944 with The Man Who Had All the Luck. It probably didn’t seem a particularly apt title at the time, since the show closed after only four performances. Undeterred, Miller went to work on a new project, and in 1947, he produced All My Sons. This time, some luck did come Miller’s way, with the show awarded a New York Drama Critics Circle award and two Tony Awards.

In between those theatrical works, Miller wrote a screenplay, The Story of GI Joe and a novel, Focus; both published in 1945.

His big break however came in 1949 with his seminal Death of a Salesman. The story of an American “everyman”, whose comfortable existence is shaken by the very prosperity that overtook the US after WWII, Death of a Salesman shot Miller to international prominence. Its main character, Willy Loman, has become one of the most recognisable and tragic in theatrical canons.

But even in the afterglow of arguably his greatest success, Miller was again not the “man who had all the luck”. In the early 1950s, the playwright came to the attention of Senator Joe McCarthy and the now-infamous House Un-American Activities Committee. In the tumultuous atmosphere of the time, Miller wrote what would become his most-performed play, The Crucible (1953). The play’s story about a Massachusetts town gripped by hysteria over witchcraft was a clear challenge to McCarthy and his allies. As Miller put it, the play was written at a time when “conscience was no longer a private matter but one of state administration”, but it steadfastly urged people of conscience to stand up against conformism and tyranny. Even though its initial Broadway run was short-lived, The Crucible was given the Antoinette Perry Award.

Despite its provocative subject-matter, Miller’s next production – two short plays collected under the title A View from the Bridge (1955) – barely raised a ripple politically, but was a success in theatres. It was later (1961) made into a film by Sidney Lumet.

Miller with Marilyn Monroe

The year 1956 saw Miller experience both highs and lows. His alma mater, the University of Michigan, awarded him an honorary degree; but he was also in the sights of Senator McCarthy. Subpoenaed to give evidence, Miller was one of those who steadfastly refused to “name names” before the Un-American Activities Committee. He admitted to attending some meetings, but strongly denied he was a Communist. He was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to “name names”, but had the charges thrown out by the courts in 1958.

It was also the year that, in the eyes of many men, Miller really did become the guy with “all the luck”. He married screen goddess Marilyn Monroe. While the marriage lasted only five years, it shot Miller to tabloid fame and pop culture status. Those years were turbulent ones for Miller (as one might expect), and he wrote virtually nothing for the stage. He did however pen the screenplay for The Misfits, Monroe’s last movie, and a production with a famously troubled history.

He finally returned to the theatre in 1964 with After the Fall. Although Miller strongly denied it, many saw parallels between the play and his years with Monroe. But After the Fall didn’t herald the resurgence many hoped it would. He produced only one more play in the 1960s, The Price (1968); and none in the 70s or 80s. He did however write short stories and other works, including TV scripts. He also completed his autobiography Timebends: A Life, released in 1987.

Scene from Death of a Salesman

Miller married his third wife, Inge Morath in 1962 – some said on the “rebound” from Monroe – but it was to be the enduring relationship of his life, lasting 40 years until Morath’s death in 2002. Morath was known primarily as a photographer, and the pair collaborated on the books In Russia (1969) and In the Country (1977). The stability Miller found with Inge Morath was a singular contrast to his relationship with Monroe, whom he once described as “destructive”.

Finally, in 1991, Miller again produced a play, The Ride Down Mount Morgan. But his disillusionment with Broadway was evident in his decision to stage the production in London. At the time, Miller said of Broadway, “There is an open terror of the critics and of losing fortunes of money. I have always hated that myself. All in all, it seemed like we ought to do the play in London”. The play was the start of a kind of all-too-brief love affair with the West End.

By 1994 however, Miller was ready to come “home” and premiered his new work Broken Glass on Broadway. The showbiz community embraced the return of their prodigal son, rewarding him with another Tony Award nomination, even though the play struggled to find a popular audience. It also won an Olivier Award (for best play) in London.

Miller’s last works were Resurrection Blues in 2002 and Finishing the Picture in 2004; the latter depicting the tribulations on the set of The Misfits.

Arthur Miller died at his Connecticut home on February 10, 2005.

Although the background certainly doesn’t fit one of the giants of American letters, perhaps a fitting epitaph for Arthur Miller comes from his landmark Death of a Salesman:

"Don't say he's a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He's not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must finally paid to such a person."

Indeed, attention must be paid.

David Edwards

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Arthur Miller
(1915 - 2005)