With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Arthur Miller
Drama
1915 – 2005
Renowned and controversial American playwright and left-leaning intellectual, whose works are routinely produced in theaters all over the world. He authored well over thirty plays, three of which won awards, including a Tony and Pulitzer Prize for ‘Death of a Salesman.’
- Biography/Description of Work
Miller was born in 1915 in Harlem, New York. He attended University of Michigan before moving back east to produce plays for stage. His first success was ‘The Death of a Salesman,’ written in his small Roxbury studio, and which opened on Broadway in 1949. In 1956, Miller left his first wife, Mary Slattery, and later that year married actress, Marilyn Monroe. This same year, the House of Un-American Activities Committee denied his passport renewal, and called him in to appear before the committee. He refused to give names of those who had been active in certain political activities. A reason he was called in to appear before the committee was because of his play ‘The Crucible,’ a dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, but an allegory of McCarthyism. In 1961, Miller starred in ‘The Misfits,’ a film for which Miller wrote the screenplay. Miller and Monroe divorced this same year, and Miller married photographer Inge Morath in 1962 (Monroe died that same year). They had two children: Rebecca (now married to actor Daniel Day-Lewis) and Daniel. Less well known are Miller’s activities as president of PEN, an international professional writers society; elected in 1965, he organized the 1966 congres in New York City, and worked to bring writers living in countries behind the Iron Curtain into the international intellectual community. Miller’s last well-known play was ‘The Price’ (1968). In 2002, Inge Morath died and three years later in 2005 at the age of 89, Miller died in his home in Roxbury.
- Sources view
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller, http://www.biography.com/people/arthur-miller-9408335, http://www.neh.gov/about/awards/jefferson-lecture/arthur-miller-biography, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007186/, http://www.arthurmiller.org/, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/arthur-miller/none-without-sin/56/, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmillerA.htm, http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Roxbury-a-quiet-place-for-famous-authors-to-savor-417465.php#photo-134125
Arthur Miller Article - New York Times - 1975-12-15, Arthur Miller Article - New York Times - 1980-9-28, Arthur Miller Article - New York Times - 1984-5-9, Arthur Miller Article - New York Times - 1990-12-6, Arthur Miller Article - New York Times - 1996-7-25, Arthur Miller Article - New York Times - 2005-2-20, Arthur Miller Obituary - New York Times - 2005-2-12
Arthur Asher Miller. Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 14 Nov. 2014 - http://www.biography.com/people/arthur-miller-9408335#synopsis - Associated Resource(s)