by Lacey Simmons

Created on: August 19, 2008   Last Updated: August 28, 2008

Arthur Miller, an American playwright and essayist was born on October 17, 1915. Arthur graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1932. Arthur and his family had little money due to the great depression making Arthur work odd jobs to earn money for his tuition. After raising enough money for tuition he attended the University of Michigan where he majored in journalism. He became the reporter and night editor of the student newspaper "The Michigan daily".

His first work was "No villain", which he won the Avery Hopwood award for.In 1937 he wrote "Honors at Dawn" which he received his second Avery Hopwood award for. Later that year he switched his major to English at The University of Michigan. Miller received a Bachelors degree in English in 1938. After graduation he joined the federal theater project.
August,1940 Miller married Mary Slattery and they had two children Jane and Robert. Miller went on to win the theater guild's national award for "The man who had all the luck". Miller's first and only published novel was "Focus" which sold 90,000 copies. In1947 miller's work "All my Sons" ran for three hundred and twenty-eight performances at the Coronet Theater. He later won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, two Tony awards and the new rival production award for "All my sons".
Miller's most known work, "Death of a Salesman", premiered on Broadway February 10, 1949 at Morocco Theater for seven hundred and forty-two performances. "Death of a Salesman " received a Tony award for best play , a New York City Drama Circle Critics Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for drama. "The Crucible" another well known work of Miller's opened on Broadway in January of 1953. "The crucible "also later became a film in 1996.
Miller's personal life took a turn in June of 1956 when he divorced Mary Slattery. He then married Marilyn Monroe in June 1956. His production "The Misfits" starred his new wife Marilyn Monroe it premiered in 1961, before they divorced. Miller then remarried in 1962 to Inge Morath. They had two children Rebbecca and Daniel. He remained with Inge until her death in 2002.
"After the fall" opened in January of 1964 at the ANTA Theater in Washington State Park. Four years later in 1968 "The Price" was his most successful production since "The Death of a Salesman". His final play was "Finishing the Picture" which opened at Goodman Theater in 2004.
Arthur Miller died at home in Roxbury of congestive heart failure in 2005 at the age of eighty-nine. Miller has left a legacy behind of seven decades of work and he was one of the greatest dramatists of the twentieth century. The University of Michigan opened the Arthur Miller Theater in March 2007 in his honor.

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