Arthur Miller
American playwright and essayist (1915–2005)
Arthur Miller: American drama after the Depression
From Brooklyn to the stage
Miller grew up in New York as his family’s garment business faltered during the Depression. He worked to pay for college and began writing plays at the University of Michigan. His first Broadway production, The Man Who Had All the Luck, arrived in 1944 but failed to establish him immediately.
Breakthrough after the war
All My Sons reached Broadway in 1947 with a story about a manufacturer’s responsibility for faulty military parts. Death of a Salesman followed in 1949, turning the pressures of work, family and success into an American tragedy. The two productions made Miller a central playwright in postwar theatre.
The Crucible and later work
In 1953 he premiered The Crucible, using the Salem witch trials to explore accusation and fear in the political climate of his own time. A View from the Bridge followed in 1955. Rather than repeating one setting, these plays examined how private choices collide with public judgment and social obligation.
Data and sources
PBS American Masters — Arthur Miller Biography ↗