Playwright Arthur Miller Dies

Posted in News on February 13, 2005

Celebrated playwright Arthur Miller, the creator of "Death of a Salesman" and "The Crucible" has died at the age of 89. Miller, who was also a BMI composer, died on February 10 of heart failure.

Hailed as the greatest living American playwright, the award-winning writer wrote several other classic plays including 1944's "The Man Who Had All the Luck", "All My Sons" in 1947 and 1955's "A View from the Bridge." His career was marked by early success, and in 1949 at the age of 33, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for "Death of a Salesman."

As a BMI composer, he wrote the lyrics to Robert Ward's "The Crucible," an opera based on his most performed work, which won the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1962. He also wrote the lyrics for the 1983 Off-Broadway show, "Up From Paradise," as well as for the opera "A View From the Bridge."

Miller won the New York Drama Critics' Circle's best play award twice in the 1940s, for "All My Sons" and for "Death of a Salesman." In 1953, he received a Tony Award for "The Crucible," a play that is still read by thousands of American high school students each year. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1999 Tony Awards.

Miller, who survived some tough times during his youth, took odd jobs to fund his education at the University of Michigan where he met his first wife, Mary Slattery. Their marriage lasted for 16 years. His second marriage to sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, which lasted five years, further catapulted him to fame. He wrote the screenplay for the Monroe film "The Misfits," which came out in 1960, and reflected on their relationship in his 1963 play "After the Fall." He later married photographer Inge Morath in 1962, a marriage that lasted until her death in 2002.

Miller is survived by three children: Jane Ellen and Robert by his first wife, and Rebecca by his third wife.

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