Arthur Miller was one of the most prominent of American authors and playwrights during the twentieth century. Many of his plays, such as Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, and All My Sons, are among the best known American plays, are still popularly performed, and are frequently referenced in other parts of American culture.
Arthur Miller was born in the Harlem section of New York City on October 17, 1915. After the stock market crash in 1929, his family moved to Brooklyn, and because of the Great Depression, Arthur Miller was originally unable to attend college. He was finally able to go to the University of Michigan with the money he made from working several jobs. Arthur Miller started at the University of Michigan majoring in journalism, but went on to graduate with a Bachelor's in English. During his college years, he worked on the student paper as a reporter and editor, and wrote his first play, "No Villain". He was inspired to change majors after receiving an award for this play.
Although Arthur Miller did not have to serve in World War II due to a high-school football injury, the World War II years were difficult for him. Despite winning the Theatre Guild's National Award for his play "The Man Who Had All the Luck", his play closed quickly. He also turned down a screenwriting job for an offer to work for the Federal Theatre Project, which was then shut down by a communist fearing government. Other projects during this time met with little success, until the production of "All My Sons" in 1947, which ran for three hundred and twenty-eight performances and won numerous awards. The next year, Arthur Miller wrote "Death of a Salesman", his most famous play and one that is often referenced to this day in popular culture. For "Death of a Salesman", which ran for seven hundred and forty-two performances, Arthur Miller won the Pulitzer Prize.
During the fifties Arthur Miller's fame continued to increase, as he refused to testify against others before the House Un-American Activities Committee, writing his play "The Crucible" as a parable comparing the investigations to the Salem witch hunts. He also married Marilyn Monroe in 1956, his relationship with the nationally famous starlet being the inspiration for his 1964 play "After the Fall". Over the following decades, several of Arthur Miller's plays saw adaption into popular movies, and Arthur Miller received a number of international awards for his career. Arthur Miller continued to write several plays over the decades until his death from heart failure on February 10, 2005.