Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) began writing plays while a student at the University of Michigan. In 1937, during his senior year, one of his early plays was presented in Detroit by the Federal Theatre Project, though his first major theatrical success occurred in 1947 with “All My Sons,” which earned him the Drama Critics’ Circle Award.

“Death of a Salesman” burst upon the scene in 1949 and won the Drama Critics’ Circle Award, the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. It is Miller’s most widely admired work. The play raises questions as to whether the American Dream can be pursued without making dangerous moral compromises. Miller’s moralistic musing can also be found in his Tony Award-winning play, “The Crucible” (1953), where he writes of the witch hunts in colonial Salem, Mass., an implied allegory for the congressional investigations of Communism then in process. He is also the author of “A View From the Bridge,” “The Price,” “After the Fall,” “Incident at Vichy,” “The American Clock,” “Danger: Memory,” “The Ride Down Mt. Morgan” and “Broken Glass.”

Arthur Miller took an active part in the production of this recording, which features Lee J. Cobb, Mildred Dunnock, Michael Tolan, Gene Williams and Dustin Hoffman. Listen to an excerpt courtesy of Harper Audio.