Arthur Miller Passes Away at 89

By: Feb. 11, 2005
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Arthur Miller, the lengendary playwright whose works include such classics as Death of a Salesman, After the Fall, The Crucible, The Man Who Had All the Luck, The Price, All My Songs, A View From the Bridge, and many other plays passed away at age 89 on Thursday, February 10, 2005 in his Connecticut home.

The New York Post first reported this morning that Miller was in ailing health, and had been asked to be taken from hospice care in his apartment up to his beloved 18th century farmhouse in Connecticut where he was surrounded by family on friends. On the subject of her brother's condition, his sister told the Post "Arthur has been able to take a lot of punishment in his life. Things didn't always go his way. But he always rose above it. He may not this time." The official cause of death has been reported as congestive heart failure.

Arthur Miller was born in New York in 1917, with his first Broadway plays including The Man Who Had All the Luck, and All My Sons. What truly established his place as a legend was the 1949 hit Death of a Salesman which won the Tony, Pulitzer Prize, and Drama Critics Circle Award. His next Broadway hit, and Tony Award was for The Crucible in 1953 which used the Salem Witch Trials as a setting to reflect the practices of the McCarthy hearings.

His complete Broadway credits include The Man Who Had All the Luck, All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, An Enemy of the People, The Crucible, A View From the Bridge, After the Fall, Incident at Vichy, The Price, The Creation of the World and Other Business, A Memory of Two Mondays, The American Clock, and Broken Glass. Many of these shows have enjoyed multiple revivals on the Great White Way, and for complete dates on these, click here to visit the Internet Broadway Database entry on Arthur Miller.

A 1956 marriage to Marilyn Monroe, who is still said to be the love of his life was short lived, and is credited as the inspiration for After the Fall. Monroe was his second wife, his first was Mary Grace Slattery. After divorcing Marilyn Monroe in 1961, he married Inge Morath, a relationship that lasted 40 years until her death in 2002.

In addition to his stage work, his 1980 Playing for Time TV special won four Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Writing, and Outstanding Drama Special. He also wrote multiple novels, including Situation Normal, Focus, In Russia, Chinese Encounters, Salesman in Beijing and his 1987 autobiography Timebends: A Life.

By his side were said to be his sister, actress Joan Copeland, daughter and actress Rebecca, his grandchildren, and 34-year old girlfriend, painter Agnes Barley.




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