It is incredible that Miller, who examines questions of guilt and morality in his works, hid the existence of his son Daniel, who was born with Down syndrome, for almost 40 years. The famous writer practically cut the child out of his life after putting him in a mental hospital when he was only a week old.
It turns out that a few years before his death, Arthur Miller publicly acknowledged that he had a son, and then decided to include him in his will, giving him an equal share of his inheritance along with his other three sons.
He was born in New York in 1915. He completed his education at the University of Michigan. He is known as one of the greatest playwrights of the twentieth century and produced works in many branches. He won the New York Theater Critics Award twice and the Pulitzer Prize once in 1949.
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), and A View from the Bridge (1955). He wrote several screenplays, including The Misfits (1961). The drama Death of a Salesman is considered one of the best American plays of the 20th century.
In 2001, he received a National Book Foundation medal for distinguished contributions to American literature. Miller, who was awarded the Prince of Austurias of Letters Award in 2002 and the Jerusalem Award in 2003, died in 2005.
Who is Arthur Miller?
Arthur Miller was born in New York in 1915. He had to experience the feeling of insecurity at a young age after his father's bankruptcy.
After completing high school, he started working in a warehouse and studied at the University of Michigan with the money he saved. After working as an editor in newspapers for a while, he settled in New York.
His first work that made his name known was his novel "Focus" in 1945. His first important play, "All My Plays", written in 1947, inspired by Ibsen, won the New York Theater Critics' Award. He also received the Pulitzer Prize for his play "Death of a Salesman".
In 1953, in his play "The Crucible", while dealing with the case of witchcraft in the Middle Ages, he also harshly criticized McCarthyism. Thereupon, he was accused of collaborating with communists by the Anti-American Activities Commission; He was found guilty of breaking the law but was acquitted on appeal.
He wrote the script of the 1962 movie "The Misfits" for the famous movie star Marilyn Monroe, whom he married in 1956 and remained married for four years.
Arthur Miller was considered the chief representative of psychological realism in US theater.
The famous playwright, who reflected his social objections and criticisms in his plays, tried to reveal human contradictions and give the tragedy of a simple man, adding social psychological dimensions to realistic tragedy.
Miller, who had been struggling with heart disease, pneumonia, and cancer for a while, died on February 10, 2005.
The Unforgettable Love of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller
Miller, who married the famous American actress Marilyn Monroe (1956-1961), made a name for himself in newspapers all over the world. He wrote the screenplay for the film The Misfits (1959) for Monroe. His play After the Fall (1964), in which he dealt with his private problems, was staged in the same year, as was his play Incident in Vichy. In this play, he expresses the reactions of random people to being arrested by the Nazis for being 'Jewish'. His television script, Playing for Time (1980), is about the orchestra of the Auschwitz camp, where the Nazis detained Jews. In 1987, he published his memoir, Timebends.