ARTHUR MILLER
PLAYWRIGHT

A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY OF
ARTHUR MILLER'S LIFE AND WORKS

This chronology has been compiled and crosschecked by both the Arthur Miller Society and TheCrucibleOnBroadway.com staff against a number of sources, acknowledgement should be made to The Theater Essays of Arthur Miller, eds. Robert A. Martin and Steven R. Centola. [buy the BOOK]]

 

1915 
  • Arthur Asher Miller was born on October 17th in New York City.
1920-28 
  • Attends Public School #24 in Harlem
1923 
  • Sees first play--a melodrama at the Schubert Theater.
1928 
  • Bar-mitzvah at the Avenue M temple.
1929 
  • Father's business fails and family move to Brooklyn.
1932 
  • Graduates from Abraham Lincoln High School.
  • Registers for night school at City College, but quits after two weeks.
1932 
  • Various jobs, including singing on a local radio station and truck driving.
1932-34 
  • Clerked in an auto-parts warehouse, where he was the only Jew employed and had his first real, personal experiences of American anti-semitism.
1934-35 
  • University of Michigan, studying journalism.
  • Reporter and night editor on student paper, The Michigan Daily.
1936 
  • Writes No Villain in six days and receives Hopwood Award in Drama.
  • Transfers to an English major.
1937 
  • Takes playwrighting class with Professor Kenneth T. Rowe.
  • Rewrite of No Villain, titled, They Too Arise, receives a major award from the Bureau of New Plays and is produced in Ann Arbor and Detroit.
  • Honors at Dawn receives Hopwood Award in Drama.
  • Drives Ralph Neaphus East to join the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain during their Civil War, and decides not to go with him.
1938 
  • The Great Disobedience receives second place in the Hopwood contest.
  • They Too Arise is revised and titled The Grass Still Grows for anticipated production in New York City.
  • Graduates with a B.A. in English.
  • Joins the Federal Theater Project in New York City to write radio plays and scripts, having turned down a much better paying offer to work as a scriptwriter for Twentieth Century Fox, in Hollywood.
1939 
  • Writes Listen My Children, with Norman Rosten.
1940 
  • Marries Mary Grace Slattery.
  • Writes The Golden Years.
  • Meets Clifford Odets in a second-hand bookstore.
  • Travels to North Carolina to collect dialect speech for the folk division of the Library of Congress.
1941 
  • Takes extra job working as a shipfitter's helper at the Brooklyn Naval Yard.
  • Writes The Pussycat and the Plumber Who Was a Man, a radio play for Columbia Workshop (CBS), and other radio plays William Ireland's Confession, Joel Chandler Harris, Captain Paul.
1942 
  • Writes radio plays The Battle of the Ovens, Thunder from the Mountains, I Was Married in Bataan, Toward a Farther Star, The Eagle's Nest, and The Four Freedoms.
1943 
  • Writes The Half-Bridge
  • One-act, That They May Win, produced in New York City.
  • Writes Listen for the Sound of Wings (radio play).
1944 
  • Daughter, Jane, is born.
  • Writes radio plays Bernadine, I Love You, Grandpa and the Statue, and The Phillipines Never Surrendered.
  • Adapts Ferenc Molnar's The Guardsman and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice for the radio.
  • Having toured army camps to research for The Story of G.I. Joe (a film for which he wrote the initial draft screenplay, but later withdrew from project when he saw they would not let him write it his way), he publishes book about experience, Situation Normal.
  • The Man Who Had All The Luck premiers on Broadway on November 23 but closes after six performances, though receives the Theater Guild National Award.
1945 
  • Focus (novel) published. [buy the BOOK]
  • Writes Listen for the Sound of Wings (radio play).
  • Writes Should Ezra Pound Be Shot? for New Masses (article).
1946 
  • Adapts George Abbott's and John C. Holm's Three Men on a Horse for radio.
1947 
  • All My Sons premiers and receives the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, and the Donaldson Award.
  • Son, Robert, is born.
  • Writes The Story of Gus (radio play).
  • Writes "Subsidized Theatre" for The New York Times (article).
  • Goes to work for a short time in an inner city factory assembling beer boxes for minimum wage to stay in touch with his audience.
  • Gives first interview to John K. Hutchens, for The New York Times.
  • Explores the Red Hook area and tries to get into the world of the longshoremen there, and find out about Pete Panto, whose story would form the nucleus of his screenplay The Hook.
1948 
  • Built himself the small Connecticut studio in which he wrote Death of a Salesman.
  • Trip to Europe with Vinny Longhi where got sense of the Italian background he would use for the Carbones and their relatives, also met some Jewish deathcamp survivors held captive in a post-war tangle of bureaucracy.
1949 
  • Death of a Salesman premiers and receives the Pulitzer Prize, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the Antoinette Perry Award, the Donaldson Award, and the Theater Club Award, among others. [buy the BOOK]
  • New York Times publishes "Tragedy and the Common Man" (essay).
  • Attends the pro-Soviet Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel to chair an arts panel with Odets and Dmitri Shostakovich.
1950 
  • Meets Marilyn Monroe for the first time.
  • Adaption of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People premiers. [buy the BOOK]
  • The Hook fails to reach production due to pressure from HUAC.
  • First sound recording of Death of a Salesman.
1951 
  • Yiddish production of Death of a Salesman, translated by Joseph Buloff.
  • First film production of Death of a Salesman, with Frederic March, for Columbia Pictures.
  • Inge Morath comes to America.
1951-52 
  • US Tour of Death of a Salesman.
1952 
  • Visits the Historical Society "Witch Museum" in Salem, to research for The Crucible.
1953 
  • The Crucible premiers and receives the Antoinette Perry Award, and the Donaldson Award.  [buy the BOOK]
  • Tried his hand at directing, a production of All My Sons for the Arden, Delaware, summer theatre.
  • Asked to attend the Belgian premier of The Crucible, but unable to attend as denied passport by the US.
1954 
  • First radio production of Death of a Salesman, on NBC.
1955 
  • The one-act A View From the Bridge premiers in a joint bill with A Memory of Two Mondays.
  • HUAC pressured city officials to withdraw permission for Miller to make a film he'd been planning about New York juvenile delinquency.
1956 
  • Lives in Nevada for six weeks in order to divorce Mary Slattery and gets the material for The Misfits.
  • Marries Marilyn Monroe.
  • Subpoenaed to appear before HUAC.
  • Receives honorary Doctor of Human Letters (L.H.D.) from the University of Michigan.
  • Goes to England with Monroe and meets Laurence Olivier.
  • Revises A View From the Bridge into two acts for Peter Brook to produce in London, England.  [buy the BOOK]
1957 
  • Arthur Miller's Collected Plays published. [buy the BOOK]
  • Convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to name names to the House Un-American Activities Committee.
  • Short story The Misfits is published in Esquire. [buy the BOOK]
  • First television production of Death of a Salesman, on ITA, England.
  • French film version of The Crucible premiers. [buy the VHS]
1958 
  • United States Court of Appeals overturns his contempt conviction.
  • Elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
1959 
  • Receives the Gold Medal for Drama from the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
1961 
  • Divorces Marilyn Monroe.
  • Misfits (film) premiers. [buy the BOOK]
  • Recorded The Crucible: An Opera in Four Acts by Robert Ward and Bernard Stambler.
  • Sidney Lumet directs a movie version of View From a Bridge.
  • Mother, Augusta Miller dies.
1962 
  • Marries Inge Morath.
  • Marilyn Monroe dies.
1963 
  • Daughter, Rebecca, is born.
  • Jane's Blanket (children's book) published. [buy the BOOK]
1964 
  • After visiting the Mauthausen death camp with Inge, covered the Nazi trials in Frankfurt, Germany for the New York Herald Tribune.
  • After the Fall premiers. [buy the BOOK]
  • Incident at Vichy premier. [buy the BOOK]
1965 
  • Elected president of International P.E.N., the international literary organization, and went to Yugoslavian conference. U
  • lu Grosbard's Off-Broadway production of A View from the Bridge.
1966 
  • First sound recording of A View From the Bridge.
  • Television adaptation of Death of a Salesman starring Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock recreating their original Broadway roles. [buy the VHS]
  • Television production of An Enemy of the People airs on PBS.  [buy the VHS]
  • Father, Isidore Miller dies.
1967 
  • I Don't Need You Anymore (short stories) published.
  • Sound recording of Incident at Vichy.
  • Television production of The Crucible, on CBS.
  • Visited Moscow to persuade Soviet writers to join P.E.N.
1968 
  • The Price premiers. [buy the BOOK]
  • Attends the Democratic National Convention in Chicago as the delegate from Roxbury.
  • Sound recording of After the Fall.
1969 
  • In Russia published (reportage with photographs by Inge Morath). [buy the BOOK]
  • Visited Czechoslovakia to show support for writers there and briefly met V�clav Havel. Retired as President of P.E.N.
1970 
  • One acts Fame and The Reason Why produced.
  • Miller's works are banned in the Soviet Union as a result of his work to free dissident writers.
1971 
  • Sound recording of An Enemy of the People.
  • Television production of A Memory of Two Mondays, on PBS [buy the VHS]
  • Television production of The Price, on NBC. [buy the BOOK]
  • The Portable Arthur Miller is published. [buy the BOOK]
1972 
  • The Creation of the World and Other Business premiers. [buy the BOOK]
  • Attends the Democratic National Convention in Miami as a delegate.
  • First sound recording of The Crucible.
1973 
  • Television production of Incident at Vichy, on PBS. [buy the VHS]
1974 
  • Up From Paradise (musical version of The Creation of the World and Other Business) premiers at the University of Michigan. [buy the BOOK]
  • Television production of After the Fall, on NBC.
1977 
  • In the Country published (reportage with Inge Morath).  [buy the BOOK]
  • Miller petitions the Czech government to halt arrests of dissident writers.
  • The Archbishop's Ceiling premiers in Washington, D.C. [buy the BOOK]
1978 
  • The Theater Essays of Arthur Miller, edited by Robert A. Martin published. [buy the BOOK]
  • Fame (film) appears on NBC.
  • Belgian National Theatre does 25th anniversary production of The Crucible, and this time Miller can attend.
1979 
  • Chinese Encounters published (reportage with Inge Morath). [buy the BOOK]
1980 
  • Playing for Time (film) appears on CBS. [buy the BOOK]
  • The American Clock premiers at the Spoleto Festival in South Carolina, then opens later in New York City. [buy the BOOK]
  • TV film Arthur Miller on Home Ground shown on PBS.
1981 
  • The second volume of Arthur Miller's Collected Plays published. [buy the BOOK]
1982 
  • One acts Elegy for a Lady [buy the BOOK] and Some Kind of Love Story [buy the BOOK] are produced under the title 2 by A.M. in Connecticut.
1983 
  • Directs Death of a Salesman at the People's Art Theater in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.
1984 
  • Death of a Salesman in Beijing is published. [buy the BOOK]
  • Elegy and Some Kind are published under the new title Two-Way Mirror. [buy the BOOK]
  • Miller receives Kennedy Center Honors for his lifetime achievement.
1985 
  • Death of a Salesman with Dustin Hoffman airs on CBS to an audience of 25 million. [buy the VHS]
  • Miller goes to Turkey with Harold Pinter for International PEN.
  • A delegate at a meeting of Soviet and American writers in Vilnius, Lithuania, where tried to persuade the Soviets to stop persecuting writers.
1986 
  • I Think About You a Great Deal is published (monologue).
  • One of fifteen writers and scientists invited to the Soviet Union to conference with Mikhail Gorbachov and discuss Soviet policies.
  • British production of The Archbishop's Ceiling, with a restored script.
1987 
  • One acts I Can't Remember Anything and Clara are produced under the title Danger: Memory! [buy the BOOK]
  • Publishes Timebends: A Life (autobiography), which appeared as a Book-of the-Month Club popular selection. [Buy the BOOK]
  • University of East Anglia names its centre for American studies, the Arthur Miller Centre.
  • The Golden Years is premiered on BBC Radio.
  • Television production of All My Sons, on PBS. [buy the BOOK]
1990 
  • Everybody Wins, [buy the BOOK] a film based on Some Kind, [buy the BOOK] is released.
  • Television production of An Enemy of the People, on PBS. [buy the VHS]
1991 
  • The one-act The Last Yankee is produced. [buy the BOOK]
  • The Ride Down Mt. Morgan is premiered in London, England. [buy the BOOK]
  • Receives Mellon Bank Award for lifetime achievement in the humanities.
  • Television production of Clara, and an interview on A&E. South Bank Show television special on Miller.
1992 
  • Homely Girl is published (novella). [buy the BOOK]
1993 
  • Expanded version of The Last Yankee premiers. [buy the BOOK]
  • Television production of The American Clock, on TNT. [buy the BOOK]
1994 
  • Broken Glass premiers. [buy the BOOK]
  • Interviewed on The Charley Rose Show, PBS.
1995 
  • Receives William Inge Festival Award for distinguished achievement in American theater.
  • Tributes to the playwright on the occasion of his eightieth birthday are held in England and America.
  • Homely Girl, A Life and Other Stories is published (novella and short stories). [buy the BOOK]
1996 
  • Receives the Edward Albee Last Frontier Playwright Award.
  • Revised and expanded book of Theater Essays, edited by Steven R. Centola is published. [buy the BOOK]
1997 
  • Revised version of The Ride Down Mt. Morgan is given its American Premier in Williamstown, MA.  [buy the BOOK]
  • The Crucible (film with Daniel Day Lewis) opens. [buy the VHS]
  • BBC television production of Broken Glass. [buy the BOOK]
1998 
  • Mr. Peter's Connections premiers. [buy the BOOK]
  • Major revival of A View From the Bridge wins two Tony Awards. [buy the BOOK]
  • Is named as the Distinguished Inaugural Senior Fellow of the American Academy in Berlin.
  • Revised version of The Ride Down Mt. Morgan appears on Broadway. [buy the BOOK]
1999 
  • Death of a Salesman revived on Broadway for the play's 50th anniversary, and wins Tony for Best Revival of a Play.
2000 
  • The Ride Down Mount Morgan appears again on Broadway. [buy the BOOK]
  • A revival of The Price opens on Broadway. [buy the BOOK]
  • There are major 85th birthday celebrations for Miller held at University of Michigan and at the Arthur Miller Center at UEA, England.
  • Echoes Down the Corridor is published (collected essays from 1944-2000). [buy the BOOK]
2001 
  • Untitled, a previously unpublished one act written for Vaclav Havel appears in New York.
  • Williamstown Theater Festival revives The Man Who Had All the Luck.
  • Focus a film based on the book is released. [buy the DVD | VHS | BOOK]
  • Miller is awarded a NEH Fellowship and the John H. Finley Award for Exemplary Service to New York City.
  • On Politics and the Art of Acting is published (essay). [buy the BOOK]
2002 
  • The Roundabout Theater Company revives The Man Who Had All the Luck.
  • The Crucible opens on Broadway. [buy tickets]
   
  Suggested Further Reading:
  Arthur Miller's Life and Literature by Stefani Koorey [buy the BOOK]
  Visit our shop for more information on plays, videos, books and souvenirs.
  Internet Movie Database on Arthur Miller
  The Internet Broadway Database on Arthur Miller

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