Arthur Miller’s Drama

Arthur Miller: Writer, a new documentary about the award-winning playwright will be released in theaters by HBO this month. The Harlem-born writer was famous for many of the theater world’s most beloved plays, including Death of a Salesman and All My Sons. This portrait of the insanely sharp social commentator and thoughtful artist is built around 25 years of impromptu interviews conducted and filmed by his daughter, filmmaker Rebecca Miller, in and around their family home.

Many subjects are discussed but two tragic moments in his life were probably the most influential to his work: McCarthyism and Marilyn Monroe. During the 40s and 50s, Miller was one of over 300 creatives in Hollywood who was accused of being a communist or a sympathizer and eventually blacklisted from working in the entertainment industry by the House of Un-American Activities. The shameful time in our country’s history inspired Miller to write his most-often produced play, The Crucible, about the Salem Witch Trials and the similarity between the two horrible time periods in American history.

For a brief five years, Miller was also the husband of the most admired woman in the world, Marilyn Monroe. Passionately in love, the unlikely couple survived much turmoil including miscarriages and drug use, eventually breaking up in 1961. Miller wrote After The Fall about their relationship and continued to reminisce about his second wife years after her death in 1962.

Arthur Miller: Writer</span  arrives on December 8th.