R.I.P. Arthur Miller

A long obituary in The New York Times – it looks back over Miller’s extraordinary career. His later plays are, indeed, didactic (he always had a bit of the autodidact about him) – and the plays at the end of his life were much more issue-oriented, rather than character-oriented. Every playwright has a progression. Tennessee Williams, while he has an enormous body of work, spanning decades, will primarily be known for the plays he wrote in the 1940s and 1950s – when he reached his peak. Miller reached the pinnacle of his creative energies at the same time.

I’m pretty broken up about this. In a way, my own interest in acting, in theatre, in being an actress, can be traced back to my first encounters with reading Arthur Miller’s plays. It’s very personal, I guess. Who he is for me. He’s one of THOSE people. His life, his work, really means something to me. And it always will, I suppose. I guess I just need to grieve the passing of this man.

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4 Responses to R.I.P. Arthur Miller

  1. peteb says:

    Sheila. Just thought I’d mention that I’m watching the national 7pm News here and they’ve lead with the announcement of the death of Arthur Miller – iconic and a titan of American literature are just a couple of the references they, rightly, used.

  2. mike says:

    He is a neighbor and recently did an introduction to the Misfits at a local theater as a benefit for the women and children of Afghanistan. I couldn’t make it but will see if tapes or DVD’s are available.I’m sure many who read your site would be interested as much as I am. He will be missed around here as well although lately he has been much less active.

  3. Alex says:

    It feels like a piece of theatre has fallen away. I feel him like I feel Tony Kushner. It goes somewhere spiritual. Very sad.

  4. Mr. Lion says:

    A shame, indeed, but he lived to see 90, and almost all of it doing what he loved.

    We should all be so lucky.

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