Arthur Miller - RIP

BrianH

BrianH

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Legendary playwright Arthur Miller has died at his home in Connecticut at the age of 89. Among his grerat works are "Death Of a Salesman", "The Crucible", "All My Sons" and "View from A Bridge".

He'll probably be best remembered in some quarters as Marilyn Monroe's husband - their marriage lasted for five years and he later wrote "After The Fall" which drew a lot on their relationship.

Miller was a brave man - he stood up to the McCarthy House Un-American Activities Commission in 1956. While others protected themselves by giving in to the witch-hunters, Miller refused to give the names of any friends who were or had been communists.

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Arthur Miller - RIP
 
Very sad news - undoubtedly one of the great playwrights of the 20th century and a very fine and brave man .
 
Sad news.The Crucible in particular was a great piece of writing.The Monroe comment is sad but true and also applies to Dimaggio (more so over here).Just goes to show the hello/ok culture isn`t that new.
 
Brilliant mind, still vibrant to the end, and no-one should underestimate the pressure on creative artists in the 1950s to buckle under McCarthyism. Hmm... is it likely to crawl out of the woodwork again, or is it actually alive and well in America's New Christian Order, but working underhand rather than out in the open?
 
They don't have communism to worry about any more, krizon, and the current bogeymen don't have fellow travellers.

Though I think that you can be arrested in some states for drinking French wine...
 
Any excuse for Blossom Hill !

I saw The Crucible again last year at no less a place than the Crucible in Sheffield . It is timeless it has as much to say about Bush Blair and Blunkettism as McCarthyism
 
No, Brian, they have Islam in lieu of communism as an ant up their backsides. That's the great new Threat to Life as We Know It, according to the rulers of the, er, Free World. Thinks: isn't that a dichotomy? Rulers? Free? :brows:
 
Well they don't seem the obvious people to have a relationship, I appreciate that this a very shallow view but I can't get my head around the attractions involved.

Probably me, Brian.

Colin
 
I think that I've mentioned this before, ages ago, but I have a client who met Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe together.

My client is a great old boy. Went to Fettes (spelling?) so he's posh and he also argues with me about Bush when we go to lunch. I just do his tax return but this seems to involve going to lunch at least twice a year. At least he pays.

Anyhow, I think that his uncle was gay and lived with another man and they knew a guy called Rattigan who seems to be the connection here. These lunches are good fun so I forget the precise facts to be honest. My client and his brother called his uncle's home 'Bugger Hall' which wasn't a joke cracked with any malice, but i think that it was a substantial property. I think that's where he met Miller and Monroe. My client being a bit of a boy seemed to fancy his chances with Monroe, as he considered Miller to be an ugly git.

Anyhow, he found Miller to be not quite as ugly as he thought and a very smart guy too. So he was blown out! Monroe was described as "short and dumpy' or something like that, and "very American".

Well that's my Arthur Miller story, such as it is.
 
Terence Rattigan ? gay playwright Rather a lot of faded 50s plays like Separate Tables yawn .

As for Fettes our glorious leader Tony went there too .
 
:lol: :lol: Does he claim this as expences on his tax returns Terry....... :o
quote...I just do his tax return but this seems to involve going to lunch at least twice a year. At least he pays.
 
My accountant ought to pay for a few lunches judging by the bill in my post for today :angry:
 
Yes I think that it was Terence Rattigan although I wouldn't be 100% sure. There might be a Fred Rattigan for all I know! I wouldn't be an expert on 1950's writers.

I think that Rattigan was a mutual friend although it annoys me that I don't remember these things precisely.
 
And yes 'Our Tone' has also been mentioned in conversations.

Not particularly well loved at Fettes as I recall.

But then again that might have been Fred Blair.
 
The vulgar view might be 'great brain, great body', but I think Miller represented a great deal more than that to Monroe. She was, by all written accounts, a very insecure person who'd be forced into an unwanted sexual relationship (for that read rape, except no prosecution ensued) at a very young age, and was probably in search of a protective, secure figure. She had a very good brain, too, it would appear, and was certainly far from a dumb blonde. The same is said of poor Jayne Mansfield, too, who became a caricature of what was already a caricature of beautiful women before her tragic decline and cruel end. At least we can see her daughter, Mariska Hartigay, acting, and not apparently caught in her mother's trap. So sad that Marilyn never managed to carry a baby to term - that might have made a big difference to her longevity and happiness.
 
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