Arthur Miller the murder, postulating that part of the reason Miller took such an active interest (including supporting Reilly's defense and using his own celebrity to bring attention to Reilly's plight) was because he had felt similarly persecuted in his run-ins with the HUAC. He sympathized with Reilly, whom he firmly believed to be innocent and to have been railroaded by the Connecticut State Police and the Attorney General who had initially prosecuted the case. In 1964 "After the Fall" was produced, and is said to be a deeply personal view of Miller's experiences during his marriage to Monroe. The play reunited
Strawhead casting his 23-year-old, unknown actress daughter in his play, Mailer stated, "She was the best prep-school actress I'd ever seen." To bring publicity to the play and to sell the Vanity Fair magazine, Kate Mailer appeared on the April 1986 Vanity Fair cover as the Marilyn Monroe character in "Strawhead". In October 1987, the New York Times describe Kate Mailer's portrayal of Monroe as teenage punk rocker who is "less identified with her role." After the 1986 performances, the commercial performance of "Strawhead" all but disappeared. In her 2005 book "The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe," author Sarah Churchwell notes