Arthur Miller Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist, and a major figure in the twentieth-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are "All My Sons" (1947), "Death of a Salesman" (1949), "The Crucible" (1953) and "A View from the Bridge" (1955, revised 1956). He wrote several screenplays and was most noted for his work on "The Misfits" (1961). The drama "Death of a Salesman" has been numbered on the short list of finest American plays in the 20th century alongside Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night" and Tennessee Williams's
Death of a Salesman because “One thing about the play that is very Chinese is the way Willy tries to make his sons successful." The Chinese father always wants his sons to be ‘dragons.’ The original Broadway production was produced by Kermit Bloomgarden and Walter Fried. The play opened at the Morosco Theatre on February 10, 1949, closing on November 18, 1950, after 742 performances. The play starred Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman, Mildred Dunnock as Linda, Arthur Kennedy as Biff, Howard Smith as Charley and Cameron Mitchell as Happy. Albert Dekker and Gene Lockhart later played Willy Loman during the original Broadway