Fredric March of Our Lives". March also branched out into television, winning Emmy nominations for his third attempt at "The Royal Family" for the series "The Best of Broadway" as well as for television performances as Samuel Dodsworth and Ebenezer Scrooge. On March 25, 1954, March co-hosted the 26th Annual Academy Awards ceremony from New York City, with co-host Donald O'Connor in Los Angeles. March's neighbor in Connecticut, playwright Arthur Miller, was thought to favor March to inaugurate the part of Willy Loman in the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Death of a Salesman" (1949). However, March read the play and turned down the role,
Willy Loman rope". Lowry described the production as depicting "the end of a man when his dream world is shattered". Creator Arthur Miller described the role as one for a large character in a small physical body and noted he had difficulty finding the right actor at first. The part was originally written for a physically small man with Willy at one point saying to his wife "I'm short. I'm very foolish to look at." When Cobb was cast, the line was changed to "I'm fat. I'm very foolish to look at," and a reference to Willy being called a "shrimp" was