Playwright and social commentator Arthur Miller with his wife, Marilyn Monroe in 1957. Photo / Getty Images
Arthur Miller's 1956 marriage to film star Marilyn Monroe generated as much, if not more, publicity than the famous stage and screen writer's work. Indeed, Arthur Miller commented that 40 years after their divorce he was still being asked about his marriage to Marilyn Monroe.
Soon after their marriage, Marilyn
Monroe risked her own career when she accompanied her new husband when he appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was charged with investigating the communist "threat" in the US. Although Arthur Miller had been assured by the chairman of the committee that he would not be required to name others, the committee reneged on that understanding and found him guilty of contempt of Congress, sentencing him to a prison term, a fine, and blacklisting him.
Fortunately for Miller, he successfully appealed against this sentence in August 1958.
It wasn't until after his play The Crucible opened on Broadway in 1953 that the HUAC took an interest in Miller. After he had talked with his friend, theatre and film director Elia Kazan, about his experiences being interrogated by the committee, Arthur set off to Salem to learn more about the 1692 witch trials. It's not difficult to see the parallels between the tragedy of Salem, fuelled by ignorance and hysteria, and the mid-20th-century suspicion surrounding the "communist threat".
Arthur Miller, successful playwright, was more an astute social commentator than an entertainer, yet he is still remembered by the older generation for his marriage to a famous film star. She was rather pretty.
