Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller

Author: Krista McArthur
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-03-01
Features: In 1956, Arthur Miller, the most celebrated playwright in America, and Marilyn Monroe, the icon of countless Hollywood boyfriends, tied the knot, beginning a marriage filled with beautiful aspirations. "Hope, hope, hope," Marilyn wrote on their wedding photo. Miller had the words "This is forever" engraved on the wedding ring. The world held its breath, waiting to see what the future held for Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe. Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe met in 1951. Miller felt he had become someone he never wanted to be—a man willing to be seduced. He already had a family, and he had a plan for his next play, starting with the success of Death of a Salesman. Miller had tried to suppress his feelings. "If you are desperately in love with someone you admire, why not choose Abraham Lincoln?" he frankly admitted in a letter: "Most people admire their father, but I never have." Marilyn Monroe confided in Miller about the profound impact of her dreamlike childhood and her vulnerability. He was reluctant to explicitly take on the responsibility of protecting her, and their contact was temporarily severed.