Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), and A View from the Bridge (one-act, 1955; revised two-act, 1956).
Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, a period during which he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Prince of Asturias Award, and was married to Marilyn Monroe.
Arthur Asher Miller was born on October 17, 1915, in Harlem, New York City, the second of three children of Isidore and Augusta Miller, Polish-Jewish immigrants. His father owned a women's clothing manufacturing business employing some 400 people. He became a wealthy and respected man in the community. (BBC TV Interview; Miller and Yentob; 'Finishing the Picture,' 2004) The family, including his younger sister Joan, lived on East 110th Street in Manhattan and owned a summer house in Far Rockaway, Queens. They employed a chauffeur. In the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the family lost almost everything and moved to Gravesend, Brooklyn. As a teenager, Miller delivered bread every morning before school to help the family. After graduating in 1932 from Abraham Lincoln High School, he worked at several menial jobs to pay for his college tuition.
Reverend Clifford La Cour: I've been told I'm a dead ringer for Jeremy Irons.
Sal Getty: My little kumquat, are you ready?
Montgomery Clift: Someone once said if you want a place in the sun you may get a few blisters.
Berlyn Ferlinghetti: [referring to Joan Crawford] When she came to Hollywood, Joan was determined to improve herself and she hired tutors from UCLA to come to the studio to instruct her in English and French.::Orson Welles: Who was she going to speak it to, Claudette Colbert?
Berlyn Ferlinghetti: [referring to Joan Crawford] Joan kept her figure by eating a pickle for dessert.::Janis Joplin: I dig the Fried Pickles at Barney's Beanery.
Plot
Sir Laurence Olivier is making a movie in London. Young Colin Clark, an eager film student, wants to be involved and he navigates himself a job on the set. When film star Marilyn Monroe arrives for the start of shooting, all of London is excited to see the blonde bombshell, while Olivier is struggling to meet her many demands and acting ineptness, and Colin is intrigued by her. Colin's intrigue is met when Marilyn invites him into her inner world where she struggles with her fame, her beauty and her desire to be a great actress.
Keywords: 1950s, actress, assistant-director, based-on-memoir, character-name-in-title, college, director-actor-relationship, director-versus-star, dressing-room, drugs
Sir Laurence Olivier: It's like teaching Urdu to a badger.
Arthur Jacobs: Marilyn, is it true you wear nothing in bed but Perfume?::Marilyn Monroe: Darling, as I'm in England let's say I sleep in nothing but Yardley's lavender.
Sir Laurence Olivier: Marilyn, my darling, you are an angel and I kiss the hem of your garment but why can't you get here on time for the love of FUCK?::Marilyn Monroe: Oh, you have that word in England too, ha?
Sir Laurence Olivier: Remember boy, when it comes to women, you're never too old for humiliation.
Colin Clark: It's agony because he's a great actor who wants to be a film star, and you're a film star who wants to be a great actress. This film won't help either of you.
Milton Greene: That's what she does, she breaks hearts. She'll break yours.
Marilyn Monroe: Little girls should be told how pretty they are. They should grow up knowing how much their mother loves them.
Marilyn Monroe: I want this to be the perfect date. I haven't had a real date since I was 13 years old.
Marilyn Monroe: Why do the people I love always leave me?
Marilyn Monroe: All people ever see is Marilyn Monroe. As soon as they realize I'm not her, they run.
Plot
Kimmy, the former child star of the hit TV show "Cubby's World", is now facing life as a completely unremarkable adult. When she gets fired from her job as a waitress (because former child stars are a bad insurance risk), she decides to regain her former glory through the lucrative field of armed robbery. During her crime spree, she meets David, an aspiring writer and "Cubby's World" fan, who takes her under his wing and convinces her to get counseling. With her new-found companions in the former child star therapy group, Kimmy comes to accept that has-beens have their place in the world, too.
Keywords: independent-film
A sitcom is no place to raise a kid.
She had it all when she was eight.
Marilyn Monroe was our fantasy. Norma Jean was her reality.
Marilyn Monroe: Oh, no, Johnny, you need your rest.::Johnny Hyde: I'll get my rest when I'm dead, which is going to be sooner rather than later. You know that, Marilyn.
Johnny Hyde: How can you be so cold?::Marilyn Monroe: Because you let me.
Marilyn Monroe: Oh, that's what I love about you, Monty. You're the only one I know that's more fucked up than me.
Plot
The story of how Norma Jean, once an orphan in Hollywood California, becomes Marilyn Monroe, the movie star and celebrity. The movie begins with Norma Jean as a child and ends with the mysterious way she dies. Throughout the movie, we see the highlights and lowlights of her career, including the parts of her private life not widely known.
Keywords: actress, agent, based-on-novel, career, character-name-in-title, fame, hollywood, icon, marriage, orphan
Her image was perfection.....her life was a personal hell
Plot
American policeman Mike Brent (John Payne) arrives in Denmark to help clear his sister of a murder rap in which her partner/boyfriend has been killed, and all the evidence leads to her having been the murderer. Mike works with the Danish Police, but becomes embroiled in a counterfeiters' plot in which the boyfriend was a member...
Plot
Danville, Connecticut at the turn of the century. Young Richard Miller lives in a middle-class neighborhood with his family. He is in love with the girl next-door, Muriel, but her father isn't too happy with their puppy-love, since Richard always share his revolutionary ideas with her.
Keywords: based-on-play, puppy-love, remake, small-town, valedictorian
Richard Miller: Mankind was better off when lived in the Dark Ages. When everybody went around naked!::Uncle Sid: Well, maybe so. But today it might interfere with your social life.
Plot
Ballet star Pete "Petrov" Peters arranges to cross the Atlantic aboard the same ship as the dancer he's fallen for but barely knows, musical star Linda Keene. By the time the ocean liner reaches New York, a little white lie has churned through the rumor mill and turned into a hot gossip item: that the two celebrities are secretly married.
Keywords: actress, airplane, astaire-and-rogers, ballerina, ballet, broadway-manhattan-new-york-city, central-park-manhattan-new-york-city, dance, dancer, divorce
Hot Feet !
Foot-free Fred and joyous Ginger...in their gayest, gladdest show!
Oh, what music by George Gershwin!
Liquid lyrics by Ira Gershwin!
Bunches of beauties hand picked in Hollywood!
Cut loose! Relax! Unbend! and clear your throat for cheering!
Linda Keene: What are the grounds for divorce in this state?::Clerk: Marriage.
Peter P. Peters: I told you, I haven't even met her. But I'd kinda like to marry her... I think I will.
Newsboy: [shouting] Petrov and Keene: secret marriage!::Peter P. Peters: We're the only two people in New York who don't think we're married.::Linda Keene: Think? I know we're not.::Peter P. Peters: I'm beginning to have my doubts.
Arthur Miller: What does your watch say?::Jeffrey Baird: It says, "Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick."
Jeffrey Baird: [picks up phone] Hello?::Cecil Flintridge: Oh, hello, Jeffrey. Yes, are you there?::Jeffrey Baird: Of course I'm here.::Cecil Flintridge: Now don't shout at me - I'm in jail.::Jeffrey Baird: Well, that's all right; we don't need you.::Cecil Flintridge: I'm in jail for battery, and I want you to get me out. I'm at the Susquehannah Street Jail . . . Susquehannah! Susquehannah - S-U-S-Q-U-Q! Q! You know, the thing you play billiards with . . . Billiards! B-I-L-L-::Policeman at Jail: What is this, a spelling bee?::Cecil Flintridge: Ahem. No, "L" for larynx. L-A-R-Y . . . N-No, not "M", N! . . . "N" as in neighbor! Neighbor, N-E-I-G-H-B--B! B! Bzzz. Bzzz. You know, the stinging insect! Insect! I-N-S-S! S, for symbol. S-Y . . . Y! Y!::Jeffrey Baird: Well, why? Don't ask me "why."::Cecil Flintridge: Look, Jeffrey. I'm in jail. W-wait a minute. What jail did you say this was?::Policeman at Jail: Susquehannah Street Jail.::Cecil Flintridge: Thank you, indeed. Thank you very much. I'm in the Substi--The Subset-Jeffrey, listen closely . . . Do you know where the Oak Street Jail is? You do? Fine. I'll have them transfer me there in the morning!