In the mid 1950's most people, in this country at any rate, knew Arthur Miller only as the US playwright who married Marilyn Monroe. By the time he died in February he was the internationally acclaimed giant of 20th century drama - a writer and thinker of 'uncompromising morality who debunked the American Dream and stood up to the US right wing political establishment throughout his long life.
The body of work left by Miller encompasses 20 plays and 50 other works including a novel Focus and a noholds-barred autobiography Timebends.
But he is best known for revolutionising threatre in the US and Britain with his eloquent portrayal of working class families and communities torn apart by social and economic injustice.
The child of successful Polish-Jewish immigrants his comfortable life in Brooklyn, New York, was turned upside down when his father was ruined in the Great Depression.
It was an experience that informed much of his writing, not least Death of A Salesman his most famous play that won him a Pulitzer Prize at the age of 33.
In Salesman tragic Willy Loman destroys his family and himself in pursuit of the American ideal of becoming successful, self-made, and 'well-liked'.
Miller's earlier play All My Sons also made an impact - a post-war family tale of corrupt profiteering at home that led to the death of US pilots abroad.
And his 1955 play A View from the Bridge looks at hardship and betrayal among migrant workers on the waterfront, drawing on his wartime experience as a fitter in Brooklyn navy yard.
Miller became a leading figure in the left-wing theatre world of the 40s and 50s.
In the paranoia of the McCarthy era he was targeted along with many other artists and intellectuals accused of communist sympathies.
But unlike those who caved in under immense pressure of the House of UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) and agreed to name names for fear of losing their liberty or livelihoods, Miller defied the witch-hunters.
He retaliated in 1953 with The Crucible a play about the brutal Salem witch-trials of the 17th century - whose parallels with the present
Miller defied the
witch-hunters. He retaliated in 1953
with The Crucible a play about the brutal Salem witch-trials of
the 17th century -whose parallels with
the present
persecutions were
clear to all. persecutions were clear to all.
In 1956, after he refused to testify before the HUAC, he was convicted of contempt of Congress and had his passport confiscated. Even in the wilderness years that followed, when his marriage to Marilyn Monroe also broke up, he remained steadfast in his views.
He founded the writers' civil liberties organisation International PEN. He was also a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War, leading a delegation of US public figures to Paris in 1968 with a proposal to stop the war.
In 2000 he visited Cuba and with eight other US cultural personages stood up publicly for Cuba's right to self-determination.
I myself owe Arthur Miller a great debt. A chance visit years ago to Death of a Salesman - performed in a chilly church hall in deepest Salford - left a lasting imprint on my life and values.
I look forward to the new US production of the play due to open in May in the rather more auspicious setting of London's West End.