Miller was born October 17, 1915, in New York City, the son of a coat manufacturer

Miller's major achievement was Death of a Salesman (1949). It won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for best play of the year and is often cited as one of the finest plays by a contemporary dramatist.

In 1938, while a student at the University of Michigan, he won awards for his comedy The Grass Still Grows.