Arthur Miller (File Photo)

Arthur Miller, the American playwright whose works included "Death of a Salesman," "All My Sons" and "The Crucible", has died aged 89. Considered by many as one of the most significant American writers of the 20th century, Miller also became celebrated for his 1956 marriage to Marilyn Monroe, hailed by tabloids as a classic meeting of beauty and brains.

Playwright Arthur Miller and his then wife actress Marilyn Monroe in London in 1956. (AFP)

Miller, died Thursday night of congestive heart failure at his home in Roxbury, Conn., surrounded by his family, his assistant, Julia Bolus, said Friday.

Miller's plays became some of the most read and performed in the world. His plays often involved families coping with ethical and moral dilemmas. In his most famous work, 1949's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Death of a Salesman" -- written in six weeks -- it was the question of loyalty and sacrifice, success and failure, both in business and among blood relations.

Miller's marriage to film star Marilyn Monroe in 1956, following his divorce from his first wife, Mary Slattery, gave the playwright a celebrity he tried to avoid.

The marriage, which ended in divorce, did provide material for two of his plays: "After the Fall" (1964), the story of a tempestuous singer not unlike Monroe; and his last major work, "Finishing the Picture," produced last year at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. A rueful, yet generous play, it dealt with the misbehavior of a film star on a movie set, similar to "The Misfits," which Miller wrote and which starred Monroe.

In 1962, he married his third wife, photographer Inge Morath. That same year, Monroe committed suicide.

 
Editor: Catherine