Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Arthur Miller was married to Marilyn Monroe. Miller acted a bit too much like Willy and had an affair with her in 1951 while he was still married to another woman. In 1956, Miller and his first wife divorced, and he married Monroe. They were divorced 5 years later in 1961. (Source)
In 1956, Arthur Miller was subpoenaed by HUAC, the House Un-American Activities Committee, amid fierce anti-communist sentiment and was accused of participating in subversive activities (attacking the American Dream was apparently not a good idea). After refusing to name names of other supposedly subversive individuals, Miller was held in contempt of Congress and was blacklisted, fined, and sentenced to a month in prison. Miller appealed and his conviction was overruled the following year. If this kind of thing gets you all excited and tingly, check out The Crucible by Arthur Miller or Shmoop's article on Cold War history: McCarthyism and Red Scare. (Source)