50 Fun Facts About Death of a Salesman

Who wrote Death of a Salesman?

It premiered on Broadway on 10 February 1949 and ran for 742 performances.

What is the name of the play's protagonist, the travelling salesman?

He is 63, insecure and self-deluded, and the product he sells is never disclosed.

In which New York borough is the play set?

The Loman home sits amid a typical row of urban apartment buildings in the late 1940s.

What is the play's subtitle?

'The Inside of His Head' was Miller's early working title concept, not the published subtitle.

How many performances did the original Broadway production run for?

It opened on 10 February 1949 and closed on 18 November 1950.

Which two major honours did the work win in 1949?

It also took the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play.

Whose chance encounter with the playwright in a theatre lobby in 1947 sparked the play?

The uncle, a salesman, greeted Miller only with 'Buddy is doing very well', and died by suicide soon after.

Miller said he himself was the model for which character?

He recalled feeling 'gangling and unhandsome' when visiting his salesman uncle as a youth.

Willy returns home exhausted at the start of the play after a failed business trip to which city?

His wife Linda, worried after a recent near-fatal car accident, urges him to ask for a job in town.

How old is Biff Loman during the play?

He has drifted around the West working odd jobs since failing maths in high school.

Which subject did Biff fail in high school, costing him his university football scholarships?

He was meant to make it up at summer school but gave up after what he saw in Boston.

What is the name of Willy's boss, who fires him?

He tells Willy he needs a long rest and can no longer represent the Wagner Company.

For how many years has Willy worked for the Wagner Company when he is fired?

Howard ignores that loyalty entirely and dismisses him.

Biff waits hours to see a former employer who does not remember him. What is the man's name?

Turned down, the devastated Biff impulsively steals a fountain pen.

What object does Biff impulsively steal from the office of the former employer who snubbed him?

His character description says he steals because he wants evidence of success, even false evidence.

Charley's son, once dismissed by Willy as 'anemic', has become a lawyer about to argue a case where?

He is also happily married with two children, exactly the successes Willy wanted for his own sons.

What kind of job does Charley repeatedly offer Willy, which Willy always refuses?

Charley still lends him money to pay his life-insurance premium.

Complete Willy's remark to Charley: a man is 'worth more...'

The line foreshadows his plan to leave Biff the insurance money.

At which restaurant do Willy, Biff and Happy meet for dinner?

The boys abandon Willy there and leave with two women, Miss Forsythe and Letta.

What was Biff hoping his father would do when he travelled to see him as a teenager?

Instead he walked in on his father's affair.

What is the name of the receptionist with whom Willy is having an affair on the road?

Biff sees her half-dressed in the hotel room and calls his father a liar and a fake.

What is the name of Willy's long-dead wealthy brother who appears in his hallucinations?

In Willy's mind, Ben approves of his plan to die so Biff can have the insurance money.

How does Willy die?

The sound of his car blares up and fades out as Biff and Linda cry out.

Which words does Linda repeat, sobbing, at the end of the funeral scene?

She has just paid off the family's last debts with the insurance payout.

At the funeral, which son decides to follow in his father's footsteps?

Biff, by contrast, resolves to go back West.

Besides the family, who attends Willy's sparsely populated funeral?

Bernard does not speak during the scene.

What is Happy Loman's real first name?

He is a womaniser who takes bribes at work and yearns for approval his parents rarely give.

Who played Willy in the original 1949 Broadway production?

He reprised the role in a 1966 CBS television film alongside Gene Wilder and George Segal.

Who directed the original Broadway production?

He won the Tony for Director; Jo Mielziner won for scenic design.

Which actress played Linda on stage and in the 1951 film, earning an Oscar nomination?

Fredric March and Kevin McCarthy were also nominated for the 1951 film.

Which future Hollywood bombshell played in a 1953 Dallas production, catching Paramount's eye?

Her performance in the play led Paramount to hire her for film.

Who starred as Willy in the 1975 Broadway revival at the Circle in the Square?

It ran for 71 performances.

Which actor played Willy in the 1984 Broadway revival and the 1985 TV film opposite John Malkovich?

The 1984 production won the Tony for Best Revival.

Brian Dennehy's Tony-winning Willy in the 1999 revival ran for how many performances?

The production also won Tonys for Elizabeth Franz and director Robert Falls, and was filmed.

Who played Willy in the 2012 Broadway revival directed by Mike Nichols?

Andrew Garfield played Biff and Linda Emond played Linda.

Wendell Pierce and Sharon D. Clarke led the 2022 Broadway revival after playing the Lomans where?

Their production ran at the Piccadilly Theatre from October 2019 to January 2020.

Which British actor won an Olivier as Willy Loman at the National Theatre in 1979?

He reprised the role in a 1996 television film.

Who played Willy in the first Royal Shakespeare Company production in 2015?

Harriet Walter was Linda; the production marked Miller's centenary.

Who won the Golden Globe for Best Director for the 1951 film adaptation?

Fredric March played Willy and was Oscar-nominated.

Miller directed the play himself in 1983 in which city, later writing a book about the experience?

Salesman in Beijing includes photographs by his wife Inge Morath.

Miller compared the salesman's story to what classical form?

He wanted to show the common man and those with status had much in common.

Asghar Farhadi's Oscar-winning 2016 film The Salesman comes from which country?

The play acts as a counterpoint to the main plot.

Roughly how many copies had the play sold by 1999, when John Lahr called it the most successful modern play published?

It has been adapted for the cinema ten times.

Which 2022 play by Eleanor Burgess imagines Linda Loman confronting Willy's mistress?

It premiered at the Writers Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois.

Which sitcom star of the 1960s appeared in the 1966 CBS television version alongside Lee J. Cobb?

George Segal and James Farentino were also in the cast.

Willy's product is never disclosed. How old is he?

His age and deteriorating mind make him appear childlike at times.

Which character is the first to realise that Willy is contemplating suicide?

She supports him even though he treats her poorly.

Where does Biff say he feels happy and wants to return to work as a farmhand?

He wavers between that and trying to fulfil Willy's dream of him as a businessman.

Where on Broadway did Death of a Salesman open in February 1949?

The production was produced by Kermit Bloomgarden and Walter Fried and closed in November 1950 after 742 performances.

Who played Biff in the original 1949 Broadway production, winning a Tony for the role?

Kennedy took the Tony for Best Supporting or Featured Actor; Cameron Mitchell played Happy and Howard Smith played Charley.