Arthur Miller Trivia
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57 free Arthur Miller trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
Arthur Miller wrote some of the most performed plays in the English language, and this trivia quiz covers all of them. Death of a Salesman gets the deepest treatment: Willy Loman, the Boston hotel room, the Morosco Theatre premiere, the 742-performance run and the play's unprecedented sweep of the Pulitzer, Tony and Drama Critics' Circle awards. The Crucible, All My Sons, A View from the Bridge, The Price, After the Fall, Incident at Vichy and Broken Glass all appear too, along with the four-performance flop that nearly ended his career. The life questions are just as rich: the Brooklyn boyhood after the 1929 crash, the University of Michigan prizes, the feud with Elia Kazan, the 1956 HUAC hearing and contempt conviction, the marriage to Marilyn Monroe and the screenplay for The Misfits, the long partnership with photographer Inge Morath and the son-in-law who played John Proctor. Difficulty runs from easy to expert. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Miller and his individual works, and each question links to its source. Try our Tennessee Williams and Broadway Musicals quizzes next.
30 of 57 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which Manhattan neighbourhood was Arthur Miller born in 1915?
Harlem
Harlem: his father's thriving clothing business was later wiped out in the Depression.
Q 02Arthur Miller spent his teenage years in which borough, later the home of Willy Loman?
Brooklyn
Brooklyn: before turning to plays, the teenage Miller started out as a singer, crooning pop songs on the radio.
Q 03Where did Miller study, winning the Avery Hopwood Award for his first play, No Villain?
The University of Michigan
The University of Michigan: to afford it, he worked in an auto-parts warehouse after high school.
Q 04What kept Arthur Miller out of military service in World War II?
A football injury
A football injury: turned down for service, he worked at a navy yard during the war and wrote radio plays.
Q 05Which Miller play lasted four Broadway performances in 1944?
The Man Who Had All the Luck
The Man Who Had All the Luck: its fate was the opposite of its title, but his next play, All My Sons, became his first hit.
Q 06Arthur Miller told reporters that Marilyn Monroe would make fewer films to take on what 'full-time job'?
Being his wife
Being his wife: he said she'd make just one film every 18 months or so, yet the marriage lasted only five years.
Q 07In All My Sons, what does Larry's final letter say he meant to do?
Crash his plane on purpose
Crash his plane on purpose: shamed by his father's crime, he wrote he would go missing, and once the letter is read aloud Joe Keller shoots himself.
Q 08Which Henrik Ibsen play did Arthur Miller adapt for Broadway?
An Enemy of the People
An Enemy of the People: its hero, a doctor, warns that his town's new baths are poisoned, and the townspeople turn on him for it.
Q 09What does a night storm break at the start of Arthur Miller's All My Sons?
A memorial tree
A memorial tree: it was planted for the Kellers' son Larry, missing in the war, yet his mother still insists he is coming home.
Q 10In Death of a Salesman, what does teenage Biff catch his father doing on a sales trip?
Seeing another woman
Seeing another woman: finding her in Willy's hotel room shattered Biff's faith, and he gave up on summer school and college.
Q 11In Death of a Salesman, what does Willy Loman hope his death will give Biff?
Insurance money
Insurance money: out of love for his son, Willy drives off to his death so the payout can help Biff start a business.
Q 12Who created the role of Willy Loman in the original Broadway production?
Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb: after first resisting HUAC, he named names before the committee in 1953 to save his career.
Q 13Who won a Tony as Biff in the original Death of a Salesman?
Arthur Kennedy
Arthur Kennedy: yet when Hollywood filmed the play in 1951, Biff went to the actor who had played him in London.
Q 21Which actor starred as Willy Loman in the 1999 Broadway revival marking the play's 50th anniversary?
Brian Dennehy
Brian Dennehy: the ex-Marine had claimed he was wounded in Vietnam, but he later admitted he never served there and apologized.
Q 22In 1983 Miller went abroad to direct Death of a Salesman at the People's Art Theatre in which city?
Beijing
Beijing: he directed a Chinese cast in the American play and kept a daily diary of it, published as Salesman in Beijing.
Q 23Why does John Proctor tear up his confession?
Protect his name
Protect his name: rather than let the paper be posted on the church door, he goes to the gallows.
Q 14In Death of a Salesman, who insists that 'attention must be paid' to Willy?
Linda
Linda: she makes the plea to her sons while knowing that Willy has been trying to kill himself.
Q 15Which relative of Arthur Miller, a salesman who bragged about his own sons, inspired Willy Loman?
His uncle
His uncle: whenever the young Miller visited, Manny Newman hinted that his nephew's whole life would probably come to nothing.
Q 16Death of a Salesman's subtitle ends 'in Two Acts and a' what?
Requiem
Requiem: the closing scene is Willy's funeral, which he pictured packed with admirers, yet only family and a few neighbours come.
Q 17In Death of a Salesman, what is Charley's son Bernard about to do?
Argue before the Supreme Court
Argue before the Supreme Court: Willy once told his sons the studious Bernard's good grades would count for little in business.
Q 18What does Biff Loman steal from Bill Oliver's office?
Fountain pen
Fountain pen: Oliver had just turned down his plea for a business loan, and Biff took the pen on impulse.
Q 19What is the name of the restaurant where Willy, Biff and Happy meet for their disastrous dinner?
Frank's Chop House
Frank's Chop House: before Biff can deliver his bad news there, Willy blurts out that he has been fired.
Q 20Who played Willy Loman in the 1985 television film of Death of a Salesman?
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman: instead of a larger-than-life Willy, he played the small man of Miller's original lines.
Q 24What does Abigail Williams do near the end of Arthur Miller's The Crucible?
Runs off with Parris's savings
Runs off with Parris's savings: she vanishes as unrest against the trials spreads to nearby towns.
Q 25In The Crucible, what does Elizabeth Proctor, who John says never lies, do in court?
Denies the affair
Denies the affair: her lie to shield him wrecks his proof that Abigail is a fraud, and he is soon arrested.
Q 26In The Crucible, what does Reverend Parris discover the girls and his slave Tituba doing in the forest?
Dancing
Dancing: Parris's daughter Betty then falls into a stupor, and rumours of witchcraft sweep the village.
Q 27In The Crucible, what does the court find inside the poppet Mary Warren gave to Elizabeth Proctor?
A needle
A needle: Abigail had accused Elizabeth of stabbing her with one through witchcraft, so the doll gets Elizabeth hauled off to jail.
Q 28In The Crucible, what does Deputy Governor Danforth reveal to John Proctor about Elizabeth in Act Three?
She is pregnant
She is pregnant: Danforth hopes sparing her will make John drop his case, but John pushes on with Mary Warren's testimony.
Q 29Which composer turned The Crucible into an opera in 1961?
Robert Ward
Robert Ward: Miller helped choose him to set the play, which went on to win the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Music.
Q 30Who played John Proctor in the 1996 film of The Crucible, for which Miller wrote the screenplay?
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis: he went on to marry the playwright's daughter, the filmmaker Rebecca Miller.