Miller didn't write Death of a Salesman. He released it. It was there inside him waiting to be turned loose. That's the measure of its merit.
I really enjoy theater. I just went to see 'Death of a Salesman ' and it knocked me on my ass.
There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?
At one point my dad called me and said 'You have always been a great salesman. I think it's time you come home and sell swimming pools.'
My dad was in the army. World War II. He got his college education from the army. After World War II he became an insurance salesman. Really I didn't know my dad very well. He and my mother split up after the war. I was raised by my maternal grandmother and grandfather and by my mother.
You want to try and bring a character to life in an honest a way as you possibly can. It doesn't matter whether he's a doctor an actor a car salesman or a captain of a starship. If you can bring truth and honesty to that character then your audience will believe you.
Now I'm having to live with sales of around 50 000 per album - but I'm pretty content with my place in the general scheme of things even if it's meant I don't drive a fancy car and can't afford grand vacations.
America... just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.
Some people want fame popularity and huge sales. I've always hoped to have a really long career. So I've tried to make each of my creative decisions and business decisions to allow for longevity. As a side effect I got really famous and really big. I didn't realize the two could go together.
The 9-9-9 plan would resuscitate this economy because it replaces the outdated tax code that allows politicians to pick winners and losers and to provide favors in the form of tax breaks special exemptions and loopholes. It simplifies the code dramatically: 9% business flat tax 9% personal flat tax 9% sales tax.