'Last of the great titans'
Writers, directors, actors, and others in the arts community yesterday paid tribute to Arthur Miller, praising him for his exploration of 20th-century life and for creating a timeless body of work.
''[He was] the last of the great titans of the American stage. In recent decades he has been more welcome on the London stage than in his native New York. We have felt more comfortable with the uncompromising morality of his world view than his compatriots. America felt rebuked by him. Over here, we relish the ferocity of his arguments with the way things are."
-- Nicholas Hytner, director, Britain's National Theatre
''Arthur Miller continued to examine American values and moral decay with extraordinary structure and riveting dialogue -- right to his last months."
-- Kevin Spacey, actor
''I was lucky enough to know him a little, to observe how lightly he wore his greatness, and to see the mischievous twinkle in his eye. I comfort myself with the thought that although the man has left us, the work is here to stay."
-- Salman Rushdie, author
''It's so rare that you get to work with a legend and he turns out to be as wonderful to work with as his plays are to read. He was incredible. . . . What was unique about him, in addition to the obvious, is he liked young directors to take a crack at his great plays. As a result, there are a host of plays that are directed by artists who weren't even alive when he wrote 'Death of a Salesman.' "
-- Todd Haimes, artistic director of the Roundabout Theatre
Company in New York
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