miller

or owlet moth

Any of the more than 20,000 moth species in the lepidopteran family Noctuidae, common worldwide. Some species have a 1-ft (30-cm) wingspan, the largest of any moth, but most species have a wingspan of 1.5 in. (4 cm) or less. The wings are usually dull-coloured. Both larvae and adults of most species feed at night. Adults feed on fruits, sap, and nectar. The larvae of many species are agricultural pests (e.g., cutworm, bollworm) that feed on foliage and seeds, bore into stems and fruits, and eat or sever roots. A few species prey on scale insects.

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(born July 21, 1934, London, Eng.) British director, writer, and actor. After earning a medical degree at Cambridge University, he made his professional stage debut at the Edinburgh Festival in the hit satirical revue Beyond the Fringe (1960). As a director of plays, he gained notoriety for his controversial interpretations of classic works. His innovative opera productions, such as Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, for the English National Opera and other groups have become internationally celebrated. He wrote the BBC medical series The Body in Question (1977) and States of Mind (1982).

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(born Dec. 26, 1891, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died June 7, 1980, Pacific Palisades, Calif.) U.S. writer and perennial bohemian. Miller wrote about his Brooklyn, N.Y., childhood in Black Spring (1936). Tropic of Cancer (1934), a monologue about his life as an impoverished expatriate in Paris, and Tropic of Capricorn (1939), which draws on his earlier New York phase, were banned as obscene in the U.S. and Britain until the 1960s. The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (1945) is a critical account of a tour of the U.S. He settled on the California coast, where he became the centre of a colony of admirers and wrote his Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, Sexus, Plexus, and Nexus (U.S. ed., 1965).

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(born Oct. 17, 1915, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Feb. 10, 2005, Roxbury, Conn.) U.S. playwright. He began writing plays while a student at the University of Michigan. His first important play, All My Sons (1947), was followed by his most famous work, Death of a Salesman (1949, Pulitzer Prize), the tragedy of a man destroyed by false values that are in large part the values of his society. Noted for combining social awareness with a searching concern for his characters' inner lives, Miller wrote many other plays, including The Crucible (1953), which uses a plot about the Salem witch trials to attack McCarthyism, A View from the Bridge (1955), After the Fall (1964), The Last Yankee (1992), and Resurrection Blues (2002). He also wrote short stories, essays, and the screenplay for The Misfits (1961), which starred his second wife, Marilyn Monroe.

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(born March 1, 1904, Clarinda, Iowa, U.S.—died Dec. 16, 1944, at sea) U.S. trombonist and leader of one of the most popular dance bands of the swing era. Miller formed his band in 1937. His music was characterized by the precise execution of arrangements that featured a clarinet doubling the saxophone melody. Broadcasts beginning in 1939 brought the band national exposure and millions of fans. Miller disbanded in 1942 to join the war effort by leading a military band. He was traveling from London to Paris by plane when the craft disappeared and was never recovered. His recordings of numbers such as “Moonlight Sonata,” “Chattanooga Choo-Choo,” “In the Mood,” and “String of Pearls” are classics of the era.

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(born July 21, 1934, London, Eng.) British director, writer, and actor. After earning a medical degree at Cambridge University, he made his professional stage debut at the Edinburgh Festival in the hit satirical revue Beyond the Fringe (1960). As a director of plays, he gained notoriety for his controversial interpretations of classic works. His innovative opera productions, such as Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, for the English National Opera and other groups have become internationally celebrated. He wrote the BBC medical series The Body in Question (1977) and States of Mind (1982).

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(born Dec. 26, 1891, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died June 7, 1980, Pacific Palisades, Calif.) U.S. writer and perennial bohemian. Miller wrote about his Brooklyn, N.Y., childhood in Black Spring (1936). Tropic of Cancer (1934), a monologue about his life as an impoverished expatriate in Paris, and Tropic of Capricorn (1939), which draws on his earlier New York phase, were banned as obscene in the U.S. and Britain until the 1960s. The Air-Conditioned Nightmare (1945) is a critical account of a tour of the U.S. He settled on the California coast, where he became the centre of a colony of admirers and wrote his Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, Sexus, Plexus, and Nexus (U.S. ed., 1965).

Learn more about Miller, Henry (Valentine) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born July 21, 1899, Cicero [now in Oak Park], Ill., U.S.—died July 2, 1961, Ketchum, Idaho) U.S. writer. He began work as a journalist after high school. He was wounded while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I. One of a well-known group of expatriate writers in Paris, he soon embarked on a life of travel, skiing, fishing, and hunting that would be reflected in his work. His story collection In Our Time (1925) was followed by the novel The Sun Also Rises (1926). Later novels include A Farewell to Arms (1929) and To Have and Have Not (1937). His lifelong love for Spain (including a fascination with bullfighting) led to his working as a correspondent during the Spanish Civil War, which resulted in the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). Other short-story collections include Men Without Women (1927), Winner Take Nothing (1933), and The Fifth Column (1938). He lived primarily in Cuba from circa 1940, the locale of his novella The Old Man and the Sea (1952, Pulitzer Prize). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He left Cuba shortly after its 1959 revolution; a year later, depressed and ill, he shot himself. The succinct and concentrated prose style of his early works strongly influenced many British and American writers for decades.

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(born July 21, 1899, Cicero [now in Oak Park], Ill., U.S.—died July 2, 1961, Ketchum, Idaho) U.S. writer. He began work as a journalist after high school. He was wounded while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I. One of a well-known group of expatriate writers in Paris, he soon embarked on a life of travel, skiing, fishing, and hunting that would be reflected in his work. His story collection In Our Time (1925) was followed by the novel The Sun Also Rises (1926). Later novels include A Farewell to Arms (1929) and To Have and Have Not (1937). His lifelong love for Spain (including a fascination with bullfighting) led to his working as a correspondent during the Spanish Civil War, which resulted in the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). Other short-story collections include Men Without Women (1927), Winner Take Nothing (1933), and The Fifth Column (1938). He lived primarily in Cuba from circa 1940, the locale of his novella The Old Man and the Sea (1952, Pulitzer Prize). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He left Cuba shortly after its 1959 revolution; a year later, depressed and ill, he shot himself. The succinct and concentrated prose style of his early works strongly influenced many British and American writers for decades.

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(born May 17, 1873, Abingdon, Berkshire, Eng.—died June 17, 1957, Beckenham, Kent) English novelist. From age 17 she engaged in teaching, clerical work, and journalism. For much of her life she worked on her sequence novel Pilgrimage, comprising 13 volumes beginning with Pointed Roofs (1915). The final volume, March Moonlight, was published a decade after her death. A sensitive autobiographical account of a woman's developing consciousness, it was a pioneering work in stream-of-consciousness fiction.

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(born Oct. 17, 1915, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Feb. 10, 2005, Roxbury, Conn.) U.S. playwright. He began writing plays while a student at the University of Michigan. His first important play, All My Sons (1947), was followed by his most famous work, Death of a Salesman (1949, Pulitzer Prize), the tragedy of a man destroyed by false values that are in large part the values of his society. Noted for combining social awareness with a searching concern for his characters' inner lives, Miller wrote many other plays, including The Crucible (1953), which uses a plot about the Salem witch trials to attack McCarthyism, A View from the Bridge (1955), After the Fall (1964), The Last Yankee (1992), and Resurrection Blues (2002). He also wrote short stories, essays, and the screenplay for The Misfits (1961), which starred his second wife, Marilyn Monroe.

Learn more about Miller, Arthur with a free trial on Britannica.com.

See Noctuidae