Loman's wife supports him, but he soon begins to lose his grip on reality and slips between the past and the present, frantically trying to find where he went wrong. Willy Loman has led a life consisting of 60 years of failure. Alex North, who wrote the music for the Broadway production, was one of the five Academy Award nominees for the film's musical score. The film received many honors, including four Golden Globe Awards, the Volpi Cup and five Oscar nominations. It was directed by László Benedek and written for the screen by Stanley Roberts. Death of a Salesman is a 1951 American drama film adapted from the 1949 play of the same name by Arthur Miller.