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John Proctor Biography

Witch Trial Defendant

John Proctor was the real person who inspired a character of the same name in The Crucible, Arthur Miller's 1953 play about witch trials in Massachusetts. In 1692, doctors and ministers in Salem blamed Satan for a coma-like sickness affecting two village girls. More reported "afflictions" resulted in a trial of some two dozen citizens for witchcraft, largely based on the testimony of pre-teen girls. Proctor, a tavern keeper on nearby farmland, publicly criticized the hysteria and found himself accused. He was among 20 people executed for refusing to confess. Portrayed as 30 years old in The Crucible, he was really about 60. He had 18 children by three wives: Martha (died 1659), Elizabeth Thorndike (died 1672), and Elizabeth Bassett, also accused of witchcraft but spared execution because she was pregnant.

Extra credit: Daniel Day-Lewis portrayed Proctor in the 1996 film The Crucible, opposite Joan Allen as Elizabeth Proctor and Winona Ryder as Abigail Williams.

Other famous actors who played John Proctor include Liam Neeson (Broadway, 2002), Martin Sheen (Broadway, 1991), George C. Scott (television, 1967), Sean Connery (television, 1959), and Yves Montand (French film, 1957).