Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan (born Elias Kazantzoglou, September 7,1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American director,producer, writer and actor, described by The New YorkTimes as “one of the most honored and influential direc-tors in Broadway and Hollywood history”.[4]

He was born in Istanbul, to Cappadocian Greek parents.After studying acting at Yale, he acted professionallyfor eight years, later joining the Group Theater in 1932,and co-founded the Actors Studio in 1947. With RobertLewis and Cheryl Crawford, he introduced Method act-ing to the American stage and cinema as a new form ofself-expression and psychological “realism.” Kazan actedin only a few films, including City for Conquest (1940).[5]

Kazan introduced a new generation of unknown youngactors to the movie audiences, including Marlon Brandoand James Dean. Noted for drawing out the best dra-matic performances from his actors, he directed 21 ac-tors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. He be-came “one of the consummate filmmakers of the 20thcentury” after directing a string of successful films, in-cluding A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Water-front (1954), and East of Eden (1955). During his career,he won two Oscars as Best Director and received an Hon-orary Oscar, won three Tony Awards, and four GoldenGlobes. Among the other actors he introduced to movieaudiences were Warren Beatty, Carroll Baker, Julie Har-ris, Andy Griffith, Lee Remick, Rip Torn, Eli Wallach,Eva Marie Saint, Martin Balsam, Fred Gwynne, and PatHingle.His films were concerned with personal or social issuesof special concern to him. Kazan writes, “I don't moveunless I have some empathy with the basic theme.”[6] Hisfirst such “issue” film wasGentleman’s Agreement (1947),with Gregory Peck, which dealt with anti-Semitism inAmerica. It received 8 Oscar nominations and 3 wins,including Kazan’s first for Best Director. It was followedby Pinky, one of the first films to address racial prejudiceagainst blacks. In 1954, he directed On the Waterfront, afilm about union corruption on the New York harbor wa-terfront, which some consider “one of the greatest films inthe history of international cinema.”[7] A Streetcar NamedDesire (1951), an adaptation of the stage play which hehad also directed, received 12 Oscar nominations, win-ning 4, and was Marlon Brando’s breakthrough role. In1955, he directed John Steinbeck's East of Eden, whichintroduced James Dean to movie audiences, making himan overnight star.A turning point in Kazan’s career came with his testi-

mony as a witness before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1952 at the time of the Hollywoodblacklist, which brought him strong negative reactionsfrom many liberal friends and colleagues. His testimonyhelped end the careers of former acting colleaguesMorrisCarnovsky and Art Smith, along with ending the work ofplaywright Clifford Odets.[8] Kazan later justified his actby saying he took “only the more tolerable of two alterna-tives that were either way painful and wrong.”[9] Nearlya half-century later, his anti-Communist testimony con-tinued to cause controversy. When Kazan was awardedan honorary Oscar in 1999, dozens of actors chose not toapplaud as 250 demonstrators picketed the event.[10]

Kazan influenced the films of the 1950s and '60s withhis provocative, issue-driven subjects. Director StanleyKubrick called him, “without question, the best direc-tor we have in America, [and] capable of performingmiracles with the actors he uses.”[11]:36[12] Film authorIan Freer concludes that “if his achievements are taintedby political controversy, the debt Hollywood—and actorseverywhere—owes him is enormous.”[13] In 2010, MartinScorsese co-directed the documentary film A Letter toElia as a personal tribute to Kazan.[14][15]

1 Early life

Elia Kazan was born in the Fener district of Istanbul,to Cappadocian Greek parents originally from Kayseriin Anatolia.[16][17][18] His parents, George and AthenaKazantzoglou (née Shishmanoglou), emigrated to theUnited States when he was four years old. He was namedafter his paternal grandfather, Elia Kazantzoglou. Hismaternal grandfather was Isaak Shishmanoglou. Elia’sbrother, Avraam, was born in Berlin and later becamea psychiatrist.[19]:21

As a young boy, he was remembered as being shy, and hiscollege classmates described him as more of a loner.[20]Much of his early life was portrayed in his autobiograph-ical book, America America, which he made into a filmin 1963. In it, he describes his family as “alienated”from both their parents’ Greek Orthodox values and fromthose of mainstream America.[21]:23 His mother’s familywere cotton merchants who imported cotton from Eng-land, and sold it wholesale. His father became a rug mer-chant after emigrating to the United States, and expectedthat his son would go into the family business.[22]

After attending public schools in New York, he enrolled

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2 2 STAGE CAREER

In the play “Paradise Lost” (1937)

at Williams College in Massachusetts, where he helpedpay his way by waiting tables and washing dishes, al-though he still graduated cum laude. He also workedas a bartender at various fraternities, but never joinedone. While a student at Williams, he earned the nick-name “Gadg,” for gadget, because, he said, “I was small,compact, and handy to have around.”[4]

In America America he tells how, and why, his family leftTurkey and moved to America. Kazan notes that muchof it came from stories that he heard as a young boy. Hesays during an interview that “it’s all true: the wealth ofthe family was put on the back of a donkey, and my uncle,really still a boy, went to Istanbul ... to gradually bring thefamily there to escape the oppressive circumstances... It’salso true that he lost the money on the way, and when hegot there he swept rugs in a little store.”[23]

Kazan notes some of the controversial aspects of whathe put in the film. He writes, “I used to say to myselfwhen I was making the film that America was a dreamof total freedom in all areas.”[23] To make his point, thecharacter who portrays Kazan’s uncle Avraam kisses theground when he gets through customs, while the Statueof Liberty and the American flag are in the background.Kazan had considered whether that kind of scene mightbe too much for American audiences:

“I hesitated about that for a long time. A lotof people, who don't understand how desperatepeople can get, advised me to cut it. When Iam accused of being excessive by the critics,they're talking about moments like that. But Iwouldn't take it out for the world. It actuallyhappened. Believe me, if a Turk could get out

of Turkey and come here, even now, he wouldkiss the ground. To oppressed people, Americais still a dream.”[23]

Before undertaking the film, Kazan wanted to confirmmany of the details about his family’s background. Atone point, he sat his parents down and recorded their an-swers to his questions. He remembers eventually askinghis father a “deeper question: 'Why America? What wereyou hoping for?'" His mother gave him the answer, how-ever: “A.E. brought us here.” Kazan states that “A.E. wasmy uncle Avraam Elia, the one who left the Anatolianvillage with the donkey. At twenty-eight, somehow—thiswas the wonder—he made his way to New York. He senthome money and in time brought my father over. Fathersent for my mother and my baby brother and me when Iwas four.[24]

Kazanwrites of themovie, “It’s my favorite of all the filmsI've made; the first film that was entirely mine.”[24]

2 Stage career

2.1 Group Theater

Kazan as a young man

In 1932, after spending two years at the Yale UniversitySchool of Drama, he moved to New York City to becomea professional stage actor. His first opportunity came witha small group of actors engaged in presenting plays con-taining “social commentary”. They were called theGroupTheater, which showcased many lesser known plays withdeep social or political messages. After struggling to be

2.2 Actors Studio 3

accepted by them, he discovered his first strong sense ofself in America within the “family of the Group The-ater, and more loosely in the radical social and culturalmovements of the time,” writes film author Joanna E.Rapf.[21]:23

In Kazan’s autobiography, Kazan writes of the “lastingimpact on him of the Group,” noting in particular, LeeStrasberg and Harold Clurman as “father figures”, alongwith his close friendship with playwright Clifford Odets.Kazan, during an interview with Michel Ciment, de-scribes the Group:

The Group was the best thing professionallythat ever happened to me. I met two wonder-ful men. Lee Strasberg and Harold Clurman,both of whom were around thirty years old.They were magnetic, fearless leaders. Duringthe summer I was an apprentice, they were en-tertaining in a Jewish summer camp... At theend of the summer they said to me: “You mayhave talent for something, but it’s certainly notacting.”[25]

Kazan, in his autobiography, also describes Strasberg asa vital leader of the group:

He carried with him the aura of a prophet,a magician, a witch doctor, a psychoanalyst,and a feared father of a Jewish home.... [H]ewas the force that held the thirty-odd mem-bers of the theatre together, and made thempermanent.[19]:61

Kazan’s first national success came as New York theatri-cal director.[7] Although initially he worked as an actoron stage, and told early in his acting career that he had noacting ability, he surprised many critics by becoming oneof the Group’s most capable actors. In 1935 he played therole of a strike-leading taxi driver in a drama by CliffordOdets,Waiting for Lefty, and his performance was called“dynamic,” leading some to describe him as the “prole-tarian thunderbolt.”[21]:23

Among the themes that would run through all of his workwere “personal alienation and an outrage over social in-justice”, writes film critic William Baer.[7] Other crit-ics have likewise noted his “strong commitment to thesocial and social psychological—rather than the purelypolitical—implications of drama”.[21]:33

By the mid-1930s, when he was 26, he began direct-ing a number of the Group Theater’s plays. In 1942 heachieved his first notable success by directing a Pulitzerprize-winning play by Thornton Wilder, The Skin of OurTeeth, starringMontgomery Clift and Tallulah Bankhead.He then went on to direct Death of a Salesman, byArthur Miller, and then directed A Streetcar Named De-sire, written by Tennessee Williams. Kazan’s wife, Molly

Thacher, the reader for the Group, discovered Williamsand awarded him a “prize that launched his career.”[26]

The Group Theater’s summer rehearsal headquarters wasat Pine Brook Country Club, located in the countryside ofNichols, Connecticut, during the 1930s and early 1940s.Along with Kazan were numerous other artists: HarryMorgan, John Garfield, Luise Rainer, Frances Farmer,Will Geer, Howard Da Silva, Clifford Odets, Lee J. Cobband Irwin Shaw.[27][28][29]

2.2 Actors Studio

In 1947, he founded the Actors Studio, a non-profit work-shop, with actors Robert Lewis and Cheryl Crawford. Itsoon became famous for promoting “Method,” a style oftheater and acting involving “total immersion of actor intocharacter,” writes film author Ian Freer.[13] According toRapf, “the Studio rode the bandwagon ofmethod fashion-ability, and Kazan was its clear star and attraction.”[21]:97Within a short time, as word spread, “everyone wanted tobe at the Studio—not least because of the chance of beingin a Kazan production in one medium or another.”[21]:97

It students were Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, JulieHarris, Eli Wallach, Karl Malden, Patricia Neal, MildredDunnock, James Whitmore, and Maureen Stapleton. In1951, Lee Strasberg became its director, and it remaineda non-profit enterprise, eventually considered “the na-tion’s most prestigious acting school,” according to filmhistorian James Lipton.[30]

Student James Dean, in a letter home to his parents,writes that Actors Studio was “the greatest school ofthe theater [and] the best thing that can happen to anactor”.[31] Playwright Tennessee Williams said of its ac-tors: “They act from the inside out. They communicateemotions they really feel. They give you a sense of life.”Contemporary directors like Sidney Lumet, a former stu-dent, have intentionally used actors such as Al Pacino, aformer student skilled in “Method”.[32]

Kazan directed one of the Studio’s brightest young tal-ents, Marlon Brando, in the Tennessee Williams play AStreetcar Named Desire. He cast him again in the filmversion in 1951, which made Brando a star and won 4Oscars, and was nominated for 12.Among the other Broadway plays he directed were "Caton a Hot Tin Roof", "Sweet Bird of Youth", "The Darkat the Top of the Stairs" and "Tea and Sympathy". Thisled some, such as theater critic Eric Bentley, to write that“the work of Elia Kazanmeansmore to theAmerican the-ater than that of any current writer.”[4] Film critic DavidRichard Jones adds that Kazan, during the 1940s and1950s, was one of America’s foremost Stanislavskians,and “influenced thousands of contemporaries” in the the-atre, film, and the Actors Studio that he helped found.[33]

4 3 FILM CAREER

3 Film career

At the height of his stage success, Kazan then turnedto Hollywood where he soon demonstrated equal skillas director of motion pictures. He first directed twoshort films, but his first feature film was A Tree Growsin Brooklyn (1945), one his first attempts to film dra-mas focused on contemporary concerns, which becamehis forte. Two years later he directed Gentleman’sAgreement, where he tackled a seldom-discussed topic inAmerica, antisemitism, for which he won his first Oscaras Best Director. In 1949 he again dealt with contro-versial subject when he directed Pinky, which dealt withissues of racism in America, and was nominated for 3Academy Awards.In 1947, he directed the courtroom drama Boomerang!,and in 1950 he directed Panic in the Streets, starringRichard Widmark, in a thriller shot on the streets of NewOrleans. In that film, Kazan experimented with a doc-umentary style of cinematography, which succeeded in“energizing” the action scenes.[13] He won the VeniceFilm Festival, International Award as director, and thefilm also won two Academy Awards. Kazan had re-quested that ZeroMostel also act in the film, despiteMos-tel being “blacklisted” as a result of HUAC testimony afew years earlier. Kazan writes of his decision:

Each director has a favorite in his cast, ... myfavorite this time was Zero Mostel... I thoughthim an extraordinary artist and a delightfulcompanion, one of the funniest and most orig-inal men I'd ever met... I constantly sought hiscompany... He was one of the three peoplewhom I rescued from the “industry’s” black-list... For a long time, Zero had not beenable to get work in films, but I got him in myfilm.[19]:383

3.1 Marlon Brando

In 1951, after introducing and directing one of the Ac-tors Studio’s brightest young talents, Marlon Brando, inthe stage version, he went on to cast him in the film ver-sion of the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, which madeBrando a star and won 4 Oscars, being nominated for 12.The film popularized Method acting with Brando’s roleas the earthy and unmannered Stanley Kowalski oppositethe classical dignity of British actress, Vivien Leigh, ashis sister-in-law. Despite the plaudits, the film was con-sidered a step back cinematically with the feel of filmedtheater, however Kazan did at first use amore open settingbut then felt compelled to revert to the stage atmosphereto remain true to the script. He explains:

On “Streetcar” we worked very hard to openit up, and then went back to the play becausewe'd lost all the compression. In the play, these

Brando and Vivien Leigh in a scene from A Streetcar NamedDesire (1951)

people were trapped in a room with each other.What I actually did was to make the set smaller.As the story progressed ... the set got smallerand smaller.[6][13]

Brando’s role as a virtually unknown actor at age 27,would “catapult him to stardom.”[4] His next film wasViva Zapata! (1952) which also starred Marlon Brandoplaying the role of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zap-ata. The film added real atmosphere with the use of loca-tion shots and strong character accents. Kazan called thishis “first real film” because of those factors.[13]

In 1954 he again used Brando as co-star in On the Water-front. As a continuation of the socially relevant themesthat he developed in New York, the film exposed corrup-tion within New York’s longshoremen’s union. It too wasnominated for 12 Academy Awards, but won 8, includingBest Picture, Best Director and Best Actor, for MarlonBrando. To some critics, Brando gives the “best perfor-mance in American film history,”[13] playing an ex-boxer,Terry Malloy, who is persuaded by a priest to inform oncorrupt unions. Surprisingly, Brando writes that he wasactually disappointed with his acting upon first watchingthe screening:

On the day Gadg showed me the completedpicture, I was so depressed by my performanceI got up and left the screening room. I thoughtI was a huge failure. I was simply embarrassedfor myself. ... I am indebted to him for all thatI learned. He was a wonderful teacher.[34]

3.4 James Dean 5

3.2 Karl Malden

Actor Karl Malden became an early student at the GroupTheater in 1937, where he first began acting underKazan’s direction. Kazan would play a “prominent rolein Malden’s stage and film career”, including convinc-ing him to change his name from Mladen Sekulovich.He played a drunken sailor in Kazan’s “Truckline Cafe,”which also included a young Marlon Brando. In 1947,he co-starred in the stage play “All My Sons,” written byArthurMiller, with Kazan directing, and began being rec-ognized as a serious actor.[35]

However, his first major stage success was his role as anawkward suitor of Jessica Tandy in the Broadway pro-duction of A Streetcar Named Desire, which also helpedmake Brando a star on stage. After two years in the role,he played the same part in the 1951 film version, this timeplaying opposite Vivien Leigh, where he won his first Os-car for Best Supporting Actor. Kazan next directed himin On the Waterfront (1954), where he was also nomi-nated as Best Supporting Actor for his role as a sympa-thetic priest. In 1956, Kazan directed him in a starringrole in Baby Doll, alongside Carroll Baker and Eli Wal-lach, a controversial story written by TennesseeWilliams,and he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for BestActor.Malden remained friends with Kazan despite his unpop-ular appearance at the House Un-American ActivitiesCommittee in 1952. Manymutual “friends who turned onKazan also refused to speak to Malden.”[35] He furtheredhis support in 1999, when, as a member of the Boardof Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Artsand Sciences, he proposed that they give Kazan an hon-orary Oscar for “lifetime achievement”. Malden’s pro-posal was bold, as film festivals, critics associations, andthe American Film Institute, had already refused to be-stow similar honors because of Kazan’s testimony givennearly 50 years earlier. Malden recalled giving his pro-posal:

When I got up to talk, I suspected that therewould be a big fight, but no one debated it atall... I said that I'm nominating a dear friend,and as far as I'm concerned, there’s no place forpolitics in any art form. An award like this isabout your body of work, and when it comesto a body of work, Elia Kazan deserves to behonored.[35]

According to the Los Angeles Times, when Malden fin-ished speaking, “he was greeted by a rousing burst ofapplause.”[35]

3.3 Eva Marie Saint

On the Waterfront was also the screen debut for EvaMarie Saint, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Ac-

Saint with Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront

tress for her role. Saint recalls that Kazan selected herfor the role after he had her do an improvisational skitwith Brando playing the other character. She had no ideathat he was looking to fill any particular film part, how-ever, but remembers that Kazan set up the scenario withBrando which brought out surprising emotions:

“I ended up crying. Crying and laughing ... Imean there was such an attraction there ... Thatsmile of his... He was very tender and funny ...And Kazan, in his genius, saw the chemistrythere.”[36]:295–296

Life magazine described On the Waterfront as the “mostbrutal movie of the year” but with “the year’s tenderestlove scenes,” and stating that Saint was a “new discovery”in films. In its cover story about Saint, it speculated thatit will probably be as Edie in On the Waterfront that she“starts her real trip to fame.”[37]

The film made use of extensive on-location street scenesand waterfront shots, and included a notable score bycomposer Leonard Bernstein.

3.4 James Dean

After the success of On the Waterfront he went on to di-rect the screen adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, Eastof Eden in 1955. As director, Kazan again used anotherunknown actor, James Dean. Kazan had seen Dean onstage in New York and after an audition gave him thestarring role along with an exclusive contract withWarnerBros. Dean flew back to Los Angeles with Kazan in 1954,the first time he had ever flown in a plane, bringing hisclothes in a brown paper bag.[38]:194 The film’s successintroduced James Dean to the world and established himas a popular actor. He went on to star in Rebel Without aCause (1955), directed by Kazan’s friend, Nicholas Ray,and then Giant, (dir. George Stevens, 1956)

6 3 FILM CAREER

James Dean in East of Eden

Author Douglas Rathgeb describes the difficulties Kazanhad in turning Dean into a new star, noting how Dean wasa controversial figure at Warner Bros. from the time hearrived. There were rumors that he “kept a loaded gunin his studio trailer; that he drove his motorcycle dan-gerously down studio streets or sound stages; that he hadbizarre and unsavory friends.”[39] As a result, Kazan wasforced to “baby-sit the young actor in side-by-side trail-ers,” so he wouldn't run away during production. Co-star Julie Harris worked overtime to quell Dean’s panicattacks. In general, Dean was oblivious to Hollywood’smethods, and Rathgeb notes that “his radical style did notmesh with Hollywood’s corporate gears.”Dean himself was amazed at his own performance onscreen when he later viewed a rough cut of the film.Kazan had invited director Nicholas Ray to a privateshowing, with Dean, as Ray was looking for someoneto play the lead in Rebel Without a Cause. Ray watchedDean’s powerful acting on the screen; but it didn't seempossible that it was the same person in the room. Rayfelt Dean was shy and totally withdrawn as he sat therehunched over. “Dean himself did not seem to believe it,”notes Rathgeb. “He watched himself with an odd, almostadolescent fascination, as if he were admiring someoneelse.”[39]

The film also made good use of on-location and outdoorscenes, along with an effective use of early widescreenformat, making the film one of Kazan’s most accom-plished works. James Dean died the following year, atthe age of 24, in an accident with his sports car outsideof Los Angeles. He had only made three films, and theonly completed film he ever saw was East of Eden.

3.5 Warren Beatty

In 1961, he introduced Warren Beatty in his first screenappearance with a starring role in Splendor in the Grass(1961), with Natalie Wood; the film was nominated for

two Oscars and won one. Author Peter Biskind pointsout that Kazan “was the first in a string of major directorsBeatty sought out, mentors or father figures from whomhe wanted to learn.”[40] Biskind notes also that they “werewildly dissimilar—mentor vs. protege, director vs. actor,immigrant outsider vs. native son. Kazan was armed withthe confidence born of age and success, while Beatty wasvirtually aflame with the arrogance of youth.”[40] Kazanrecalls his impressions of Beatty:

Warren—it was obvious the first time I sawhim—wanted it all and wanted it his way. Whynot? He had the energy, a very keen intelli-gence, and more chutzpah than any Jew I'veever known. Even more than me. Bright asthey come, intrepid, and with that thing allwomen secretly respect: complete confidencein his sexual powers, confidence so great thathe never had to advertise himself, even byhints.[19]:603

Biskind describes an episode during the first week ofshooting, where Beatty was angered at something Kazansaid: “The star lashed out at the spot where he knewKazan was most vulnerable, the director’s friendly tes-timony before the HUAC. He snapped, 'Lemme ask yousomething—why did you name all those names?'"[40]

Beatty himself recalled the episode: “In some patrici-dal attempt to stand up to the great Kazan, I arrogantlyand stupidly challenged him on it.” Biskind describes how“Kazan grabbed his arm, asking, 'What did you say?' anddragged him off to a tiny dressing room ... whereupon thedirector proceeded to justify himself for two hours.”[40]Beatty, years later, during a Kennedy Center tribute toKazan, stated to the audience that Kazan “had given himthe most important break in his career.”[40]:23

3.6 Natalie Wood

Beatty’s costar, Natalie Wood, was in a transition pe-riod in her career, having mostly been cast in roles asa child or teenager, and she was now hoping to be castin adult roles. Biographer Suzanne Finstad notes that a“turning point” in her life as an actress was upon see-ing the film A Streetcar Named Desire: “She was trans-formed, in awe of Kazan and of Vivien Leigh’s perfor-mance... [who] became a role model for Natalie.”[41]:107In 1961, after a “series of bad films, her career was al-ready in decline,” notes Rathgeb.[39]:199 Kazan himselfwrites that the “sages” of the film community declaredher as “washed up” as an actress, although he still wantedto interview her for his next film:

When I saw her, I detected behind the well-mannered 'young wife' front a desperate twin-kle in her eyes... I talked with her more quietlythen and more personally. I wanted to find out

7

what human material was there, what her innerlife was... Then she told me she was being psy-choanalyzed. That did it. Poor R.J., I said tomyself. I liked Bob Wagner, I still do.[19]:602

Kazan cast her as the female lead in Splendor in the Grass,and her career rebounded. Finstad feels that despiteWood never receiving training in Method acting tech-niques, “working with Kazan brought her to the great-est emotional heights of her career. The experience wasexhilarating but wrenching for Natalie, who faced herdemons on Splendor."[41]:259 She adds that a scene in thefilm, as a result of “Kazan’s wizardry ... produced a hys-teria in Natalie that may be her most powerful momentas an actress.”[41]:260

ActorGary Lockwood, who also acted in the film, felt that“Kazan and Natalie were a terrific marriage, because youhad this beautiful girl, and you had somebody that couldget things out of her.” Kazan’s favorite scene in the moviewas the last one, whenWood goes back to see her lost firstlove, Bud (Beatty). “It’s terribly touching to me. I stilllike it when I see it,” writes Kazan.[41]:263 “And I certainlydidn't need to tell her how to play it. She understood itperfectly.”

3.7 Screenwriters

Another aspect that contributed to the power and inten-sity of his films was his close collaboration with writers.On Broadway, he worked with Arthur Miller, TennesseeWilliams, andWilliam Inge; in film, heworked again withWillams (A Streetcar Named Desire and Baby Doll), Inge(Splendor in the Grass), Budd Schulberg (On the Water-front and A Face in the Crowd), John Steinbeck (VivaZapata!), and Harold Pinter (The Last Tycoon). As an in-strumental figure in the careers of many of the best writ-ers of his time, “he always treated them and their workwith the utmost respect.”[7] In 2009, a previously unpro-duced screenplay by Williams, The Loss of a TeardropDiamond, was released as a film. Williams wrote thescreenplay specifically for Kazan to direct during the1950s.[42]

Williams became one of Kazan’s closest and most loyalfriends, and Kazan often pulled Williams out of “creativeslumps” by redirecting his focus with new ideas. In 1959,in a letter to Kazan, he writes, “Some day you will knowhow much I value the great things you did with my work,how you lifted it above its measure by your great gift.”[26]

Among Kazan’s other films were Panic in the Streets(1950), East of Eden (1955), Baby Doll (1956), WildRiver (1960), and The Last Tycoon (1976).

4 Literary career

In between his directing work he wrote four best-sellingnovels, including America, America, and The Arrange-ment, both of which tell the story of Kazan’s Greek immi-grant ancestors. Both novels were later made into films.

5 Directing style

5.1 Preference for unknown actors

Kazan strove for “cinematic realism,” a quality he oftenachieved by discovering and working with unknown ac-tors, many of whom treated him as their mentor, whichgave him the flexibility to depict “social reality with bothaccuracy and vivid intensity.”[7] He also felt that castingthe right actors accounted for 90% of a movie’s ultimatesuccess or failure.[43] As a result of his efforts, he alsogave actors such as Lee Remick, Jo Van Fleet, WarrenBeatty, Andy Griffith, James Dean, and Jack Palance,their first major movie roles. He explained to directorand producer George Stevens, Jr. that he felt that “bigstars are barely trained or not very well trained. They alsohave bad habits... they're not pliable anymore.” Kazanalso describes how and why he gets to know his actors ona personal level:[6]

Now what I try to do is get to know them verywell. I take them to dinner. I talk to them.I meet their wives. I find out what the hell thehuman material is that I'm dealing with, so thatby the time I take an unknown he’s not an un-known to me.[6]

Kazan goes on to describe how he got to understandJames Dean, as an example:

When I met him he said, “I'll take you for a rideon my motorbike... It was his way of commu-nicating with me, saying “I hope you like me,”... I thought he was an extreme grotesque ofa boy, a twisted boy. As I got to know his fa-ther, as I got to know about his family, I learnedthat he had been, in fact, twisted by the denialof love ... I went to Jack Warner and told him Iwanted to use an absolutely unknown boy. Jackwas a crapshooter of the first order, and said,“Go ahead.”[6]

5.2 Topics of personal and social realism

Kazan chooses his subjects to express personal and socialevents that he is familiar with. He describes his thoughtprocess before taking on a project:

8 5 DIRECTING STYLE

I don't move unless I have some empathy withthe basic theme. In some way the channel ofthe film should also be in my own life. I startwith an instinct. With “East of Eden” ... it’s re-ally the story of my father and me, and I didn'trealize it for a long time... In some subtle ornot-so-subtle way, every film is autobiograph-ical. A thing in my life is expressed by theessence of the film. Then I know it experien-tially, not just mentally. I've got to feel thatit’s in some way about me, some way aboutmy struggles, some way about my pain, myhopes.[6]

Film historian Joanna E. Rapf notes that among themeth-ods Kazan used in his work with actors, was his initial fo-cus on “reality”, although his style was not defined as “nat-uralistic.” She adds: “He respects his script, but casts anddirects with a particular eye for expressive action and theuse of emblematic objects.”[21]:33 Kazan himself statesthat “unless the character is somewhere in the actor him-self, you shouldn't cast him.”[21]:33

In his later years he changed his mind about some of thephilosophy behind the Group Theater, in that he no longerfelt that the theater was a “collective art,” as he once be-lieved:

To be successful it should express the vision,the conviction, and the insistent presence ofone person.[4]

Film author Peter Biskind described Kazan’s career as“fully committed to art and politics, with the politics feed-ing the work.”[21]:22 Kazan, however, has downplayed thatimpression:

I don't think basically I'm a political animal.I think I'm a self-centered animal... I thinkwhat I was concerned about all my life was tosay something artistically that was uniquely myown.[21]:22

Nonetheless, there have been clear messages in some ofhis films that involved politics in various ways. In 1954,he directed On the Waterfront, written by screenwriterBudd Schulberg, which was a film about union corruptionin NewYork. Some critics consider it “one of the greatestfilms in the history of international cinema.”[7] Anotherpolitical film was A Face in the Crowd (1957). His pro-tagonist, played by Andy Griffith (in his film debut) isnot a politician, yet his career suddenly becomes deeplyinvolved in politics. According to film author Harry Key-ishian, Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg were us-ing the film to warn audiences about the dangerous po-tential of the new medium of television. Kazan explainsthat he and Schulberg were trying to warn “of the powerTV would have in the political life of the nation.” Kazan

states, “Listen to what the candidate says; don't be takenin by his charm or his trust-inspiring personality. Don'tbuy the advertisement; buy what’s in the package.”[44]

5.3 Use of “Method” acting

As a product of the Group Theater and Actors Studio, hewas most noted for his use of “Method” actors, especiallyBrando and Dean. During an interview in 1988, Kazansaid, “I did whatever was necessary to get a good perfor-mance including so-called Method acting. I made themrun around the set, I scolded them, I inspired jealousyin their girlfriends... The director is a desperate beast! ...You don't deal with actors as dolls. You deal with them aspeople who are poets to a certain degree.”[7] Actor RobertDe Niro called him a “master of a new kind of psycho-logical and behavioral faith in acting.”[4]

Kazan was aware of the limited range of his directingabilities:

I don't have great range. I am no good withmusic or spectacles. The classics are beyondme... I am a mediocre director except when aplay or film touches a part of my life’s experi-ence... I do have courage, even some daring. Iam able to talk to actors... to arouse them tobetter work. I have strong, even violent feel-ings, and they are assets.[4]

He explained that he tried to inspire his actors to offerideas:

When I talk to the actors they begin to give meideas, and I grab them because the ideas theygive me turn them on. I want the breath of lifefrom them rather than the mechanical fulfill-ment of the movement which I asked for... Ilove actors. I used to be an actor for eight years,so I do appreciate their job.[6]

Kazan, however, held strong ideas about the scenes, andwould try to merge an actor’s suggestions and inner feel-ings with his own. Despite the strong eroticism createdin Baby Doll, for example, he set limits. Before shoot-ing a seduction scene between Eli Wallach and CarrollBaker, he privately askedWallach, “Do you think you ac-tually go throughwith seducing that girl?"Wallach writes,“I hadn't thought about that question before, but I an-swered ... 'No.'" Kazan replies, “Good idea, play it thatway.”[45] Kazan, many years later, explained his rationalefor scenes in that film:

What is erotic about sex to me is the seduction,not the act... The scene on the swings (Eli Wal-lach and Carroll Baker) in Baby Doll is my ex-act idea of what eroticism in films should be.[23]

5.4 Being an “actor’s director” 9

5.4 Being an “actor’s director”

Joanna Rapf adds that Kazan was most admired for hisclose work with actors, noting that director Nicholas Rayconsidered him “the best actor’s director the United Stateshas ever produced.”[21]:22 Film historian Foster Hirschexplains that “he created virtually a new acting style,which was the style of theMethod... [that] allowed for theactors to create great depth of psychological realism.”[46]

Among the actors who describe Kazan as an important in-fluence in their career were Patricia Neal, who co-starredwith Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd (1957): “Hewas very good. He was an actor and he knew how weacted. He would come and talk to you privately. I likedhim a lot.”[46] Anthony Franciosa, a supporting actor inthe film, explains how Kazan encouraged his actors:

He would always say, 'Let me see what youcan do. Let me see it. Don't talk to meabout it.' You felt that you had a man whowas completely on your side—no qualms aboutanything you did. He gave you a tremendoussense of confidence... He never made me feelas though I was acting for the camera. Manytimes, I never even knew where the camerawas.[47]

However, in order to get quality acting from Andy Grif-fith, in his first screen appearance, and achieve whatSchickel calls “an astonishing movie debut,”[36]:338 Kazanwould often take surprising measures. In one importantand highly emotional scene, for example, Kazan had togive Griffith fair warning: “I may have to use extraordi-nary means to make you do this. I may have to get out ofline. I don't know any other way of getting an extraordi-nary performance out of an actor.”[48]

Actress Terry Moore calls Kazan her “best friend,” andnotes that “he made you feel better than you thought youcould be. I never had another director that ever touchedhim. I was spoiled for life.”[46] “He would find out if yourlife was like the character,” says Carroll Baker, star ofBaby Doll, “he was the best director with actors.”[46]

Kazan’s need to remain close to his actors continued upto his last film, The Last Tycoon (1976). He remembersthat Robert De Niro, the star of the film, “would do al-most anything to succeed,” and even cut his weight downfrom 170 to 128 pounds for the role. Kazan adds thatDe Niro “is one of a select number of actors I've directedwho work hard at their trade, and the only one who askedto rehearse on Sundays. Most of the others play tennis.Bobby and I would go over the scenes to be shot.”[19]:766

The powerful dramatic roles Kazan brought out frommany of his actors was due, partly, to his ability to rec-ognize their personal character traits. Although he didn'tknow De Niro before this film, for example, Kazan laterwrites, “Bobby is more meticulous ... he’s very imagina-tive. He’s very precise. He figures everything out both

Robert De Niro in The Last Tycoon (1976)

inside and outside. He has good emotion. He’s a char-acter actor: everything he does he calculates. In a goodway, but he calculates.”[7]:210 Kazan developed and usedthose personality traits for his character in the film.[19]:766Although the film did poorly at the box office, some re-viewers praised De Niro’s acting. Film critic Marie Bren-ner writes that “for De Niro, it is a role that surpasses evenhis brilliant and daring portrayal of Vito Corleone in TheGodfather, part II, ... [his] performance deserves to becompared with the very finest.”[49]

Marlon Brando, in his autobiography, goes into detailabout the influence Kazan had on his acting:

I have worked with many movie directors—some good, some fair, some terrible. Kazanwas the best actors’ director by far of any I'veworked for... the only one who ever really stim-ulated me, got into a part with me and virtu-ally acted it with me... he chose good actors,encouraged them to improvise, and then im-provised on the improvisation... He gave hiscast freedom and ... was always emotionallyinvolved in the process and his instincts wereperfect... I've never seen a director who be-came as deeply and emotionally involved in ascene as Gadg... he got so wrought up that hestarted chewing on his hat.

He was an arch-manipulator of actors’ feelings,and hewas extraordinarily talented; perhaps wewill never see his like again.[34]

10 6 HUAC TESTIMONY

6 HUAC testimony

See also: Hollywood Blacklist

Until his death, Kazan remained controversial in somecircles for testimony he gave before the House Commit-tee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) in 1952, a pe-riod that many, such as journalist Michael Mills, feel was“the most controversial period in Hollywood history.”[50]When he was in his mid-20s, during the Depression years1934 to 1936, he had been a member of the AmericanCommunist Party in New York, for a year and a half.In April 1952, the Committee called on Kazan, underoath, to identify Communists from that period 16 yearsearlier. Kazan initially refused to provide names, buteventually named eight former Group Theater memberswho he said had been Communists: Clifford Odets, J.Edward Bromberg, Lewis Leverett, Morris Carnovsky,Phoebe Brand, Tony Kraber, Ted Wellman, and PaulaMiller, who later married Lee Strasberg. He testifiedthat Odets quit the party at the same time that he did.[51]All the persons named were already known to HUAC,however.[4][52] The move cost Kazan many friends withinthe film industry, including playwright Arthur Miller.Kazan would later write in his autobiography of the “war-rior pleasure at withstanding his 'enemies.'"[53] WhenKazan received an Honorary Academy Award in 1999,the audience was noticeably divided in their reaction, withsome including Nick Nolte, Ed Harris, Ian McKellenand Amy Madigan refusing to applaud, and many oth-ers, such as actors Kathy Bates, Meryl Streep andWarrenBeatty and producer George Stevens, Jr. standing andapplauding.[54] Stevens speculates on why he, Beatty, andmany others in the audience chose to stand and applaud:

I never discussed it with Warren, but I believewe were both standing for same reason—outof regard for the creativity, the stamina and themany fierce battles and lonely nights that hadgone into the man’s twenty motion pictures.[6]

Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan, agreed,writing “The only criterion for an award like this is thework”. Kazan was already “denied accolades” from theAmerican Film Institute, and other film critics associa-tions. According to Mills, “It’s time for the Academy torecognize this genius,” adding that “We applauded whenthe great Chaplin finally had his hour.”[50] In response,former vice president of the Los Angeles Film CriticsAssociation, Joseph McBride, claimed that an honoraryaward recognizes “the totality of what he represents, andKazan’s career, post 1952, was built on the ruin of otherpeople’s careers.”[8]

In later interviews, Kazan explained some of the earlyevents that made him decide to become a friendly witness,most notably in relation to the Group Theater, which he

called his first “family,” and the “best thing profession-ally” that ever happened to him:

The Group Theater said that we shouldn't becommitted to any fixed political program set byother people outside the organization. I was be-having treacherously to the Group when I metdowntown at CP [Communist Party] headquar-ters, to decide among the Communists what weshould do in the Group, and then come backand present a united front, pretending we hadnot been in caucus...I was tried by the Party and that was one ofthe reasons I became so embittered later. Thetrial was on the issue of my refusal to followinstructions, that we should strike in the GroupTheatre, and insist that the membership havecontrol of its organization. I said it was an artis-tic organization, and I backed up Clurman andStrasberg who were not Communists... Thetrial left an indelible impression on me... Ev-erybody else voted against me and they stig-matized me and condemned my acts and at-titude. They were asking for confession andself-humbling. I went home that night and toldmy wife “I am resigning.” But for years af-ter I resigned, I was still faithful to their wayof thinking. I still believed in it. But not inthe American Communists. I used to make adifference and think: “These people here aredamned fools but in Russia they have got thereal thing,” until I learned about the Hitler-Stalin pact, and gave up on the USSR.[55]

Mills notes that prior to becoming a “friendly witness,”Kazan discussed the issues with Miller:

To defend a secrecy I don’t think right and todefend people who have already been namedor soon would be by someone else... I hatethe Communists and have for many years, anddon’t feel right about giving up my career todefend them. I will give up my film career ifit is in the interests of defending something Ibelieve in, but not this.[50]

Miller put his arm around Kazan and retorted, “don’tworry about what I’ll think. Whatever you do is okaywith me, because I know that your heart is in the rightplace.”[50]

In his memoirs, Kazan writes that his testimony meantthat “the big shot had become the outsider.” He also notesthat it strengthened his friendship with another outsider,Tennessee Williams, with whom he collaborated on nu-merous plays and films. He called Williams “the mostloyal and understanding friend I had through those blackmonths.”[19]:495

11

7 Personal life

Elia Kazan was married three times.[4] His first wife wasplaywright Molly Day Thacher. They were married from1932 until her death in 1963; this marriage produced twodaughters and two sons, including screenwriter NicholasKazan. His second marriage, to the actress Barbara Lo-den, lasted from 1969 until her death in 1980, and pro-duced one son. His marriage, in 1982, to Frances Rudgecontinued until his death, in 2003, aged 94.In 1978, the U.S. government paid for Kazan and his fam-ily to travel to Kazan’s birthplace where many of his filmswere to be shown. During a speech in Athens, he dis-cussed his films and his personal and business life in theU.S., along with the messages he tried to convey:

In my own view, the solution is to talkabout human beings and not about abstracts,to reveal the culture and the social moment asit is reflected in the behavior and the lives ofindividual people. Not to be “correct.” To betotal. So I do not believe in any ideology thatdoes not permit—no encourage—the freedomof the individual.[56]

He also offered his opinions about the role of the U.S. asa world model for democracy:

I think you and I, all of us, have some sortof stake in the United States. If it fails, the fail-ure will be that of us all. Of mankind itself. Itwill cost us all. . . . I think of the UnitedStates as a country which is an arena and in thatarena there is a drama being played out. . . .. I have seen that the struggle is the struggle offree men.[56]

Elia Kazan died from natural causes in his Manhattanapartment, September 28, 2003 aged 94.

8 Legacy

Kazan became known as an “actor’s director” because hewas able to elicit some of the best performances in thecareers of many of his stars, such as Marlon Brando, RodSteiger, Karl Malden, James Dean, Julie Harris, CarrollBaker, Eli Wallach and Natalie Wood. Under his di-rection, his actors received 21 Academy Award nomina-tions and won nine Oscars. He won as Best Director forGentleman’s Agreement (1947) and for On the Waterfront(1954), which is considered “one of the greatest films inthe history of international cinema.”[7] Both A StreetcarNamed Desire (1951) and On the Waterfront were nomi-nated for twelve Academy Awards, respectively winningfour and eight.

On the set of Splendor in the Grass (1961)

Kazan never lost his identification with the oppressedpeople he remembered from the depths of the Great De-pression. With his many years with the Group TheaterandActors Studio in NewYorkCity and later triumphs onBroadway, he became famous “for the power and inten-sity of his actors’ performances.”[7] Hewas the pivotal fig-ure in launching the film careers ofMarlon Brando, JamesDean, Julie Harris, Eva Marie Saint, Warren Beatty,Lee Remick, Karl Malden, and many others. Sevenof Kazan’s films won a total of 20 Academy Awards.Dustin Hoffman commented that he “doubted whetherhe, Robert De Niro, or Al Pacino, would have becomeactors without Mr. Kazan’s influence.”[4]

Upon his death, at the age of 94, the New York Timesdescribed him as “one of the most honored and influen-tial directors in Broadway and Hollywood history.”[4] Hisstage direction of Death of a Salesman and A StreetcarNamed Desire is considered a “high point of world the-ater” in the 20th century. Although he became a “leg-endary director on Broadway”, he made an equally im-pressive transition into one of the major filmmakers ofhis time. Critic William Baer notes that throughout hiscareer “he constantly rose to the challenge of his ownaspirations”, adding that “he was a pioneer and vision-ary who greatly affected the history of both stage andcinema”.[7] Certain of his film-related material and per-sonal papers are contained in the Wesleyan UniversityCinema Archives to which scholars and media expertsfrom around the world may have full access.[57]

His controversial stand during his testimony in front of the

12 13 REFERENCES

House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)in 1952, became the low point in his career, although heremained convinced that he made the right decision togive the names of Communist Party members. He statedin an interview in 1976:

I would rather do what I did than crawl in frontof a ritualistic Left and lie the way those othercomrades did, and betray my own soul. I didn'tbetray it. I made a difficult decision.[7]

During his career, Kazan won both Tony and OscarAwards for excellence on stage and screen. In 1982, Pres-ident Ronald Reagan presented him with the KennedyCenter honors award, a national tribute for life achieve-ment in the arts. At the ceremony, screenwriter BuddSchulberg, who wrote On the Waterfront, thanks his life-long friend saying, “Elia Kazan has touched us all with hiscapacity to honor not only the heroic man, but the heroin every man.”[4] In an interview with the American FilmInstitute in 1976, Kazan spoke of his love of the cinema:“I think it’s the most wonderful art in the world.”[7]

In 1999, when he was 90 years old, Kazan receivedan honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement. Duringthe ceremony, he was accompanied by Martin Scorseseand Robert De Niro. The propriety of such an honorfor Kazan who “named names” at the HUAC hearingsremains a “contentious subject” according to the NewYork Times.[58] Many in Hollywood felt that enough timehad passed that it was appropriate to finally recognizeKazan’s great artistic accomplishments, although othersdid not and would not applaud.[59][60] Kazan appreciatedthe award:

I want to thank the Academy for its courage,its generosity. Thank you all very much. NowI can just slip away.[61]

In his autobiography, A Life, he sums up the influence offilmmaking on his life:

I realize now that work wasmy drug. It heldmetogether. It kept me high. When I wasn't work-ing, I didn't know who I was or what I was sup-posed to do. This is general in the film world.You are so absorbed in making a film, you can'tthink of anything else. It’s your identity, andwhen it’s done you are nobody.[19]:260

Martin Scorsese has directed a film documentary, A Let-ter to Elia (2010), considered to be an “intensely per-sonal and deeply moving tribute” to Kazan. Scorsesewas “captivated” by Kazan’s films as a young man, andthe documentary mirrors his own life story while healso credits Kazan as the inspiration for his becoming afilmmaker.[14][15] It won a Peabody Award in 2010.[62]

9 Awards and honors

In addition to these awards, Kazan has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame, which is located on 6800Hollywood Boulevard.[66] He is also a member of theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame.[67]

10 Filmography

11 Bibliography

• Kazan, Elia (1962). America America. New York:Popular Library. OCLC 21378773.

• Kazan, Elia (1967). The Arrangement: A Novel.New York: Stein and Day. OCLC 36500300.

• Kazan, Elia (1972). The Assassins. London:Collins. ISBN 0-00-221035-5.

• Ciment, Michel (1974). Kazan on Kazan. Viking..Originally published 1973 by Secker and Warburg,London.

• Kazan, Elia (1975). The Understudy. New York:Stein and Day. OCLC 9666336.

• Kazan, Elia (1977). A Kazan Reader. New York:Stein and Day. ISBN 0-8128-2193-9.

• Kazan, Elia (1978). Acts of Love. New York:Warner. ISBN 0-446-85553-7.

• Kazan, Elia (1982). The Anatolian. New York:Knopf. ISBN 0-394-52560-4.

• Kazan, Elia (1988). Elia Kazan: A Life. New York:Knopf. ISBN 0-394-55953-3.

• Kazan, Elia (1994). Beyond the Aegean. New York:Knopf. ISBN 0-679-42565-9.

• Kazan, Elia; Young, Jeff (1999). The Master Di-rector Discusses His Films. New York: NewmarketPress. ISBN 1-55704-338-8.

• Schickel, Richard (2005). Elia Kazan. New York:Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-019579-3.

• Kazan, Elia (2009). Kazan on Directing. New York:Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-26477-0.

12 See also

13 References[1] Dictionary.com – Kazan

13

[2] Oxford Learners’ Dictionary – Elia Kazan

[3] “Elia Kazan.”. www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2010-09-10. Elia Kazan, original name Elia Kazanjoglou (b.September 7, 1909, Constantinople (Istanbul), OttomanEmpire —d. September 28, 2003, New York City, U.S.).

[4] Rothstein, Mervyn (September 28, 2003). “Elia Kazan,Influential Director, Dies at 94”. The New York Times.Retrieved 2009-01-28.

[5] “Scenes from “City for Conquest” with Elia Kazan” clipswith Elia Kazan

[6] Stevens, George Jr. Conversations with the GreatMoviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Alfred A.Knopf (2006) pp. 389–408

[7] Kazan, Elia; Baer, William. Elia Kazan: Interviews, Univ.Press of Mississippi (2000) pp. vii–xi

[8] “A McCarthy Era Memory That Can Still Chill New YorkTimes, January 16, 1997

[9] “Scorsese gets personal in his A Letter to Elia”Gulf News,September 6, 2010

[10] “Amid Protests, Elia Kazan Receives His Oscar New YorkTimes, March 22, 1999

[11] Ciment, Michel. Kubrick: The Definitive Edition, Faberand Faber, Inc. (1980; 1999)

[12] International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers – 2: Di-rectors, St. James Press (1997) pp. 519–522

[13] Freer, Ian. Movie Makers: 50 Iconic Directors, QuercusPublishing (London) (2009) pp. 84–85

[14] “Scorsese Film Defends Anti-Communist InformerKazan” ABC News, September 4, 2010

[15] “A Letter to Elia” Variety, September 4, 2010

[16] “Elia Kazan.”. www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2010-09-10. Elia Kazan, original name Elia Kazanjoglous(b. September 7, 1909, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire—d.September 28, 2003, New York City, U.S.), Turkish-bornAmerican director and author, noted for his successes onthe stage, especially with plays by TennesseeWilliams andArthur Miller, and for his critically acclaimed films. Atage four, Kazan was brought to the United States with hisimmigrant Greek family.

[17] Young, Jeff (2001). Kazan: the master director discusseshis films : interviews with Elia Kazan. Newmarket Press.p. 9. ISBN 978-1-55704-446-4. He was born on Septem-ber 7, 1909 to Greek parents living in Istanbul. His father,Giorgos Kazantzoglou, had fled Kayseri, a small village inAnatolia where for five hundred years the Turks had op-pressed and brutalized the Armenian and Greek minori-ties who had lived there even longer.

[18] Sennett, Ted (1986). Great movie directors. Abrams. pp.128–129. ISBN 978-0-8109-0718-8. Elia Kazan (born1909)... Born in Istanbul, Kazan immigrated to Americawith his Greek parents at the age of four

[19] Kazan, Elia. Elia Kazan: A Life, Da Capo Press (1997)

[20] “Noted Film and Theater Director Elia Kazan Dies”.Voice of America News. September 29, 2003. RetrievedJuly 25, 2010.

[21] Rapf, Joanna E. On the Waterfront, Cambridge Univ.Press (2003)

[22] “Elia Kazan Biography (1909–)". Filmreference.com.Retrieved 2010-03-07.

[23] Young, Jeff. Kazan: The Master Director Discusses hisFilms, Newmarket Press N.Y. (1999) pp. 272–273

[24] Kazan, Elia. Kazan on Directing, Vintage Books (Jan.2010) pp. 218–219

[25] Ciment 1974: 15-19

[26] Lahr, John. “Method Man", The New Yorker, December13, 2010

[27] Clifford Odets: American Playwright: The Years from1906 to 1940, p. 410

[28] Pinewood Lake website retrieved on 2010-09-10

[29] Images of America, Trumbull Historical Society, 1997, p.123

[30] Lipton, James. Inside Inside, Dutton, (2007) p. 14

[31] Bast, W. Surviving James Dean, Barricade Books (2006)

[32] “Sidney Lumet”. Encyclopedia of World Biography,(2004)

[33] Jones, David Richard. Greate Directors at Work, Univ. ofCalifornia Press (1986) p. 2

[34] Brando, Marlon; Lindsey, Robert. Brando: Songs MyMother Taught Me, Random House (1994) pp. 169–176

[35] “Karl Malden dies at 97; Oscar-winning actor”, Los An-geles Times, July 2, 2009

[36] Schickel, Richard. Elia Kazan: A Biography, Harper-Collins (2005).

[37] Life magazine, July 19, 1954 pp. 45–50

[38] Springer, Claudia. James Dean Transfigured: The ManyFaces of Rebel Iconography, Univ. of Texas Press (2007)

[39] Rathgeb, Douglas L. The Making of Rebel Without aCause, McFarland (2004) p. 20

[40] Biskind, Peter. Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced Amer-ica, Simon & Schuster (2010) pp. 24–33

[41] Finstad, Suzanne. Natasha: The Biography of NatalieWood, Three Rivers Press (2001)

[42] “Unproduced Tennessee Williams screenplay finallyreaching movie theaters”, Los Angeles Times, November25, 2009

[43] “Countdown to the Oscars: No Oscar love for casting di-rectors” Los Angeles Times, February 21, 2011

[44] Keyishian, Harry. Screening Politics: The Politician inAmerican Movies, Rowman & Littlefield (2003) p. 62

14 15 EXTERNAL LINKS

[45] Wallach, Eli. The Good, the Bad, and Me: In My Anecdo-tage, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2005) p. 172

[46] “Elia Kazan, an actor’s director”, Los Angeles Times,February 17, 2010

[47] Salvi, Delia. Friendly Enemies: Maximizing the Director-Actor Relationship, Watson-Guptill (2002) pp. 239–240

[48] Williamson, Jerry Wayne. Hillbillyland: What the MoviesDid to the Mountains and What the Mountains Did to theMovies, Univ. of North Carolina Press Books (1995) p.168

[49] Brenner, Marie. “Tender is the Plight”, Texas Monthly,January 1977.

[50] Mills, Michael. “ModernTimes”

[51] Associated Press (April 12, 1952). “Director NamesStage Reds”. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 2. RetrievedAugust 7, 2010.

[52] Navasky, Victor (1980). Naming Names. New York:Viking Press. pp. 199–222. ISBN 978-0-670-50393-3.

[53] “Arthur Miller versus Elia Kazan, revisited”, Los AngelesTimes, December 26, 2009

[54] Weinraub, Bernard (February 23, 1999). “Kazan HonorStirs Protest By Blacklist Survivors”. The New YorkTimes. Retrieved 2009-01-28.

[55] Ciment 1974: 22

[56] Ciment, Michel (ed.) Elia Kazan: An American Odyssey,Bloomsbury Publ. U.K. (1988) p. 231

[57] http://www.wesleyan.edu/cinema/

[58] Michael Cieply (September 11, 2007). “A Voice Fromthe Blacklist: Documentary Lets Dalton Trumbo Speak”.The New York Times (New York). Retrieved 2008-01-04.

[59] “Elia Kazan receiving an Honorary Oscar”. YouTube.April 24, 2008. Retrieved 2010-03-07.

[60] Weinraub, Bernard (March 22, 1999). “Amid Protests,Elia Kazan Receives His Oscar”. NYTimes.com. Re-trieved 2010-03-07.

[61] Kazan, Elia. Receiving Honorary Academy Award video

[62] 70th Annual Peabody Awards, May 2011.

[63] “1st Berlin International Film Festival: In Competition”.berlinale.de. Retrieved 2009-12-22.

[64] “IMDB.com: Awards for Wild River”. imdb.com. Re-trieved 2010-01-18.

[65] “Berlinale: 1996 Prize Winners”. berlinale.de. Retrieved2012-01-01.

[66] “Elia Kazan”.

[67] “Theater Hall of Fame members”.

14 Further reading• Jones, David, Richard (1986). Great directors atwork : Stanislavsky, Brecht, Kazan, Brook. Berke-ley ; London: University of California Press. ISBN0-520-04601-3.

• Ciment, Michel (1988). An American Odyssey.London: Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7475-0241-2.

• Schickel, Richard (2005). Elia Kazan: A Biography.New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-019579-7.

• Murphy, Brenda (2006). Tennessee Williams andElia Kazan : a collaboration in the theatre. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-03524-4.

15 External links

15.1 Videos

• “The Life, Works, and Impact of Elia Kazan” video,10 minutes

• Receiving an Honorary Oscar video, 3 minutes

• “The Films of Elia Kazan”, movie clip compilation

• Christopher Plummer – Working with Elia Kazanvideo, 5 minutes

15.2 Articles

• Elia Kazan at the Internet Broadway Database

• Elia Kazan at the Internet Movie Database

• Works by or about Elia Kazan in libraries (WorldCatcatalog)

• Method Man: Elia Kazan’s Singular Career by JohnLahr in The New Yorker (A Critic at Large)

• Assessing Kazan: His Life and Choice (NYT Booksof the Times)

• Some notes on Kazan, HUAC, and the aftermath ofhis testimony including his April 13, 1952 statementin the New York Times

• Elia Kazan at Find a Grave

• Literature on Elia Kazan

15

16 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

16.1 Text• Elia Kazan Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elia_Kazan?oldid=685738640 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Gareth Owen, Danny, Freckle-foot, Michael Hardy, Delirium, Angela, Bogdangiusca, Rossami, Nikai, Jiang, Lukobe, Smith03, Leanne, Lfh, Viajero, Zoicon5, Tpbrad-bury, Traroth, Trent, Italo Svevo, Carbuncle, Calieber, Hmmmmm~enwiki, Robbot, Babbage, Tualha, Timrollpickering, WesternActor,Wikibot, JackofOz, Walloon, Asparagus, Xyzzyva, Dominick, DocWatson42, Jackbrown, Xinoph, Neilc, Chowbok, Andycjp, Xtream-bar, Rlquall, Sam, Aioth, Lacrimosus, D6, Apalsola, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Paulo Oliveira, Sicilarch, Satyadev, Rsanchezsaez,Xezbeth, Erolos, JPX7, Bender235, Flapdragon, Swid, Kwamikagami, Haxwell, Remember, RoyBoy, Jpgordon, Arcadian, Rajah, Offi-ciallyover, Diego Moya, Philip Cross, Ninio, SFTVLGUY2, Bbsrock, Grenavitar, Dave.Dunford, Hyfen, Rajatster, Woohookitty, Just-Derek, Cbustapeck, Zzyzx11, Emerson7, Kesla, SteveCrook, Rachel1, BD2412, Ted Wilkes, RxS, Noirish, Koavf, Plainsong, Rogerd,NatusRoma, MarnetteD, Pinko1977, Margosbot~enwiki, Str1977, AaronB0413, Gareth E Kegg, Chobot, Scoops, Sherool, Mr.Rocks,EamonnPKeane, Kummi, RobotE, RussBot, TommyP, Flyguy33, Aeusoes1, Chick Bowen, Astorknlam, Rjensen, PhilipC, Tony1, Nlu,Wknight94, Pegship, Deville, Joshmaul, Rms125a@hotmail.com, Jogers, Whobot, JLaTondre, RPGLand2000, Aoa8212, Allens, ThomasBlomberg, GrinBot~enwiki, Entheta, Vulturell, SmackBot, Elonka, Davepape, DCGeist, FlashSheridan, Eskimbot, Coleca, Hmains, Christhe speller, KaragouniS, MK8, The InvisibleMan, MalafayaBot, Roscelese, Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-Silverburg, Kasyapa, Viva-Verdi,Professor Von Pie, Cplakidas, Jukrat, Shunpiker, DavidKurz, Seduisant, Threeafterthree, Khoikhoi, Fuhghettaboutit, Ryan Roos, Wizard-man, JackHearne, StN, Tesseran, Thepangelinanpost, Michael David, Salonica84, Yannismarou, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, BrownHairedGirl,Jzummak, Guat6, Dep1353, Phbasketball6, Makyen, Beetstra, Mallaccaos, Dr.K., AEMoreira042281, Jkaharper, Hu12, Levineps, Geor-gios Nikolaidis, Shoeofdeath, O1ive, Az1568, GiantSnowman, Joey80, President David Palmer, Mattbr, Megaboz, AlbertSM, Hjc22, Whatis a username?, Reaper7, Neelix, Mrsteed, Cydebot, Slp1, Aristophanes68, Kilhan, MWaller, Lugnuts, Tawkerbot4, DBaba, After Mid-night, Saintrain, Kingstowngalway, Thijs!bot, TonyTheTiger, Daniel, Mr. Brain, JustAGal, ThomasPusch, Escarbot, Tjmayerinsf, Isatay,Postcard Cathy, Cinematical, Rentaferret, Bzuk, MegX, Rothorpe, Wildhartlivie, Hurmata, VoABot II, RBBrittain, Hullaballoo Wol-fowitz, Literarypr, Chesdovi, Vssun, Roricka, Grunge6910, GuelphGryphon98, Veronica Mars fanatic, Edton, Jniech, PhantomS, Nandt1,Tvoz, Chaosu¹, R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, Johnpacklambert, DrKay, Hans Dunkelberg, Libroman, Netnuevo, Belovedfreak, Cometstyles,Tomticker5, Inwind, VolkovBot, AlnoktaBOT, Bovineboy2008, MenasimBot, Fences and windows, TXiKiBoT, Fgf2007, Tovojolo, UnaSmith, Steven J. Anderson, Skublum, Broadbot, Kenshin, Tkondaks, S2grand, Feudonym, Cwmacdougall, Alcmaeonid, Petteri Aimo-nen, Lukashka, Claredom, Barrympls, SieBot, BotMultichill, Alex Middleton, Gokhantig, Vobor, Smilemean, Monegasque, Artoasis,Aspects, OKBot, Kumioko (renamed), Correogsk, Nusumareta, Nipsonanomhmata, ImageRemovalBot, Martarius, ClueBot, Binksternet,All Hallow’s Wraith, UZiBLASTER7, Cirt, Ozzie425er, Ktr101, John Nevard, LaVidaLoca, Scott Anafas, Takabeg, Light show, Cata-lographer, DumZiBoT, XLinkBot, GordonUS, Jbmweb1, DaL33T, Kbdankbot, Addbot, 157.228.x.x, CanadianLinuxUser, Reedmalloy,Cst17, AndersBot, William (The Bill) Blackstone, Tassedethe, Tide rolls, Lightbot, Kiril Simeonovski, CountryBot, Legobot, Luckas-bot,Yobot, Themfromspace, Mmxx, NYlocalhistorian, AnomieBOT, Ulric1313, Danno uk, Citation bot, ArthurBot, Reza 2638, Peymanzeneg-ger, Gtrbolivar, ProtectionTaggingBot, Omnipaedista, Cresix, Hushpuckena, TWilliams9, Edgars2007, FrescoBot, Nyguide, Weetoddid,RoosterEnroughty, The kicker, Johnswhitaker, MastiBot, Foobarnix, Istcol, Tafikyak, JaSte, FoxBot, عقیل ,کاشف Comnenus, Smarty-Boots, Dinamik-bot, Landonp3, Anthony Winward, Lucobrat, Satdeep Gill, Johna4567, AXRL, AllenDen, John of Reading, Karbuncle,Bugrakurban, Twix1875, 4meter4, We hope, Everything Else Is Taken, Werieth, ZéroBot, Chuck Baggett, NathanielTheBold, Esc2003,Figureofnine, H3llBot, Screensavant, Erianna, Rcsprinter123, Shokorus, MCMiller, Je le monde, Chewings72, Raptment, Tallgrassweeds,Rabotazibni, Dino Elgrande, ClueBot NG, MAPC 3, Skipjames57, AnyGuy, Kumkwat, Helpful Pixie Bot, Kgoc126, Movietalks, Par-ticipator2011, Marcocapelle, ERJANIK, Swisstony32, MathewTownsend, ChrisGualtieri, Zenostar, QuickMotion, ÄDA - DÄP, Steveg-reco1, Mogism, Head-it-behind, Xelophate, Zorlusert, VIAFbot, Jjjakegittes, Fideliosr, Ekzact1, Donevengurl, Mainthinker, JaconaFrere,MirisElocin, Monkbot, Filedelinkerbot, BethNaught, Tsaost, KazanElia, Understat, Piledhighandeep, Morris1834, Dukeinator91, Jjlynnf,User99998, KasparBot, NOVAASA and Anonymous: 319

16.2 Images• File:Brando_-_Leigh_-_1951.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Brando_-_Leigh_-_1951.jpg Li-cense: Public domain Contributors: ebay Original artist: Press photo

• File:Elia_Kazan.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Elia_Kazan.JPG License: Public domain Contribu-tors: http://mythicalmonkey.blogspot.com.au/p/katie-bar-door-award-nominees-and.html Original artist: Unknown

• File:Eva_marie_saint_marlon_brando_waterfront_27.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Eva_marie_saint_marlon_brando_waterfront_27.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: On the Waterfront trailer Original artist: Trailerscreenshottrailer at IMDB

• File:James_Dean_in_East_of_Eden_trailer_2.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/James_Dean_in_East_of_Eden_trailer_2.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: East of Eden trailer Original artist: Trailer screenshot

• File:Kazan_in_Paradise_37.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/40/Kazan_in_Paradise_37.jpg License: ? Con-tributors:Book: Elia Kazan: A LifeOriginal artist:unknown

• File:P_vip.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/69/P_vip.svg License: PD Contributors: ? Original artist: ?• File:Robert_De_Niro_-_1976.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Robert_De_Niro_-_1976.jpg Li-cense: Public domain Contributors: ebay Original artist: Movie studio

• File:Seated-Splendor-Stevens.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/Seated-Splendor-Stevens.JPG License: ?Contributors:Book: The Great Moviemakers by George Stevens, Jr. 2006 (other photo credits included a copyright notice - this one did not, implying thatit was likely PD)

16 16 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Original artist:studio photographer

• File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg License:CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:

• Wiki_letter_w.svg Original artist: Wiki_letter_w.svg: Jarkko Piiroinen• File:Wikiquote-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg License: Public domainContributors: ? Original artist: ?

16.3 Content license• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0