Elia Kazan
Kazan before bookshelves at Brentano's book store, 1967
Born	Elia Kazan September 7, 1909(1909-09-07) Kayseri (now Turkey)
Died	September 28, 2003 (aged 94) New York City, New York, US
Years active	1934-1976
Spouse(s)	Molly Day Thatcher (1932-1963; her death) Barbara Loden (1967-1980; her death) Frances Rudges (1982-2003; his death)

Elia Kazan (pronounced ē-LĒ-ä ka-ZAHN; September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, film and theatrical producer, screenwriter, novelist and co-founder of the influential Actors Studio in New York in 1947. Kazan was a three-time Academy Award winner, a five-time Tony Award winner, a four-time Golden Globes winner, as well as a recipient of numerous awards and nominations in other prestigious festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival.

[edit] Early life

Kazan was born Elias Kazancoglu (Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου Greek) to Greek parents in Kayseri. His family emigrated to the United States in 1913 and settled in New York City, where his father, George Kazanjoglu, became a rug merchant. Kazan's father expected that his son would go into the family business, but his mother, Athena (née Sismanoglou),^[1] encouraged Kazan to make his own decisions.

Kazan attended public schools in New York City and New Rochelle, New York. After graduating from Williams College in Massachusetts, Kazan studied at Yale University's School of Drama. In the 1930s, Kazan acted with New York's Group Theatre, alongside (among others) Lee Strasberg, Clifford Odets, and Stella and Luther Adler. During this period, Kazan earned his nickname 'Gadg', short for Gadget - he never learned to love the name. For about 19 months in 1934-36, Kazan was a member of a secret Communist cell.^[2]

[edit] Career

[edit] Theatrical

He became one of the most visible members of the New York elite. Kazan's stage acting credits include Men in White, Waiting for Lefty, Johnny Johnson, Golden Boy, and the 1940 revival of Liliom. Kazan directed A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), two of the plays that made Tennessee Williams a theatrical and literary force. He also directed All My Sons (1947) and Death of a Salesman, (1949) the plays which did much the same for Arthur Miller. He received three Tony Awards, winning for All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and J.B.

[edit] Film director

Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Kazan's history as a film director is equally noteworthy, if not more impressive. He won two Academy Awards for Best Director, for Gentleman's Agreement (1947) and On the Waterfront (1954). He elicited critically acclaimed performances from actors such as Marlon Brando and Oscar winners Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden and Kim Hunter in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) (the film version of Tennessee Williams' play), James Dean and Oscar winner Jo Van Fleet in East of Eden (adapted from the John Steinbeck novel), Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick, and Jo Van Fleet in Wild River (1960), reportedly one of Kazan's favorite films, Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass and Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd.^[3] Before he began directing films, however, he occasionally played supporting roles in them, one of those films being the 1941 Blues in the Night.

[edit] HUAC testimony

Kazan remained controversial in some circles until his death for testimony he gave before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1952, in which (after previously refusing to do so) he named associates from his days as a member of the Communist Party of the United States of America in the 1930s.^[4] He began his career as an actor and stage manager for New York's Group Theatre Company, which was just recently established. His involvement in the group led him to join the "American Communist Party" in 1934. He was only involved with the Communist Party for a short time; however, he was quickly recognized as a potential communist by the HUAC, a group that was investigating the motion picture industry because of growing concern over communists working in the industry. A blacklist of names was being circulated, and those on the list could be in serious trouble and be denied work in the film industry again. The Committee called on people to identify others, and many refused; however, Kazan in his testimony named eight other members of the Communist Party, including some who had worked with him in The Group Theater; all the persons so named were already known to HUAC.^[5]

Among the people Kazan named in his testimony were two individuals, Phoebe Brand and Tony Kraber, whom Kazan had himself recruited into the Communist Party in the 1930s. Others included actor Zero Mostel, who was blacklisted and unable to work for the rest of the 1950s.^[6]

When Kazan received an Honorary Academy Award in 1999, surviving blacklistees, including Phoebe Brand, as well as some other actors, protested. Actress Kim Hunter, another victim of the blacklist, albeit one whose career recovered, stated that Kazan deserved the honor.^[7] Kazan defended his actions long after the fact, writing, "I'd had every good reason to believe the party should be driven out of its many hiding places and into the light of scrutiny, but I'd never said anything because it would be called 'red-baiting.' [. . .] The `horrible, immoral thing' that I did I did out of my own true self."^[4] Blacklisted director and former friend Jules Dassin refused to forgive Kazan, stating that he lied about why he turned on his friends. In an interview with the French television program "Ciné-Parade" available in the supplemental materials on the Night and the City DVD he states that he knew Kazan could not live without his work and the threat of being separated from it was his motivation for turning on his friends. Kazan's subsequent lies about his motives are what Dassin found unforgivable.

[edit] Personal life

Elia Kazan was married three times.^[4] His first wife was playwright Molly Day Thacher. They were married from 1932 until her death in 1963; this marriage produced two daughters and two sons. His second marriage, to the actress Barbara Loden, lasted from 1969 until her death in 1980, and produced one son. Lastly, he was married to Frances Rudge from 1982 until his death in 2003, aged 94.

[edit] Honorary Academy Award

In 1999, Kazan received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement. He was accompanied by Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. Both De Niro and Scorsese had appeared in a film about the Hollywood Red Scare (Guilty by Suspicion). Many in Hollywood felt that enough time had passed that it was appropriate to bury the hatchet and recognize Kazan's great artistic accomplishments but others did not. Some refused to applaud (Nick Nolte) or applauded politely but remained seated (Steven Spielberg). Warren Beatty, a liberal Democrat stood up and applauded, as did, among others, Karl Malden and Lynn Redgrave.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Bibliography

• Kazan, Elia (1951). The Arrangement: A Novel. New York: Stein and Day. OCLC 36500300. 
• Kazan, Elia (1962). America America. New York: Popular Library. OCLC 21378773. 
• Kazan, Elia (1972). The Assassins. London: Collins. ISBN 0002210355. 
• Kazan, Elia (1973). Kazan on Kazan. London: Secker & Warburg. OCLC 221452156. 
• Kazan, Elia (1988). Elia Kazan: A Life. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0394559533. 
• Kazan, Elia (1975). The Understudy. New York: Stein and Day. OCLC 9666336. 
• Kazan, Elia (1977). A Kazan Reader. New York: Stein and Day. ISBN 0812821939. 
• Kazan, Elia (1978). Acts of Love. New York: Warner. ISBN 0446855537. 
• Kazan, Elia (1982). The Anatolian. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0394525604. 
• Kazan, Elia (1994). Beyond the Aegean. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0679425659. 
• Kazan, Elia; Young, Jeff (1999). The Master Director Discusses His Films. New York: Newmarket Press. ISBN 1557043388. 

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Schickel, Richard (2005). Elia Kazan: A Biography. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0060195797. 
• Jones, David, Richard (1986). Great directors at work : Stanislavsky, Brecht, Kazan, Brook. Berkeley ; London: University of California Press. ISBN 0520046013. 
• Murphy, Brenda (2006). Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan : a collaboration in the theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521035244 (pbk). 

[edit] External links

• Elia Kazan at Find a Grave
• Elia Kazan at the Internet Broadway Database
• Elia Kazan at the Internet Movie Database
• Assessing Kazan: His Life and Choice (NYT Books of the Times)
• Kazan receiving his honorary Oscar.
• Some notes on Kazan, HUAC, and the aftermath of his testimony including his April 13, 1952 statement in the New York Times