Most notable films:
Gentleman's Agreement (1947),
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951),
Viva Zapata!(1952),
On the Waterfront (1954),
East of Eden (1955)
One of the most acclaimed, yet controversial directors ever, Elia Kazan has made his mark on stage and in film for over 40 years. His career is notable for the many classic plays and films he directed, and for his decision to testify during the Hollywood blacklisting scandal of the early 1950's.
With 59 nominations and 21 wins over 13 films, Elia Kazan ranks #12 on the 'Oscar Director-y'.
Born on September 7, 1909, in what is now Istanbul, Turkey, Elias Kazanjoglou was the son of Greek parents. They emigrated to New York in 1913, and Elias would eventually graduate from New Rochelle High School. He attended Williams College in Massachusetts, graduating with a Bachelors Degree in 1930, then went to the Yale School of Drama, from 1930 to 1932. He landed a job as an apprentice at the Group Theater in New York, which had been formed by Lee Strasberg, Cheryl Crawford and Harold Clurman. The name came from the idea of the actors as a pure ensemble, without any 'stars', although many of the group did go on to become stars, including Lee J. Cobb, John Garfield, Howard Da Silva, Luther Adler, Franchot Tone and Will Geer. Also in the group was playwright Clifford Odets, and future acting instructors Stella Adler and Sanford Meisner. Kazan worked as an actor and stage manager, and began directing plays in the mid-1930's. He acted in a couple of films in Hollywood (
City for Conquest, Blues in the Night) in the early '40's, then returned to New York to direct his first hit play, the Group Theater's production of Thornton Wilder's
The Skin of Our Teeth. With this success, Hollywood called again, this time with directorial offers. In 1945, Kazan's film of
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was nominated for two Academy Awards, failing to win for Adapted Screenplay, but winning a Supporting Actor Oscar for James Dunn. Dunn became the first of 21 actors to be nominated in Kazan-helmed films, with 9 (including Dunn) taking home the golden statuette: Celeste Holm (
Gentleman's Agreement), Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden, Kim Hunter (
A Streetcar Named Desire), Anthony Quinn (
Viva Zapata!), Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint (
On the Waterfront), and Jo Van Fleet (
East of Eden). Only William Wyler (#1 on the Oscar Director-y) directed more Oscar winning performances (13). Here is a list of Kazan's nominated films, with the number of nominations, and Oscars won:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) 2/1
Boomerang (1947) 1/-
Gentleman's Agreement (1947) 8/3
Pinky (1949) 3/-
Panic in the Streets (1950) 1/1
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) 12/4
Viva Zapata! (1952) 5/1
On the Waterfront (1954) 12/8
East of Eden (1955) 4/1
Baby Doll (1956) 4/-
Splendor in the Grass (1961) 2/1
America, America (1963) 4/1
The Last Tycoon (1976) 1/-
Over a period of 16 years, from 1945 through 1960, he amassed a body of work that might never be equaled by any other director. He directed 10 different films that received Oscar nominations, including four films for which he received Best Director nominations. He also directed six Broadway plays, and was Tony nominated for all. In 1947, he managed to find time to co-found The Actors Studio (with Cheryl Crawford and Robert Lewis), where the concept of "Method Acting" was pioneered. His theater successes included Arthur Miller's
All My Sons and
Death of a Salesman, William Inge's
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, and Tennessee Williams'
A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and
Sweet Bird of Youth. He won the Tony Award for Best Director three times. He also won two Best Director Oscars, for
Gentleman's Agreement and
On the Waterfront. He was nominated for
A Streetcar Named Desire, Baby Doll, and, in the early '60's,
America, America.
Elia Kazan's films were all rooted in great scripts, as 11 of the 13 films listed in this Director-y received screenplay nominations. Only
Pinky and
The Last Tycoon missed out. He directed socially conscious films, addressing such issues as Anti-Semitism, racism, public corruption and alcoholism. His psychological and emotional inner-realism, developed for the stage, translated well onto the big screen, with brooding, sensitive and sometimes volatile performances being given by Marlon Brando, James Dean, Anthony Quinn, Rod Steiger, Karl Malden and Lee J. Cobb, among others.
While with the Group Theater back in 1934, Kazan had been a member of the Communist Party for 18 months. He then had a change of heart, renouncing their philosophies "in disgust". In 1952, he was called to testify before the House Committee on un-American Activities (HUAC). He refused to say that the Group Theater was a "front" for the Communist Party, and would not incriminate anyone. Unfortunately, strong pressure from the head of 20th Century-Fox, Spyros Skouras, made him change his position. Threatened with never working in pictures again, Kazan finally acquiesced and gave the Committee names of several individuals who had been Party members, including Clifford Odets, Lee Strasberg, Lillian Hellman, and John Garfield, all of whom had already been named by other people. Kazan was scorned by many in the Hollywood community, but continued to direct powerful and important works, both on stage and screen.
In 1999, Elia Kazan was awarded an Honorary Oscar Statuette, "In appreciation of a long, distinguished and unparalleled career during which he has influenced the very nature of filmmaking through his creation of cinematic masterpieces". Nearly 50 years had passed since the "blacklist scandal", but memories were long and unforgiving. The Executive Council of the Eastern unit of the Writers Guild of America voted to protest the giving of the honor, and many people in the audience at the Oscar Awards ceremony remained seated and refused to applaud when Kazan appeared on stage. It was a controversial ending to a controversial career.
Some of Elia Kazan's films that did not receive Oscar consideration:
Sea of Grass, Man on a Tightrope, A Face in the Crowd, Wild River, The Arrangement and
The Visitors.
Elia Kazan died on September 28, 2003, of natural causes, in Manhattan, New York, a short distance from where he had achieved his greatest stage successes. He was 94 years old.
