
Elia Kazan
Biography
Elia Kazan ( September 7 , 1909, Kayseri – September 28, 2003) was a Greek-American director and actor, described as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". He also produced, and wrote screenplays and novels. Born in the Kayseri, Ottoman Empire to Greek parents, they emigrated to New York when he was four. After two years studying acting at Yale, he acted professionally for eight years before becoming a stage and film director. Kazan co-founded the influential Group Theater in 1932 and Actors Studio in 1947, and together with Lee Strasberg, introduced Method acting to the American stage and cinema as a new form of self-expression and psychological "realism". Having been an actor himself for eight years, he brought sensitivity and understanding of the acting process, and was later considered the ideal "actor's director". He himself acted in only a few films, including City for Conquest (1940), alongside James Cagney.
Overall, Kazan influenced the films of the 1950s and 1960s by his run of provocative, issues-driven subjects, and acting. Moreover, his personal brand of cinema, employing real locations over sets, unknowns over stars, and realism over convenient genres, proved influential to a whole generation of independent filmmakers in the 1960s. Film author Ian Freer concludes that "If his achievements are tainted by political controversy, the debt Hollywood — and actors everywhere — owes him, is enormous." In 2010, Martin Scorsese co-directed the documentary film, A Letter to Elia, as a personal tribute to Kazan, who he credits as the inspiration for his becoming a filmmaker.
Acting (21 movies)

Arthur Miller: Writer
2017

An Actor Named Brando
2006

City for Conquest
1940

Backstory: 'Gentleman's Agreement'
2001

Blues in the Night
1941

A Letter to Elia
2010

Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey
1995

Elia Kazan: An Outsider
1982

Hello Actors Studio
1988

Strangers All
1935

Mist
1988

Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire
2014

Pie in the Sky
1935

Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage
1994

I Am Wanda
1980

An American Named Kazan
2019

Empire City
1985

Panic in the Streets
1950

A Streetcar in Hollywood
2006

A Streetcar on Broadway
2006

Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan and the Blacklist: None Without Sin
2003
Directing (19 movies)

East of Eden
1955

On the Waterfront
1954

A Streetcar Named Desire
1951

Viva Zapata!
1952

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
1945

A Face in the Crowd
1957

Panic in the Streets
1950

Gentleman's Agreement
1947

Baby Doll
1956

Splendor in the Grass
1961

Pinky
1949

The Last Tycoon
1976

America America
1963

Boomerang!
1947

Wild River
1960

The Sea of Grass
1947

Man on a Tightrope
1953

The Visitors
1972

The Arrangement
1969
| Title | Year | Job |
|---|---|---|
| East of Eden | 1955 | Producer |
| Baby Doll | 1956 | Producer |
| A Face in the Crowd | 1957 | Producer |
| Wild River | 1960 | Producer |
| Splendor in the Grass | 1961 | Producer |
| America America | 1963 | Producer |
| America America | 1963 | Writer |
| The Arrangement | 1969 | Writer |
| The Arrangement | 1969 | Producer |
| Diaspora | 2001 | Writer |