Elia Kazan was born 112 years ago today.
A director, producer, writer and actor, Kazan was described by The New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history.”
Born in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire to Greek parents, Kazan studied acting at Yale. He acted professionally for eight years and joined he Group Theater in 1932. In 1947, he co-founded the Actors Studio.
With Lee Strasberg, he introduced Method acting to the American stage and cinema as a new form of self-expression and psychological "realism.”
Kazan, himself, only acted in only a few films, including City for Conquest in 1940. He introduced a new generation of unknown young actors to the movie audiences, including Marlon Brando and James Dean. Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his actors, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins.
He became one of the consummate filmmakers of the 20th century after directing a string of successful films, including, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Waterfront (1954) and East of Eden (1955). During his career, he won two Oscars as Best Director and received an Honorary Oscar, won three Tony Awards and four Golden Globes.
Among the other actors he introduced to movie audiences were Warren Beatty, Carroll Baker, Julie Harris, Andy Griffith, Lee Remick, Rip Torn, Eli Wallach, Eva Marie Saint, Martin Balsam, Fred Gwynne and Pat Hingle.
Kazan’s films were concerned with personal or social issues of special concern to him. He influenced the films of the 1950s and '60s with his provocative, issue-driven subjects. "I don't move unless I have some empathy with the basic theme," he wrote.
A turning point in Kazan's career came with his testimony as a "friendly witness" before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1952 at the time of the Hollywood blacklist, which cost him the respect of many liberal friends and colleagues. Kazan later explained that he took "only the more tolerable of two alternatives that were either way painful and wrong.”
Director Stanley Kubrick called him, "without question, the best director we have in America, [and] capable of performing miracles with the actors he uses.”
Film author Ian Freer concludes that "If his achievements are tainted by political controversy, the debt Hollywood — and actors everywhere — owes him is enormous."
Elia Kazan died from natural causes in his home in New York in 2003 at age 94.