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…

Directed

1. On the Waterfront (1954) — Director
2. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) — Director
3. East of Eden (1955) — Director
4. Splendor in the Grass (1961) — Director
5. Gentleman's Agreement (1947) — Director
6. A Face in the Crowd (1957) — Director
7. Viva Zapata! (1952) — Director
8. Panic in the Streets (1950) — Director
9. The Last Tycoon (1976) — Director
10. Baby Doll (1956) — Director
11. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) — Director
12. Wild River (1960) — Director
13. America America (1963) — Director
14. Boomerang! (1947) — Director
15. The Arrangement (1969) — Director
16. Pinky (1949) — Director
17. Man on a Tightrope (1953) — Director
18. The Sea of Grass (1947) — Director
19. The Visitors (1972) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Panic in the Streets (1950) — Cleaver - Mortuary Assistant (uncredited)
2. The Oscars (1953) — Self
3. City for Conquest (1940) — 'Googi'
4. Blues in the Night (1941) — Nickie Haroyen
5. A Letter to Elia (2010) — Self (archive footage)
6. The Dick Cavett Show (1968) — Self - Guest
7. Arthur Miller: Writer (2017) — Self (archive footage)
8. Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire (2014) — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
9. Pie in the Sky (1935)
10. The Merv Griffin Show (1962) — Self
11. The Mike Douglas Show (1961) — Self
12. Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey (1995) — Self
13. The Kennedy Center Honors (1978) — Self
14. Elia Kazan: An Outsider (1982) — Self
15. Mist (1988) — Old man in the coffee house
16. Apostrophes (1975) — Self
17. Hello Actors Studio (1988) — Self
18. An American Named Kazan (2019) — Self (archive footage)
19. Life at Any Cost (1998)
20. Cinépanorama (1956) — Self
21. Die Drehscheibe (1964) — Self
22. Strangers All (1935) — Protester Calling for a Ballot at Communist Meeting
23. The Screen Director (1951) — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
24. A Streetcar in Hollywood (2006) — Self (archive footage)
25. A Streetcar on Broadway (2006) — Self (archive footage)
26. Spécial cinéma (1974) — Self
27. Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage (1994) — Self (archive footage)
28. I Am Wanda (1980) — Self
29. Empire City (1985) — Self
30. Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan and the Blacklist: None Without Sin (2003) — Self (Archive footage)
31. East of Eden: Art in Search of Life (2005) — Himself
32. Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady (1982)
33. An Actor Named Brando (2006) — Self (archive footage)
34. Backstory: 'Gentleman's Agreement' (2001) — Self (archive footage)
35. Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret (1990) — Self
36. Inside Rupert Pupkin (2014) — Self (archive footage)
37. A Man Named Brando (2006) — Self
38. A New Lifestyle (1969) — Self
39. The Making of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (2019)