ELIA KAZAN
Name: Elias Kazanjoglou
Born: 7 September 1909 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Died: 28 September 2003 New York, US
Elia Kazan (September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was a
Greek-American film and theatre director, film and theatrical producer,
screenwriter, novelist and cofounder of the influential Actors Studio in New
York in 1947.
Elia Kazan was born Elias Kazancıoğlu in 1909 in Constantinople (present-day
Istanbul, Turkey), then capital of the Ottoman Empire, to a Greek family.
According to some sources he was born in the Anatolian city of Kayseri.
Suffering the prejudice of being Greek from the newly formed government of the
Young Turks, his family emigrated to the United States in 1913 and settled in
New York City, where his father, George Kazanjoglou, became a rug merchant.
Kazan's father expected that his son would go into the family business, but his
mother, Athena, 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, 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.
He became one of the most visible members of the Hollywood elite. Kazan's
theater credits included acting in Men in White, Waiting for Lefty, Johnny
Johnson, and Golden Boy, and directing A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and Cat
on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), two of the plays that made Tennessee Williams a
theatrical and literary force, and 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.
Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Kazan's history as a film director is scarcely less noteworthy. He won two
Academy Awards for Best Director, for Gentleman's Agreement (1947) and On the
Waterfront (1954). He elicited remarkable 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), and Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd.
Name: Elias Kazanjoglou
Born: 7 September 1909 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Died: 28 September 2003 New York, US
Elia Kazan (September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was a
Greek-American film and theatre director, film and theatrical producer,
screenwriter, novelist and cofounder of the influential Actors Studio in New
York in 1947.
Elia Kazan was born Elias Kazancıoğlu in 1909 in Constantinople (present-day
Istanbul, Turkey), then capital of the Ottoman Empire, to a Greek family.
According to some sources he was born in the Anatolian city of Kayseri.
Suffering the prejudice of being Greek from the newly formed government of the
Young Turks, his family emigrated to the United States in 1913 and settled in
New York City, where his father, George Kazanjoglou, became a rug merchant.
Kazan's father expected that his son would go into the family business, but his
mother, Athena, 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, 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.
He became one of the most visible members of the Hollywood elite. Kazan's
theater credits included acting in Men in White, Waiting for Lefty, Johnny
Johnson, and Golden Boy, and directing A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and Cat
on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), two of the plays that made Tennessee Williams a
theatrical and literary force, and 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.
Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Kazan's history as a film director is scarcely less noteworthy. He won two
Academy Awards for Best Director, for Gentleman's Agreement (1947) and On the
Waterfront (1954). He elicited remarkable 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), and Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd.