Legendary Director Elia Kazan Dies at 94
Elia Kazan, who directed some of the most influential and well-respected Broadway productions of the 20th century, died this weekend at his home in Manhattan. He was 94.
Kazan was born in Constantinople on September 7, 1909 and moved with his family to New York City just before World War I. He studied at Williams College in Massachusetts and the Yale University School of Drama before joining The Group Theater in New York. As an actor, he appeared in a number of Broadway plays, including Waiting for Lefty, Johnny Johnson, Golden Boy, and The Gentle People. Kazan directed his first production, The Young Go First, in 1935 and went on to stage such works as Thunder Rock, Cafe Crown, and The Strings, My Lord, Are False before gaining major prominence with his production of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, for which he was awarded the Outer Critics’ Circle Award.
This led to a glittering Broadway career highlighted by Kazan’s direction of the original productions of A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman (for which Kazan received a Tony Award), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Tony nomination), Tea and Sympathy, All My Sons (Tony Award), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (Tony nomination), Sweet Bird of Youth (Tony nomination), Camino Real, J.B. (Tony Award), and many others. Kazan also staged two Kurt Weill musicals, One Touch of Venus in 1943 and Love Life in 1948. He was a founder and director of the influential Actors Studio. Years later, with Robert Whitehead, he co-founded the first repertory company at Lincoln Center and directed five plays — including Arthur Miller’s After the Fall — for that company.
Kazan’s contributions to Hollywood are also enduring. He won Academy Awards for his direction of Gentleman’s Agreement and On the Waterfront, and was nominated for his work on America, America (which was based on his own novel), East of Eden, and A Streetcar Named Desire. The Streetcar film reunited three of the four stars of the acclaimed Broadway production: Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden. Kazan’s other films include A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Viva Zapata!, Baby Doll, Splendor in the Grass, and The Arrangement.
His career was shadowed by controversy stemming from his appearance before the House Un-American Activities Commission in 1952, during which he admitted his own former membership in the Communist party and identified others who had also been involved. When Kazan accepted an Academy Award for lifetime achievement in 1999, many in attendance refused to acknowledge him with applause while others granted him a standing ovation.
Kazan is survived by his third wife, Frances Rudge (whom he married in 1982), four children, three step-children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
