Elia Kazan, known for his creative stage direction, was born Elia Kazanjoglous in Istanbul in 1909 to Greek parents. He directed such Broadway plays as "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". He directed the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire and many other films. He is a proponent of the method approach to acting, developed by Konstantin Stanislavski. Kazan received two best director Academy Awards, for the films Gentleman's Agreement and On the Waterfront. He has written many films about Greek immigrants, such as America, America. These films are based on his novels. Kazan's autobiography, published in 1988, is entitled "Elie Kazan: A Life".


His selection for an Honorary Oscar angered many in the filmmaking community on account of his being among the first to cooperate with the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in 1952, which led to the blacklisting that ruined many careers in Hollywood because of their political beliefs, and that Kazan had publicly stated that he had no regrets for that action. In response, there were loud protests against his selection for the award and some attendees of the awards ceremony - such as Nick Nolte , Ed Harris - stayed in their seats and refused to applaud when he received the award. However, others both stood and applauded Kazan, such as Warren Beatty, Meryl Streep, Helen Hunt, Karl Malden, Kurt Russell, and Kathy Baker. Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese presented the honorary Oscar to Kazan. Is the 1958 recipient of the prestigious Connor Award given by the brothers of the Phi Alpha Tau fraternity based out of Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. He is also an honorary brother of the fraternity. Father of Nicholas Kazan. 4 children with Molly: Judy, Chris, Nick, and Katharine. 2 children with Barbara: Leo and Marco. In 1956 he received his third Tony nomination for Best Director. This was for his direction of the play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". In 1958 he won his third Tony Award for Best Director. This was for the play "J.B." Directed 21 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: James Dunn, Celeste Holm, Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, Anne Revere, Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters, Karl Malden, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter, Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Jo Van Fleet, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Mildred Dunnock and Natalie Wood. Dunn, Holm, Malden, Leigh, Hunter, Quinn, Brando, Saint and Van Fleet all won Oscars for their performances in one of Kazans movies. According to Kazan, his first name was pronounced "l-EE-ah". Won three Tony Awards for Best Director: in 1947 for Arthur Miller's "All My Sons;" in 1949 for for Miller's "Death of a Salesman;" and in 1959 for Archibald Macleish's "J.B." He was also Tony-nominated four other times: in 1956, as Best Director, for Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof;" in 1958, as Best Director and co-producer of Best Play nominee, William Inge's "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs;" and in 1960, as Best Director (Dramatic) for Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth." Despite having had two cinematic successes with Tennessee Williams works A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and Baby Doll (1956), Kazan did not direct the movie version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), although he won a Tony Award nomination as Best Director for staging Williams' Pultizer Prize-winning play on Broadway. Richard Brooks directed the film. During the play's production, Kazan had had trouble with Williams, and eventually demanded that Williams rewrite the second act of the play to bring Big Daddy back on stage. Williams complied, but had Big Daddy tell what Kazan felt was the equivalent of a dirty joke, possibly out of pique. Grandfather of Zoe Kazan. In 1999 Gregory Peck supported the decision to give Elia Kazan an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement, saying he believed that a man's work should be separate from his life.