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 ...
Known For
Complete Filmography
Faye
2024
as Self (archive footage)
Through honest reflection, complemented by insight from colleagues and friends, Faye Dunaway contextualizes her life and filmography, laying bare her ...
An American Named Kazan
2019
as Self (archive footage)
Elia Kazan represented the American dream. An immigrant who came without anything and who became the Prince of Hollywood and Broadway after World War ...
Arthur Miller: Writer
2017
as Self (archive footage)
One of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, Arthur Miller created such celebrated works as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, which contin...
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire
2014
as Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
In his early days as an actor, Marlon Brando (1924-2004) was a shy young man with theatrical ambitions, like many others; but his charisma and superb ...
Inside Rupert Pupkin
2014
as Self (archive footage)
Thelma Schoonmaker on Martin Scorsese and 'The King of Comedy'
A Letter to Elia
2010
as Self (archive footage)
Director Martin Scorsese speaks candidly and passionately about one of his formative filmmaking influences: the late Elia Kazan. Utilizing precisely c...
An Actor Named Brando
2006
as Self (archive footage)
A short overview of Brando's career.
A Man Named Brando
2006
as Self
Documentary short on Marlon Brando included in the DVD extras of The Streetcar Named Desire.
A Streetcar in Hollywood
2006
as Self (archive footage)
How the play was adapted to Film
A Streetcar on Broadway
2006
as Self (archive footage)
Interviews and photos about the play on Broadway
East of Eden: Art in Search of Life
2005
as Himself
Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan and the Blacklist: None Without Sin
2003
as Self (Archive footage)
Director Elia Kazan and playwright Arthur Miller were once best friends and professional colleagues, to most that knew them then in both capacities as...
Backstory: 'Gentleman's Agreement'
2001
as Self (archive footage)
Darryl F. Zanuck ignores the protests of his peers and makes a movie about antisemitism called "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947).
Diaspora
2001
Writer
Short film.
Life at Any Cost
1998
A tribute and portrait of the Swedish filmmaker Bo Widerberg. Thommy Berggren presents slices and comments on Widerberg.
Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey
1995
as Self
This documentary on the life and work of Academy award-winning director Elia Kazan highlights his colorful life on Broadway and in film, which is exem...
Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage
1994
as Self (archive footage)
A study of Tennessee Williams's life and work as a whole, ranging from his youth in Mississippi and in St. Louis to success and acclaim, followed by t...
Sanford Meisner: The American Theatre's Best Kept Secret
1990
as Self
A leading acting teacher who trained some of the most famous performers of the stage and screen, Sanford Meisner was a founding member of the Group Th...
Hello Actors Studio
1988
as Self
After Lee Strasberg’s death in 1982, the most prestigious talents from the Actors Studio assumed the leadership of this exceptional organization. For ...
Mist
1988
as Old man in the coffee house
Two Turkish brothers find themselves on opposite sides of the political fence. When one of the brothers is murdered, the boys' father suspects that hi...
Empire City
1985
as Self
A film essay contrasting the modern metropolis with its "golden age" from 1830-1930, with the participation of some of New York's leading political an...
Elia Kazan: An Outsider
1982
as Self
Hour long documentary on the legendary director.
I Am Wanda
1980
as Self
Documentary about American film director and actress Barbara Loden featuring an interview filmed in 1980.
The Last Tycoon
1976
Director
Monroe Stahr, a successful movie producer, pursues a beautiful and elusive young woman — all the while working himself to death.
The Visitors
1972
Director
Bill, Martha and their little child Hal are spending a quiet winter Sunday in their cosy house when they get an unexpected visit from Mike Nickerson a...
The Arrangement
1969
Novel, Writer, Producer
An adman attempts to rebuild his shattered life after suffering a nervous breakdown.
A New Lifestyle
1969
as Self
Mini-doc on the set of Elia Kazan's "The Arrangement" (1969).
America America
1963
Producer, Director, Writer
A young Anatolian Greek, entrusted with his family's fortune, loses it en route to Istanbul and dreams of going to America.
Splendor in the Grass
1961
Producer, Director
A fragile Kansas girl's unrequited and forbidden love for a handsome young man from the town's most powerful family drives her to heartbreak and madne...
Wild River
1960
Director, Producer
A young bureaucrat for the Tennessee Valley Authority goes to rural Tennessee to oversee the building of a dam. He encounters opposition from the loca...
A Face in the Crowd
1957
Producer, Director
The rise of a raucous hayseed named Lonesome Rhodes from itinerant Ozark guitar picker to local media rabble-rouser to TV superstar and political king...
Baby Doll
1956
Director, Producer
Archie Lee Meighan is a failing cotton gin owner who is married to Baby Doll, a 19-year old childlike beauty whose father arranged the marriage for fi...
East of Eden
1955
Producer, Director
In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother for the love of their fath...
On the Waterfront
1954
Director
Terry Malloy is a kindhearted dockworker, and former boxer, who is tricked by his corrupt bosses into leading his friend to death. After falling in lo...
Man on a Tightrope
1953
Director
The owner of an impoverished circus in Communist-ruled Czechoslovokia plots to flee across the border to freedom, taking his entire troupe of performe...
Viva Zapata!
1952
Director
The story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of president Porfirio Díaz in the...
A Streetcar Named Desire
1951
Director
A disturbed, aging Southern belle moves in with her sister for solace — but being face-to-face with her brutish brother-in-law accelerates her downwar...
The Screen Director
1951
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
A documentary short film depicting the work of the motion picture director. An anonymous director is shown preparing the various aspects of a film for...
Panic in the Streets
1950
as Cleaver - Mortuary Assistant (uncredited)
A medical examiner discovers that an innocent shooting victim in a robbery died of bubonic plague. With only 48 hours to find the killer, who is now a...
Panic in the Streets
1950
Director
A medical examiner discovers that an innocent shooting victim in a robbery died of bubonic plague. With only 48 hours to find the killer, who is now a...
Pinky
1949
Director, Additional Writing
Pinky, a light skinned black woman, returns to her grandmother's house in the South after graduating from a Northern nursing school. Pinky tells her g...
Gentleman's Agreement
1947
Director
A magazine writer poses as a Jew to expose anti-Semitism.
The Sea of Grass
1947
Director
On America's frontier, a St. Louis woman marries a New Mexico cattleman who is seen as a tyrant by the locals.
Boomerang!
1947
Director
When a kindly priest is murdered while waiting at a street corner in a quiet Connecticut town, the citizens are horrified and demand action from the p...
Watchtower Over Tomorrow
1945
Co-Director
Short documentary film about the Dumbarton Oaks plan and the proposed formation of the United Nations.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
1945
Director
In Brooklyn circa 1900, the Nolans manage to enjoy life on pennies despite great poverty and Papa's alcoholism. We come to know these people well thro...
Blues in the Night
1941
as Nickie Haroyen
A struggling band find themselves attached to a fugitive and drawn into a series of old feuds and love affairs, as they try to stay together and find ...
City for Conquest
1940
as 'Googi'
The heartbreaking but hopeful tale of Danny Kenny and Peggy Nash, two sweethearts who meet and struggle through their impoverished lives in New York C...
People of the Cumberland
1937
Assistant Director
The film takes place in rural Tennessee, where communities have experienced economic and environmental devastation created by the coal mining industry...
Pie in the Sky
1935
At a skid row mission, a cleric opines as men wait to eat. After his sermon, he brings out a pie and cuts it into small slices. The two men at the end...
Strangers All
1935
as Protester Calling for a Ballot at Communist Meeting
Domestic drama about an elderly woman and her four squabbling adult children.