---
name: "Elia Kazan"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/elia-kazan"
fi1m_id: "elia-kazan"
imdb_id: "nm0001415"
tmdb_id: 2746
wikidata_id: "Q72717"
roles: ["Director","Producer"]
born: "7 September 1909"
died: "28 September 2003"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 81
average_as: "director"
average_over: 4
updated: "2026-10-02T22:53:00.774732+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Elia Kazan

## Identity

Elia Kazan

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/elia-kazan
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** elia-kazan
- **IMDb ID:** nm0001415
- **TMDB ID:** 2746
- **Wikidata ID:** Q72717
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elia_Kazan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q72717, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001415/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2746

Director and producer. Born 7 September 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]. Died 28 September 2003.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer
- **Born:** 7 September 1909, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]
- **Died:** 28 September 2003
- **Active:** 1947–1963
- **Also known as:** Elia Kazanjoglous, 엘리아 카잔, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου, Еліа Казан, Ηλίας Καζάν, Elias Kazantzoglou
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 4 directing, 1 other
- **Frequently works with:** [Karl Malden](https://film.one/person/karl-malden.md), [Marlon Brando](https://film.one/person/marlon-brando.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 2 Oscars (2 won · 5 nominated)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 81, as director, over 4 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1940s 64 (1), 1950s 88 (2), 1960s 84 (1), 2010s 76 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 80 to 76 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 4, Crime 1, History 1, Romance 1, Thriller 1
- **Screen time:** 9 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $25m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elia_Kazan, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q72717, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001415/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2746

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*On the Waterfront*](https://film.one/film/on-the-waterfront.md) (89)
- **HBO Max:** [*A Streetcar Named Desire*](https://film.one/film/a-streetcar-named-desire.md) (88)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Elia Kazan

> Elia Kazan makes hesitation compelling: his actors can show how much a decision costs before they speak. We rate him highly, with a reservation about scripts that explain what the performances have already made plain.

Watch Marlon Brando's Terry Malloy hesitate in *On the Waterfront* (1954). Kazan gives us a working man who has learnt to accommodate corruption and now has to find the courage to challenge it. Brando makes the delay interesting; we can see why keeping quiet would be easier. This is where we rate Kazan most highly, directing actors whose doubts remain credible even when the story has decided what they ought to do. His weakness is a tendency to explain what those performances have already made clear.

His film-directing debut was *A Tree Grows in Brooklyn* (1945), following work in the theatre. *A Streetcar Named Desire* (1951) brought Tennessee Williams's play to the screen with Brando and preserved its dramatic intensity. *East of Eden* (1955) introduced James Dean in a story of father-son conflict. With *America, America* (1963), he drew on family history for an immigrant saga. That was a more directly personal use of the social concerns running through his films about class and prejudice.

Kazan favoured location shooting and a realist look, with cinematographer Boris Kaufman among his recurring collaborators. We value the plainness of that approach, but his strongest effects come from watching an actor think. In *On the Waterfront*, Budd Schulberg's screenplay is certain about right and wrong; Brando's Terry takes longer. Kazan lets that difference sustain our interest in a story whose villains leave little room for doubt. We were moved by Terry's hesitation, because Brando makes us feel the personal cost of challenging the men he has learnt to live under.

The reservation is that Kazan does not always trust us to understand what his actors have shown. *On the Waterfront* presses its moral lesson harder than it needs to, particularly when Schulberg leaves Terry to do almost all the difficult thinking. That does not cancel our enthusiasm for a forceful crime drama, but it makes some of the insistence tiresome. Start there, and watch what Brando does while Terry is still deciding.

## Biography

Elia Kazan was a Turkish-born American film and stage director. Born Elia Kazanjoglous on 7 September 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey), he emigrated with his Greek parents to New York City at the age of four. He studied at Williams College and the Yale School of Drama before entering the theatre.

Kazan co-founded the Group Theatre in 1932 and was involved in the founding of the Actors Studio. He directed stage productions of plays by Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. His films include *Gentleman's Agreement* (1947), *A Streetcar Named Desire* (1951), *On the Waterfront* (1954), *East of Eden* (1955), *Baby Doll* (1956) and *Splendor in the Grass* (1961). In 1952 he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming former Communist Party associates.

*Sources: britannica.com, imdb.com, pbs.org.*

## On Fi1m (5)

### Directed (4) — the average rests on these

- *America America* (1963), Fi1m 84, Director, Producer, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/america-america.md)
- *On the Waterfront* (1954), Fi1m 89, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/on-the-waterfront.md)
- *A Streetcar Named Desire* (1951), Fi1m 88, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/a-streetcar-named-desire.md)
- *Gentleman's Agreement* (1947), Fi1m 64, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/gentlemans-agreement.md)

### Also credited (1) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *Listen to Me Marlon* (2015), Fi1m 76, as Self (archive footage) (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/listen-to-me-marlon.md)

## Complete filmography (30)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Making of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn* (2019), Actor
- *Diaspora* (2001), Writer
- *Life at Any Cost* (1998), Actor
- *Mist* (1988), as Old man in the coffee house
- *Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady* (1982), Actor
- *The Last Tycoon* (1976), Director
- *The Visitors* (1972), Director
- *The Arrangement* (1969), Novel, Writer, Producer, Director
- *America America* (1963), Producer, Director, Writer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/america-america.md)
- *Splendor in the Grass* (1961), Producer, Director
- *Wild River* (1960), Director, Producer
- *A Face in the Crowd* (1957), Producer, Director
- *Baby Doll* (1956), Director, Producer
- *East of Eden* (1955), Producer, Director
- *On the Waterfront* (1954), Director — Fi1m 89, [page](https://film.one/film/on-the-waterfront.md)
- *Man on a Tightrope* (1953), Director
- *Viva Zapata!* (1952), Director
- *A Streetcar Named Desire* (1951), Director — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/a-streetcar-named-desire.md)
- *Panic in the Streets* (1950), as Cleaver - Mortuary Assistant (uncredited) · Director
- *Pinky* (1949), Director, Additional Writing
- *Gentleman's Agreement* (1947), Director — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/gentlemans-agreement.md)
- *The Sea of Grass* (1947), Director
- *Boomerang!* (1947), Director
- *Watchtower Over Tomorrow* (1945), Co-Director
- *A Tree Grows in Brooklyn* (1945), Director
- *Blues in the Night* (1941), as Nickie Haroyen
- *City for Conquest* (1940), as 'Googi'
- *People of the Cumberland* (1937), Assistant Director
- *Pie in the Sky* (1935), Actor
- *Strangers All* (1935), as Protester Calling for a Ballot at Communist Meeting

## Gallery

- ![Elia Kazan](https://film.one/media/person/59331/gallery-24a59bf4df49.jpg) Elia Kazan — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Elia_Kazan.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Theatre advertisement for the film, Baby Doll , 11 December, 1956.](https://film.one/media/person/59331/gallery-aaaf2dc42702.jpg) Theatre advertisement for the film, Baby Doll , 11 December, 1956. — Warner Bros., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Baby_Doll_ad_-_11_December_1956.jpg/1280px-Baby_Doll_ad_-_11_December_1956.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Elia Kazan, full-length portrait, standing before bookshelves at Brentano's book store / World Journal Tribune photo by James Kavallines. (1967)](https://film.one/media/person/59331/gallery-228373efd5cc.jpg) Elia Kazan, full-length portrait, standing before bookshelves at Brentano's book store / World Journal Tribune photo by James Kavallines. (1967) — New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer: Kavallines, James, photographer., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Elia_Kazan_NYWTS.jpg/1280px-Elia_Kazan_NYWTS.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Elia Kazan, full-length portrait, standing before bookshelves at Brentano's book store / World Journal Tribune photo by James Kavallines. (1967)](https://film.one/media/person/59331/gallery-4ee7b22aca26.jpg) Elia Kazan, full-length portrait, standing before bookshelves at Brentano's book store / World Journal Tribune photo by James Kavallines. (1967) — New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer: Kavallines, James, photographer., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Elia_Kazan_NYWTS_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Elia Kazan](https://film.one/media/person/59331/gallery-85f506234a09.jpg) Elia Kazan — Image via TMDB
- ![Elia Kazan](https://film.one/media/person/59331/gallery-9fac7c5bd27e.jpg) Elia Kazan — Image via TMDB
- ![Elia Kazan](https://film.one/media/person/59331/gallery-62ce71c9eae1.jpg) Elia Kazan — Image via TMDB
- ![Elia Kazan, full-length portrait, standing before bookshelves at Brentano's book store / World Journal Tribune photo by James Kavallines. (1967)](https://film.one/media/person/59331/gallery-1f40b821b72a.jpg) Elia Kazan, full-length portrait, standing before bookshelves at Brentano's book store / World Journal Tribune photo by James Kavallines. (1967) — New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer: Kavallines, James, photographer., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Elia_Kazan_NYWTS_b.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Inscription from Elia Kazan to Marjorie Housepian Dobkin in a copy of Kazan's Memoir Beyond the Aegean: "For Marjorie Dobkin with my warmest regards Elia Kazan ](https://film.one/media/person/59331/gallery-abc1113d45da.jpg) Inscription from Elia Kazan to Marjorie Housepian Dobkin in a copy of Kazan's Memoir Beyond the Aegean: "For Marjorie Dobkin with my warmest regards Elia Kazan  — Jay Dobkin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Elia_Kazan_inscription_to_Marjorie_Housepian_Dobkin.jpg/1280px-Elia_Kazan_inscription_to_Marjorie_Housepian_Dobkin.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Elia Kazan](https://film.one/media/person/59331/gallery-158b39cbbf1b.jpg) Elia Kazan — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 2 won, 5 nominated

- 1964: Best Picture (nominated), for *America America*
- 1964: Best Director (nominated), for *America America*
- 1964: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *America America*
- 1956: Best Director (nominated), for *East of Eden*
- 1955: Best Director (won), for *On the Waterfront*
- 1952: Best Director (nominated), for *A Streetcar Named Desire*
- 1948: Best Director (won), for *Gentleman's Agreement*

### Golden Globes — 1 won

- 1955: Best Motion Picture – Drama (won), for *East of Eden*

### Other awards — 4 won, 3 nominated

- Academy Honorary Award 1999: Academy Honorary Award (won)
- Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play 1960: Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (nominated)
- Tony Award for Best Director 1959: Tony Award for Best Director (won)
- Tony Award for Best Director 1958: Tony Award for Best Director (nominated)
- Tony Award for Best Director 1956: Tony Award for Best Director (nominated)
- Tony Award for Best Director 1949: Tony Award for Best Director (won)
- Tony Award for Best Director 1947: Tony Award for Best Director (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/elia-kazan