| Elia Kazanjoglous was born on September 7, 1909, in Constantinople. He died on September 28, 2003.
Kazan's family moved to New York when he was four.
In 1942, Kazan directed Thornton Wilder's "The Skin of Our Teeth" on Broadway for which he won a New York Drama Critics Award. That play, and four others Kazan directed, won Pulitzer Prizes for their authors - "A Streetcar Named Desire," "Death of a Salesman," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," and "J.B.." For "J.B.," Kazan himself won a Tony Award.
Kazan directed a number of films including the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire.
Kazan has received two best director Oscars, for the Gentleman's Agreement and On the Waterfront.
In 1999, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that Kazan would receive a special Academy Award for his life's work. The decision caused some ire because, in the 1950s, Kazan had appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and named people he said had been members of the Communist Party in the mid-1930s. The night the award was presented, many in the audience refuse to applaud. Visitor Comments:Connections:Elia Kazan ... |
