4 children with Molly: Judy, Chris, Nick, and Katharine. 2 children with Barbara: Leo and Marco.
According to Kazan, his first name was pronounced "l-EE-ah".
Attended acting class of Michael Chekhov in Hollywood.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 291-294. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.
Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945- 1985". Pages 503-510. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.
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.
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.
Father of Nicholas Kazan.
Father-in-law of Robin Swicord.
Founded the Actors' Studio in 1947 with Cheryl Crawford and Robert Lewis.
Grandfather of Zoe Kazan.
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.
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 received his fourth nomination for Best Director. He was also nominated that same year in the category of Best Play along with co-producer Arnold Saint Subber. Both nominations were for the play "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs".
In 1958 he won his third Tony Award for Best Director. This was for the play "J.B."
In 1960 he was nominated for his seventh Tony award. This was to be his last nomination. This nomination was for the play "Sweet Bird of Youth".
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.
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.
Kennedy Center Honoree, 1983
Known to direct Method Actors, and was the only director to have worked with arguably the three earliest and most famous: James Dean, Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. In addition to those three, he directed Robert De Niro in The Last Tycoon (1976).