Elia Kazan (1898-1956)

Elia Kazan

Short Biography

Elia Kazan (1898-1956)

US stage and film director, a founder of the New York Actors Studio set up in 1947 to studyStanislavsky's "Method" acting.
Plays he directed include: The Skin of our Teeth (1942), A Streetcar named Desire (1947) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955).
Films include: Gentlemen's Agreement (1948), East of Eden (1954) and The Visitors (1972).
 

Elia Kazan's quotes

Quotes on theatre and acting

• «The Method was all build up by the media into something it's not. I started the Actors Studio. That was my idea. I got Lee Strasberg in- a born teacher. Lee formulated The Method. But all really good actors live by their spiritual content. It's about when the emotion is real and not simulated. Brando - that's real thing. He wouldn't say he worked with The Method».
  (Elia Kazan, Photoplay, August 1983)
• «You've got to keep fighting; you've got to risk your life every six months to stay alive»