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Elia Kazan: A Life
"This is the best autobiography I've read by a prominent American in I don't know how many years. It is endlessly absorbing and I believe this is because it concerns a man who is looking to find a coherent philosophy that will be tough enough to contain all that is ugly in his person and his experience, yet shall prove sufficiently compassionate to give honest judgment on himself and others. Somehow, the author brings this off. "Elia Kazan: A Life "has that candor of confession which is possible only when the deepest wounds have healed and honesty can achieve what honesty so rarely arrives at--a rich and hearty flavor. By such means, a famous director has written a book that offers the kind of human wealth we find in a major novel." --Norman Mailer
In this amazing autobiography, Kazan at seventy-eight brings to the undiluted telling of his story--and revelation of himself--all the passion, vitality, and truth, the almost outrageous honesty, that have made him so formidable a stage director ("A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, All My Sons, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tea and Sympathy"), film director ("On the Waterfront, East of Eden, Gentleman's Agreement, Splendor in the Grass, Baby Doll, The Last Tycoon, A Face in the Crowd"), and novelist (the number-one best-seller "The Arrangement.")
Kazan gives us his sense of himself as an outsider (a Greek rug merchant's son born in Turkey, an immigrant's son raised in New York and educated at Williams College). He takes us into the almost accidental sojourn at the Yale Drama School that triggered his commitment to theatre, and his edgy, exciting apprenticeship with the new and astonishing Group Theatre, as stagehand and stage manager--and as actor ("Waiting for Lefty, Golden Boy") . . . his first nervous and then successful attempts at directing for theatre and movies ("The Skin of Our Teeth, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn") . . . his return to New York to co-found the Actors Studio (and his long and ambivalent relationship with Lee Strasberg) . . . his emergence as premier director on both coasts.
With his director's eye for the telling scene, Kazan shares the joys and complications of production, his unique insights on acting, directing, and producing. He makes us feel the close presence of the actors, producers, and writers he's worked with--James Dean, Marlon Brando, Tennessee Williams, Vivien Leigh, Tallulah Bankhead, Sam Spiegel, Darryl Zanuck, Harold Clurman, Arthur Miller, Budd Schulberg, James Baldwin, Clifford Odets, and John Steinbeck among them. He gives us a frank and affectionate portrait of Marilyn Monroe. He talks with startling candor about himself as husband and--in the years where he obsessively sought adventure outside marriage--as lover. For the first time, he discusses his Communist Party years and his wrenching decision in 1952 to be a cooperative witness before HUAC. He writes about his birth as a writer.
The pace and organic drama of his narrative, his grasp of the life and politics of Broadway and Hollywood, the keenness with which he observes the men and women and worlds around him, and, above all, the honest with which he pursues and captures his own essence, make this one of the most fascinating autobiographies of our time.
In this amazing autobiography, Kazan at seventy-eight brings to the undiluted telling of his story--and revelation of himself--all the passion, vitality, and truth, the almost outrageous honesty, that have made him so formidable a stage director ("A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, All My Sons, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tea and Sympathy"), film director ("On the Waterfront, East of Eden, Gentleman's Agreement, Splendor in the Grass, Baby Doll, The Last Tycoon, A Face in the Crowd"), and novelist (the number-one best-seller "The Arrangement.")
Kazan gives us his sense of himself as an outsider (a Greek rug merchant's son born in Turkey, an immigrant's son raised in New York and educated at Williams College). He takes us into the almost accidental sojourn at the Yale Drama School that triggered his commitment to theatre, and his edgy, exciting apprenticeship with the new and astonishing Group Theatre, as stagehand and stage manager--and as actor ("Waiting for Lefty, Golden Boy") . . . his first nervous and then successful attempts at directing for theatre and movies ("The Skin of Our Teeth, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn") . . . his return to New York to co-found the Actors Studio (and his long and ambivalent relationship with Lee Strasberg) . . . his emergence as premier director on both coasts.
With his director's eye for the telling scene, Kazan shares the joys and complications of production, his unique insights on acting, directing, and producing. He makes us feel the close presence of the actors, producers, and writers he's worked with--James Dean, Marlon Brando, Tennessee Williams, Vivien Leigh, Tallulah Bankhead, Sam Spiegel, Darryl Zanuck, Harold Clurman, Arthur Miller, Budd Schulberg, James Baldwin, Clifford Odets, and John Steinbeck among them. He gives us a frank and affectionate portrait of Marilyn Monroe. He talks with startling candor about himself as husband and--in the years where he obsessively sought adventure outside marriage--as lover. For the first time, he discusses his Communist Party years and his wrenching decision in 1952 to be a cooperative witness before HUAC. He writes about his birth as a writer.
The pace and organic drama of his narrative, his grasp of the life and politics of Broadway and Hollywood, the keenness with which he observes the men and women and worlds around him, and, above all, the honest with which he pursues and captures his own essence, make this one of the most fascinating autobiographies of our time.
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First published January 1, 1976
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About the author
Elia Kazan
52 books51 followersCredits of Turkish-born American stage and film director Elia Kazan include
A Streetcar Named Desire
(1947) of Tennessee Williams and the movies
On the Waterfront
(1954) and
East of Eden
(1955).
This award-winning theatrical producer, screenwriter, and novelist co-founded of the influential actors studio in New York in 1947. Kazan won Academy Award thrice, Tony Award five times, and Golden Globes four times and received numerous awards and nominations in other prestigious festivals as the Cannes film festival and the Venice film festival.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elia_Kazan
This award-winning theatrical producer, screenwriter, and novelist co-founded of the influential actors studio in New York in 1947. Kazan won Academy Award thrice, Tony Award five times, and Golden Globes four times and received numerous awards and nominations in other prestigious festivals as the Cannes film festival and the Venice film festival.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elia_Kazan
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
May 28, 2014
Let me start by saying two things: first, that Elia Kazan is a terrible human being. And second, this is an amazing book. Those may sound contradictory. They're not.
Kazan, who is best known either as director of films like On the Waterfront, or as one of the few who actually named names during the Communist witch hunt before the House, is indeed a terrible person. But what a life this guy led!
Starting before the great depression and going right up the 1980s, Kazan led this amazing life in theater and film. Along the way he was friends with some of the most amazing literary figures of the 20th century (Arthur Miller! Tennesee Williams! John Steinbeck!) and had torrid affairs with actresses, some of whom he chooses to name (Marilyn Monroe!).
What makes him such a terrible person is that he's utterly oblivious to how his actions affect other people. He goes to extremes as he justifies affair after affair, completely ignores his many children, and the way he literally ruined lives by naming names. He chalks all of this up to either his Anatolian heritage (he frequently uses this as an excuse for why his marriages all fell apart) or simply in the name of self-discovery. As you read this book, you'll quickly realize that if he starts to talk about needing to "be true to himself" he's about to do something absolutely despicable.
Some examples: he spends decades ignoring and betraying his wife, disparaging her own artistic pursuits, only to declare after her death how she wasted her talent. He excoriates Marilyn Monroe for "betraying" Arthur Miller, while at the same time doing the same thing to his own wife - not to mention his claim to have slept with Marilyn the very night she got engaged to Joe DiMaggio!
The fact that Kazan is the villain of his own autobiography makes this an incredible, unforgettable book. This is less like a Hollywood tell-all than it is a great book about a fascinating person.
He does congeal into something resembling a human being at the end. The final chapter, devoted to the deaths of his second wife (at this point less a spouse and more a close friend) and five close friends, is truly touching. And at the age of 72, he meets and marries his third and final wife, who he says he's faithful to. But what a journey it took to get him to that point.
Kazan sums up this book (and his life) extremely well in the end: "I’ve had one hell of a life, and I will go down, when I go down, satisfied."
Kazan, who is best known either as director of films like On the Waterfront, or as one of the few who actually named names during the Communist witch hunt before the House, is indeed a terrible person. But what a life this guy led!
Starting before the great depression and going right up the 1980s, Kazan led this amazing life in theater and film. Along the way he was friends with some of the most amazing literary figures of the 20th century (Arthur Miller! Tennesee Williams! John Steinbeck!) and had torrid affairs with actresses, some of whom he chooses to name (Marilyn Monroe!).
What makes him such a terrible person is that he's utterly oblivious to how his actions affect other people. He goes to extremes as he justifies affair after affair, completely ignores his many children, and the way he literally ruined lives by naming names. He chalks all of this up to either his Anatolian heritage (he frequently uses this as an excuse for why his marriages all fell apart) or simply in the name of self-discovery. As you read this book, you'll quickly realize that if he starts to talk about needing to "be true to himself" he's about to do something absolutely despicable.
Some examples: he spends decades ignoring and betraying his wife, disparaging her own artistic pursuits, only to declare after her death how she wasted her talent. He excoriates Marilyn Monroe for "betraying" Arthur Miller, while at the same time doing the same thing to his own wife - not to mention his claim to have slept with Marilyn the very night she got engaged to Joe DiMaggio!
The fact that Kazan is the villain of his own autobiography makes this an incredible, unforgettable book. This is less like a Hollywood tell-all than it is a great book about a fascinating person.
He does congeal into something resembling a human being at the end. The final chapter, devoted to the deaths of his second wife (at this point less a spouse and more a close friend) and five close friends, is truly touching. And at the age of 72, he meets and marries his third and final wife, who he says he's faithful to. But what a journey it took to get him to that point.
Kazan sums up this book (and his life) extremely well in the end: "I’ve had one hell of a life, and I will go down, when I go down, satisfied."
July 19, 2012
This is by far the best book I have ever read - I've actually read it four times in the last 8 years. It is a brutally honest portrait of a man who (as an old man) looks back at his life and presents it in such a way not to gain sympathy from the reader but to declare his own acceptance of the life he has led. Kazan discusses in depth his relationships with his parents, wives and mistresses, his experiences in New York and Hollywood, and the backlash he experienced after testifying to the HUAC. He critically examines his choices in life yet holds no regrets. He is not sentimental man - he revisits and discusses detailed accounts of his life directly, open and honestly. Read this book. It will change your life.
I also recommend Kazan on Directing (2009). Excellent insight into his methods as a director.
I also recommend Kazan on Directing (2009). Excellent insight into his methods as a director.
March 30, 2011
"You’re the nigger now Gadg," James Baldwin said this to Elia Kazan after the opprobrium heaped on him in hot, steaming platefuls because of his testimony to The House Un-American Activities Committee. It was a nod of painful recognition from one outsider to another. And, in a sense, that’s how this wrenchingly honest, vitally alive and very necessary document--it has one of the most penetrating analysis of the actors' craft I've ever read--should best be read: the story of a perpetual outsider who managed through skill, cunning and daring to penetrate the inner sanctum and steal the sacred fire. Kazan shares his story with style and wit, and he doesn't go unscathed, but he is, undoubtedly, a survivor--"I am the man, I suffered, I was there"--and in this engrossing memoir, he's turned his pain resplendently into art.
December 12, 2017
“Had I read this book 20 years back, I would have been a better filmmaker.”
I got to know about Elia Kazan’s autobiography through an interview of Richard Linklater where he said these words. The day the book arrived at my doorstep, I was rather intimidated by the sheer size of it. And I even doubted if I would ever be able to finish it. But this bold statement of Linklater was enough to get me going. The painfully honest tone, right from the first page, made me realise why Linklater had said what he had said. Here’s an excerpt from page 33.
“For the autobiographer it’s a basic decision: will he reveal facts and episodes that embarrass him or discomfort other people; will he name all names? At this point in what I am writing, I had to make that choice. When I was fourteen, something happened I’ve not told; in fact, I was going to leave it out. But since it affected my whole life, I don’t know how I could and pretend I was telling my story.”
Here’s what happened. When he was 14, Kazan got infected with Mumps. Since there was no cure for the disease back in the ’20s, the doctors didn’t know what to do. So the swelling kept increasing. Eventually it reached his testicles and one of them became dysfunctional for the rest of his life. It made Kazan feel sexually under-confident and inferior to other boys. This explains why sex became an obsession of Kazan.
“It would require years of misadventures to assure me I was not less than the others.”
Here, I must mention that Kazan was 78 years old when he wrote this book. Considering his age, he also feared that he might die before the completion of this book. But even as he was reassessing his life through this book, he was ready to put the truth out in its truest form. And let me tell you that it is probably the most honest autobiography on a filmmaker out there. It has taught me endless things about the film industry, and maybe life itself.
“People have accused me of being selfish. They are quite right. All artists are. They protect like hell what’s precious for them – the privilege to exploit full range of curiosity. “
Elia Kazan was in his prime years after the success of A Streetcar Named Desire. As he has put it, in those years, “I could make any picture that I wanted to make”. But as fate would have it, his success did not last for long. The witch hunt of the early ’50s and subsequently testifying to House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) changed his life altogether. ‘He named names’ of the fellow film companions who ended up getting blacklisted in Hollywood. People never looked at Elia Kazan the same way again. They called him a ‘rat’ and a ‘squealer’ for the rest of his life. Through this book, he has shown guilt for the few things that he did in his life, but he hasn’t been apologetic about his behaviour or his actions, even once.
“I know I have done something wrong. Still convinced I would have done something worse if I had done the opposite. Reader, I don’t seek your favor. I have been telling you some of the things I had been asking myself on my way ‘down.'”
Time and again, Kazan has also defended his infidelities in the book. He has been very outspoken about the affairs and the flings that he had in his life. And how these affairs had also been a source of education for him. And yes, he has also talked about the teensy little affair he had with Marilyn Monroe. But Kazan still emphasised, in a contradictory way, that the woman who still mattered the most to him was his first wife Molly. He has talked in length, after every 100 pages, about his wife, about his guilts related to their marriage and how they grew old together.
“There is a corny joke about three ‘men of God’ being asked to respond to the fundamental question ‘When does the life begin?’. The Catholic priest answered ‘At the instant the sperm joins the womb.’ The Presbyterian minister’s answer was: ‘At the instant when the mother feels the first movement in her belly.’ The rabbi’s answer was: ‘When the last child leaves home.’ This was happening to Molly and me.” (Pg. 633)
Elia Kazan was also the director who discovered the great actors such as Marlon Brando and James Dean. The way he has depicted his relationship with Brando, his love-hate relation with Arthur Miller and the hate-hate relation with Lee Starsberg will keep you glued to his story. He has emphasised on the do’s and don’ts for a director throughout the 850 pages. The most admirable thing about Kazan is that he did not stop for a second in his life. He continued to make the films even when the whole world turned against him. Another recursive theme of the book is about the independence Kazan was trying to attain to direct his own films, on his own terms. And at times, he does attain the complete freedom he has talked about.
“The last five percent of the work on a movie is often the difference between success and failure” (Pg. 658)
“I was becoming an independent artist, and this was in contrast to my previous life, when I’d wait for some playwright or a producer to offer me a play or a film to direct. That was the happiest spring of my life.”
The Last Tycoon was the last film the Kazan ever directed and he was aware of the fact that it very well might be the last thing he will ever direct. So this is what he did on the last day of the shoot.
“I had to make something up on the day and I did. I also had a hunch that it would be the last shot that I’d make in my life, and perhaps for that reason the ending I devised said more about me and my feeling than it did about film’s hero. It was the end, the fade-out of the film I was making and the end for me and my time as a director. I walked away from the shot and the crew entered my office. As I began to pack my books, my records, and my diaries to send back east, it hit me that it was indeed my last film and that it was a kind of death for me, the end of life in the art where I worked for so long.” (Pg. 781)
I took good 11 months to complete this book but having finished it feels like an end of a relationship with a loved one. It is an important book because, no matter how you perceive the acts of his personal life, Kazan will still remain one the most influential filmmakers of the world and nobody can take that away from him.
I got to know about Elia Kazan’s autobiography through an interview of Richard Linklater where he said these words. The day the book arrived at my doorstep, I was rather intimidated by the sheer size of it. And I even doubted if I would ever be able to finish it. But this bold statement of Linklater was enough to get me going. The painfully honest tone, right from the first page, made me realise why Linklater had said what he had said. Here’s an excerpt from page 33.
“For the autobiographer it’s a basic decision: will he reveal facts and episodes that embarrass him or discomfort other people; will he name all names? At this point in what I am writing, I had to make that choice. When I was fourteen, something happened I’ve not told; in fact, I was going to leave it out. But since it affected my whole life, I don’t know how I could and pretend I was telling my story.”
Here’s what happened. When he was 14, Kazan got infected with Mumps. Since there was no cure for the disease back in the ’20s, the doctors didn’t know what to do. So the swelling kept increasing. Eventually it reached his testicles and one of them became dysfunctional for the rest of his life. It made Kazan feel sexually under-confident and inferior to other boys. This explains why sex became an obsession of Kazan.
“It would require years of misadventures to assure me I was not less than the others.”
Here, I must mention that Kazan was 78 years old when he wrote this book. Considering his age, he also feared that he might die before the completion of this book. But even as he was reassessing his life through this book, he was ready to put the truth out in its truest form. And let me tell you that it is probably the most honest autobiography on a filmmaker out there. It has taught me endless things about the film industry, and maybe life itself.
“People have accused me of being selfish. They are quite right. All artists are. They protect like hell what’s precious for them – the privilege to exploit full range of curiosity. “
Elia Kazan was in his prime years after the success of A Streetcar Named Desire. As he has put it, in those years, “I could make any picture that I wanted to make”. But as fate would have it, his success did not last for long. The witch hunt of the early ’50s and subsequently testifying to House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) changed his life altogether. ‘He named names’ of the fellow film companions who ended up getting blacklisted in Hollywood. People never looked at Elia Kazan the same way again. They called him a ‘rat’ and a ‘squealer’ for the rest of his life. Through this book, he has shown guilt for the few things that he did in his life, but he hasn’t been apologetic about his behaviour or his actions, even once.
“I know I have done something wrong. Still convinced I would have done something worse if I had done the opposite. Reader, I don’t seek your favor. I have been telling you some of the things I had been asking myself on my way ‘down.'”
Time and again, Kazan has also defended his infidelities in the book. He has been very outspoken about the affairs and the flings that he had in his life. And how these affairs had also been a source of education for him. And yes, he has also talked about the teensy little affair he had with Marilyn Monroe. But Kazan still emphasised, in a contradictory way, that the woman who still mattered the most to him was his first wife Molly. He has talked in length, after every 100 pages, about his wife, about his guilts related to their marriage and how they grew old together.
“There is a corny joke about three ‘men of God’ being asked to respond to the fundamental question ‘When does the life begin?’. The Catholic priest answered ‘At the instant the sperm joins the womb.’ The Presbyterian minister’s answer was: ‘At the instant when the mother feels the first movement in her belly.’ The rabbi’s answer was: ‘When the last child leaves home.’ This was happening to Molly and me.” (Pg. 633)
Elia Kazan was also the director who discovered the great actors such as Marlon Brando and James Dean. The way he has depicted his relationship with Brando, his love-hate relation with Arthur Miller and the hate-hate relation with Lee Starsberg will keep you glued to his story. He has emphasised on the do’s and don’ts for a director throughout the 850 pages. The most admirable thing about Kazan is that he did not stop for a second in his life. He continued to make the films even when the whole world turned against him. Another recursive theme of the book is about the independence Kazan was trying to attain to direct his own films, on his own terms. And at times, he does attain the complete freedom he has talked about.
“The last five percent of the work on a movie is often the difference between success and failure” (Pg. 658)
“I was becoming an independent artist, and this was in contrast to my previous life, when I’d wait for some playwright or a producer to offer me a play or a film to direct. That was the happiest spring of my life.”
The Last Tycoon was the last film the Kazan ever directed and he was aware of the fact that it very well might be the last thing he will ever direct. So this is what he did on the last day of the shoot.
“I had to make something up on the day and I did. I also had a hunch that it would be the last shot that I’d make in my life, and perhaps for that reason the ending I devised said more about me and my feeling than it did about film’s hero. It was the end, the fade-out of the film I was making and the end for me and my time as a director. I walked away from the shot and the crew entered my office. As I began to pack my books, my records, and my diaries to send back east, it hit me that it was indeed my last film and that it was a kind of death for me, the end of life in the art where I worked for so long.” (Pg. 781)
I took good 11 months to complete this book but having finished it feels like an end of a relationship with a loved one. It is an important book because, no matter how you perceive the acts of his personal life, Kazan will still remain one the most influential filmmakers of the world and nobody can take that away from him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2020
Great memoir that pulls no punches on himself, his friends, his enemies, or anyone in the film and theater realm, while at the same time giving due respect and admiration for the same people. Goes into great detail about how the HUAC impacted his life from the early 50's to time of writing the book, as well as the atmosphere of the Communist party in the US in the 30's and 40's. He doesn't shy away from mentioning his many infidelities and his complicated relationships with his wives and other women. His writing style is friendly and conversational. My only complaint is his tendency to repeat himself, which should have been fixed by his editor.
September 22, 2008
EXHAUSTIVE..800+ pages..at times captivating and by the end annoying...his attitude toward women is distasteful...A must read for anyone interested in show biz
July 4, 2023
Absolutely the best memoir I’ve ever read.
March 15, 2019
Elia Kazan helped reinvent the art of stage and screen acting, was the favoured director of Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams − presenting the first productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Death of a Salesman − and 'discovered' Marlon Brando and James Dean. He was also unremittingly self-interested, a relentless adulterer who saved his own skin by selling out his old friends in the Communist Party to HUAC: 'naming names' at a notorious public hearing in April 1952.
His aim in this very long, very lively autobiography seems to be to seduce the reader: through gossip, candour, post-rationalisation, calculated self-reproach and some direct addresses that come across as more creepy than personable. Does he succeed? Up to a point. He's an entertaining, insidious companion, cannily shapes your perceptions of contemporaries like Clifford Odets, Lee Strasberg and Nicholas Ray through detailed, vividly sketched portraits, and offers you a close-to-front-row seat at several of the key theatrical events of the 20th century, but you'd trust him about as far as you could kick him. And you will want to kick him long before this book is through.
With assorted asides and diversions, Kazan charts his journey from Anatolian 'refugee' to Broadway and Hollywood heavyweight, via an eight-year education in the left-wing Group Theatre, then onwards through various rebirths and psychoanalytic self-awakenings, as tragedy and disgrace bubble, and irrelevancy threatens. His conclusion is a lengthy rumination on death that's almost impossible to read, including as it does a play-by-play breakdown of second wife Barbara Loden succumbing to cancer. From his early 20s, the book is also exhaustingly punctuated by endless shagging − mostly with blonde teenagers, or blondes who act like teenagers − as well as being marked by Kazan's 'honesty'. That much-vaunted honesty. Oh he's so honest.
Or is he? Certainly he was praised by critics for his candour, and he makes frequent reference to it himself − contrasting his exalted behaviour with the hypocrisy of those who won't admit they bow to temptation, or won't bow to it at all − but is he really being honest, or is that warts-and-all approach intended to balance out his sexual misdeeds and, crucially, get the reader on-side for when he finally gets to HUAC?
Because, whether he likes it or not, HUAC defined his life, and he knows it. His explanation, which I'd been fascinated to read, is long, compelling, self-serving and completely unconvincing. To such an extent, in fact, that he returns to it a few chapters later and essentially recounts it, saying he's just realised there was a human component to putting old colleagues on a blacklist, and not just a political one. Oh well, it only took him 35 years. No harm done. His initial explanation involves him undergoing a remarkable and almost total political transformation a week before his public hearing, at which he's then forced to bravely defend those newly-discovered beliefs, defended only by the establishment, as the ferocious might of a handful of liberal intellectuals tries to destroy him. The selling out of his friends through transparent self-interest and expediency is so reinvented as an act of self-discovery and heroism.
As self-righteous as I'm sure I sound (who knows how they'd react in the same circumstances − do you?), it's quite a thing for a book, or a life, to get over. Unless you're reading Mein Kampf for historical research, an autobiography tends to require some degree of rapport and identification. If Kazan fails to convince the reader on HUAC, how do they go on? (That apparently wasn't an issue for the person who owned this copy before me, as they apparently gave up in 1950, perhaps because of all the adultery.) He paints the hearing as being as deleterious to his standing as a director as to his reputation as a liberal. Out of it, though, came his greatest work, the enduringly troubling On the Waterfront, in which Marlon Brando plays an uneducated, washed-up boxer who turns informant, and Kazan justifies his former behaviour by equating the reporting of mobsters who've infiltrated a union and killed at least two people with… ratting out some actors because they used to belong to a political party. It is nevertheless a film of extraordinary power and beauty, built on what Kazan suggests is the best performance by a male actor in the history of American cinema, and he's probably right.
Kazan is simply brilliant talking about acting and casting, and − while less detailed and expansive − he's illuminating on direction, particularly theatrical. His perceptiveness, and his willingness to repeatedly unpick his own work and explain why some things work and others don't, can be exhilarating to read (I'd argue, incidentally, that he's a bit too harsh on several of his films, particularly The Last Tycoon).
Unfortunately he's also a shit. I don't mean HUAC, I mean everything: the cheating, the lack of human warmth or empathy, the endless empty professions of 'socialism' that ultimately manifest themselves in one sympathetic passage on p792 about an encounter with Indian lepers that supposedly opens his eyes to his bourgeois complacency but is then never mentioned again. At times his endless hound-dogging is depressingly relatable, and he does admit urges and temptations that others wouldn't, but then he frequently goes much further, satiating his appetites at the expense of everybody else, and laughably justifying it as the prerogative of the artist. What's worse, I think he actually believes it. And then there's the sly egomania underscoring the overstated modesty, Kazan slipping in details that suggest his influence on other people's work, or external comments on his own brilliance, then hurriedly disowning them. Just don't put them in, then.
There are prosaic failings too: those long lists of apparently contradictory attributes with which he insists describing himself and others; the endless repetition about his 'dual life', the anger broiling beneath his mask of reasonableness and his discomfort at heading the Repertory Theatre. The book could easily lose a couple of hundred pages (it's 886 pages of tiny type) and be just as good, probably better.
The thing is, though, that while I didn't come out of it liking Kazan, it is a good and valuable book. A comprehensive portrait of the artist: an important artist, a brilliant director, just a shabby man, congratulating himself on half-recognising his failings.
His aim in this very long, very lively autobiography seems to be to seduce the reader: through gossip, candour, post-rationalisation, calculated self-reproach and some direct addresses that come across as more creepy than personable. Does he succeed? Up to a point. He's an entertaining, insidious companion, cannily shapes your perceptions of contemporaries like Clifford Odets, Lee Strasberg and Nicholas Ray through detailed, vividly sketched portraits, and offers you a close-to-front-row seat at several of the key theatrical events of the 20th century, but you'd trust him about as far as you could kick him. And you will want to kick him long before this book is through.
With assorted asides and diversions, Kazan charts his journey from Anatolian 'refugee' to Broadway and Hollywood heavyweight, via an eight-year education in the left-wing Group Theatre, then onwards through various rebirths and psychoanalytic self-awakenings, as tragedy and disgrace bubble, and irrelevancy threatens. His conclusion is a lengthy rumination on death that's almost impossible to read, including as it does a play-by-play breakdown of second wife Barbara Loden succumbing to cancer. From his early 20s, the book is also exhaustingly punctuated by endless shagging − mostly with blonde teenagers, or blondes who act like teenagers − as well as being marked by Kazan's 'honesty'. That much-vaunted honesty. Oh he's so honest.
Or is he? Certainly he was praised by critics for his candour, and he makes frequent reference to it himself − contrasting his exalted behaviour with the hypocrisy of those who won't admit they bow to temptation, or won't bow to it at all − but is he really being honest, or is that warts-and-all approach intended to balance out his sexual misdeeds and, crucially, get the reader on-side for when he finally gets to HUAC?
Because, whether he likes it or not, HUAC defined his life, and he knows it. His explanation, which I'd been fascinated to read, is long, compelling, self-serving and completely unconvincing. To such an extent, in fact, that he returns to it a few chapters later and essentially recounts it, saying he's just realised there was a human component to putting old colleagues on a blacklist, and not just a political one. Oh well, it only took him 35 years. No harm done. His initial explanation involves him undergoing a remarkable and almost total political transformation a week before his public hearing, at which he's then forced to bravely defend those newly-discovered beliefs, defended only by the establishment, as the ferocious might of a handful of liberal intellectuals tries to destroy him. The selling out of his friends through transparent self-interest and expediency is so reinvented as an act of self-discovery and heroism.
As self-righteous as I'm sure I sound (who knows how they'd react in the same circumstances − do you?), it's quite a thing for a book, or a life, to get over. Unless you're reading Mein Kampf for historical research, an autobiography tends to require some degree of rapport and identification. If Kazan fails to convince the reader on HUAC, how do they go on? (That apparently wasn't an issue for the person who owned this copy before me, as they apparently gave up in 1950, perhaps because of all the adultery.) He paints the hearing as being as deleterious to his standing as a director as to his reputation as a liberal. Out of it, though, came his greatest work, the enduringly troubling On the Waterfront, in which Marlon Brando plays an uneducated, washed-up boxer who turns informant, and Kazan justifies his former behaviour by equating the reporting of mobsters who've infiltrated a union and killed at least two people with… ratting out some actors because they used to belong to a political party. It is nevertheless a film of extraordinary power and beauty, built on what Kazan suggests is the best performance by a male actor in the history of American cinema, and he's probably right.
Kazan is simply brilliant talking about acting and casting, and − while less detailed and expansive − he's illuminating on direction, particularly theatrical. His perceptiveness, and his willingness to repeatedly unpick his own work and explain why some things work and others don't, can be exhilarating to read (I'd argue, incidentally, that he's a bit too harsh on several of his films, particularly The Last Tycoon).
Unfortunately he's also a shit. I don't mean HUAC, I mean everything: the cheating, the lack of human warmth or empathy, the endless empty professions of 'socialism' that ultimately manifest themselves in one sympathetic passage on p792 about an encounter with Indian lepers that supposedly opens his eyes to his bourgeois complacency but is then never mentioned again. At times his endless hound-dogging is depressingly relatable, and he does admit urges and temptations that others wouldn't, but then he frequently goes much further, satiating his appetites at the expense of everybody else, and laughably justifying it as the prerogative of the artist. What's worse, I think he actually believes it. And then there's the sly egomania underscoring the overstated modesty, Kazan slipping in details that suggest his influence on other people's work, or external comments on his own brilliance, then hurriedly disowning them. Just don't put them in, then.
There are prosaic failings too: those long lists of apparently contradictory attributes with which he insists describing himself and others; the endless repetition about his 'dual life', the anger broiling beneath his mask of reasonableness and his discomfort at heading the Repertory Theatre. The book could easily lose a couple of hundred pages (it's 886 pages of tiny type) and be just as good, probably better.
The thing is, though, that while I didn't come out of it liking Kazan, it is a good and valuable book. A comprehensive portrait of the artist: an important artist, a brilliant director, just a shabby man, congratulating himself on half-recognising his failings.
May 13, 2010
Kazan
Conflict
Elia Kazan had no desire to work for his father as a rug merchant. The magnet that drew Kazan in was show business, but in the early days of his career he showed little aptitude for any place in the theatre. He was quite good at painting sets and by simply hanging around was eventually given a few bit parts in several plays. He got little notice from the critics but Harold Clurman took him under his wing and Kazan grew some as an actor within the Group Theatre. Most of the group had socialist leanings and early on Kazan went along with the crowd. However within a year or so it became obvious that he was too much of an individual to follow any structured ideology and he let it be known that he would never become a part of the communist party.
During the 30’s there was very little money to be made by working with the Group Theatre. He finally found a way to augment his income, and that was doing radio plays and was pretty good at it.
Kazan’s wife Molly’s great grandfather was president of Yale University. Kazan slipped around the edges of conflict; Molly stood up right in the center of the storm. He learned to compromise when he was young in order to avoid confrontation. Molly’s principals permitted no deviation from her obligations of what was right.
In the late forties and early fifties the Stanislavsky method of acting was making its way from the Moscow Arts Theatre to New York. Lee Strasberg and Kazan opened the Actors Studio on West 44th Street in an old church building. At the time there were a number of adherents to the Stanislavsky Method teaching their brand of the method and each claiming to have tapped into the authentic Stanislavsky system while pointing out the others as imposters.
In time Lee Strasberg and the Stanislavsky method were one.
Kazan asked the question, what is the best performance you’ve ever seen? Was it Garbo in Camille, Judy Garland at the height of her career, Walter Houston in the Treasure of Sierra Madre or Lee J. Cobb in Death of a Salesman?
Those were all inspiring, but you may have someone else in mind.
During one summer in Hollywood Kazan turned his life around. He made the decision that he would never make it as an actor. His friend Clifford Odets wrote a screenplay for Lewis Milestone and it gave Kazan a chance to spend time with and learn from one of the great film directors the art of script writing as well as the basic mechanics of directing. The film they worked on was never made but Kazan got the guidance and the inspiration he needed to begin his career as a director.
Back in New York Kazan was hired to direct ‘The Skin of our Teeth’ and in spite of fighting over every line with Tallulah Bankhead from start to finish he managed to bring a successful play to Broadway.
He then followed that up by rescuing a play starring Helen Hayes called Harriet. Kazan brought the play back to life from the brink of disaster. Then he suddenly had two Broadway hits on his hands at the same time. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn came a bit later, and that also turned into a big hit.
Kazan paid his dues in Hollywood with a couple of lack luster films followed by Street Car Named Desire with Marlon Brando on Broadway and film. Then his big success came with On the Waterfront.
Kazan had more than a little conflict in his personal life, that of a wife and family and a mistress along with the HUAC Hearings in Washington.
Elia Kazan has written in the highs and lows of his life and career, and there are times you might find the book a bit tedious in detail – but if you’ll follow along to the end you will be richly rewarded for your effort.
Tom Barnes author of ‘Tungee's Gold: The Legend of Ebo Landing.’
Conflict
Elia Kazan had no desire to work for his father as a rug merchant. The magnet that drew Kazan in was show business, but in the early days of his career he showed little aptitude for any place in the theatre. He was quite good at painting sets and by simply hanging around was eventually given a few bit parts in several plays. He got little notice from the critics but Harold Clurman took him under his wing and Kazan grew some as an actor within the Group Theatre. Most of the group had socialist leanings and early on Kazan went along with the crowd. However within a year or so it became obvious that he was too much of an individual to follow any structured ideology and he let it be known that he would never become a part of the communist party.
During the 30’s there was very little money to be made by working with the Group Theatre. He finally found a way to augment his income, and that was doing radio plays and was pretty good at it.
Kazan’s wife Molly’s great grandfather was president of Yale University. Kazan slipped around the edges of conflict; Molly stood up right in the center of the storm. He learned to compromise when he was young in order to avoid confrontation. Molly’s principals permitted no deviation from her obligations of what was right.
In the late forties and early fifties the Stanislavsky method of acting was making its way from the Moscow Arts Theatre to New York. Lee Strasberg and Kazan opened the Actors Studio on West 44th Street in an old church building. At the time there were a number of adherents to the Stanislavsky Method teaching their brand of the method and each claiming to have tapped into the authentic Stanislavsky system while pointing out the others as imposters.
In time Lee Strasberg and the Stanislavsky method were one.
Kazan asked the question, what is the best performance you’ve ever seen? Was it Garbo in Camille, Judy Garland at the height of her career, Walter Houston in the Treasure of Sierra Madre or Lee J. Cobb in Death of a Salesman?
Those were all inspiring, but you may have someone else in mind.
During one summer in Hollywood Kazan turned his life around. He made the decision that he would never make it as an actor. His friend Clifford Odets wrote a screenplay for Lewis Milestone and it gave Kazan a chance to spend time with and learn from one of the great film directors the art of script writing as well as the basic mechanics of directing. The film they worked on was never made but Kazan got the guidance and the inspiration he needed to begin his career as a director.
Back in New York Kazan was hired to direct ‘The Skin of our Teeth’ and in spite of fighting over every line with Tallulah Bankhead from start to finish he managed to bring a successful play to Broadway.
He then followed that up by rescuing a play starring Helen Hayes called Harriet. Kazan brought the play back to life from the brink of disaster. Then he suddenly had two Broadway hits on his hands at the same time. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn came a bit later, and that also turned into a big hit.
Kazan paid his dues in Hollywood with a couple of lack luster films followed by Street Car Named Desire with Marlon Brando on Broadway and film. Then his big success came with On the Waterfront.
Kazan had more than a little conflict in his personal life, that of a wife and family and a mistress along with the HUAC Hearings in Washington.
Elia Kazan has written in the highs and lows of his life and career, and there are times you might find the book a bit tedious in detail – but if you’ll follow along to the end you will be richly rewarded for your effort.
Tom Barnes author of ‘Tungee's Gold: The Legend of Ebo Landing.’
August 4, 2025
Sometimes a book's value goes beyond the objective quality of its words, sentences, paragraphs and pages. Though imperfect and (arguably) unbalanced, though unnecessarily explicit and sometimes vulgar, though certainly biased and self-serving, "Elia Kazan: A Life" feels fundamentally full, and creatively comprehensive in the author's epic examination of his entire life from birth up to the time of his autobiographical writing in his mid-to-late 70s. It is one of the most incredibly fascinating, engaging, dull, long-winded, repetitive, contradictory, naked, guarded, and bold confessionary works I have ever read, and beyond all that: an important work of literature for anyone participating or simply interested in the artists and the arts.
Important, you say? Yes, important. Actor, director, writer Elia Kazan may not be someone you like, especially after reading his book. Born into a Greek family in Turkey, Kazan was brought to the United States as a child by his strict, and unloving father, was brought up in New York City and New Rochelle, NY with his caring mother and younger brothers. Rebelling against his father's desire for Kazan to work in the family rug business, Kazan gravitated towards books and creativity. Encouraged by teachers and his mother, Kazan instead went to college and graduated, attended graduate studies at the Yale School of Drama, then later was accepted to New York's Group Theater as an apprentice.
Educated in the Group at the hands of Group leaders Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, Kazan rose from the bottom to become an important part of the Group, where he made lifelong friends with Clurman, director Robert Lewis and writer Clifford Odets, and where he became a star of Odets' hit show "Waiting for Lefty." After the Group's demise, Kazan helped form the Actors Studio, soon become a hot director on Broadway, with such stage hits such as "The Skin of Our Teeth," "All My Sons,"Death of a Salesman," "A Streetcar Named Desire" and many others. Soon, Hollywood came calling.
In Hollywood, Elia Kazan learned and languished at the hands of director Anatole Litvak, actor James Cagney, and big studio heads Darryl Zanuck, Harry Cohn, Jack Warner, and the shady yet successful producer Sam Spiegel. Hollywood brought out the best and worst of Kazan, both in his films and in his private life. Starting with 1945's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," through his premature success with his Oscar-winning "Gentleman's Agreement," Kazan learned as he worked, and got better with each picture, culminating in arguably his greatest achievement in film, ever: 1954's "On The Waterfront."
Yet Kazan was no "flash in the pan" success, nor was he a one-trick pony. Kazan's post "Waterfront" films were also of great quality, such as "East of Eden," "A Face in the Crowd," "Wild River," and the 1961 sad love story "Splendor in the Grass.
After 1961, Kazan had a firm resolution that he no longer wanted to make films written by others. Changing course, he committed himself to telling his own story, his way, and nothing else mattered. Unfortunately, Kazan's tales of his family's history, and his own personal life resulted in two movies that most people did not want to see. 1963's "America America" was at least fairly good, and was nominated for Oscars. Despite his novel "The Arrangement" becoming a best seller, Kazan's 1969 screen adaptation of his own work was a disaster on all fronts. After making a low-budget, independent film for United Artists called "The Visitors" in 1972, Kazan retired from filmmaking after that film bombed at the box office. It took no one else by Sam Spiegel to lure Kazan back to make one, final Hollywood movie, 1976's "The Last Tycoon," with Robert De Niro, Robert Mitchum and Jack Nicholson. When that picture become both a critical and commercial failure across the board, Kazan permanently retired himself from filmmaking forever at age 67.
Elia Kazan's stage work also died a slow, miserable death. To appease his long-suffering first wife, Molly, Kazan committed himself to years of thankless work forming a theater repertory group at the new Lincoln Center. Kazan overextends himself in his book by going on and on and on about the unhappy travails of his failed repertory group, the players involved, the meetings, the arguments, the lack of spirit, the lack of support. Kazan directed more Broadway hits than any director could ever dream of, he was indeed the "Toast of Broadway." Yet like his movie career, his later plays were failures, productions that he also didn't care much for.
Outside of the author's lengthy prose about his long career on Broadway and in Hollywood, Kazan goers into explicit detail on his first two marriages, and his many, many affairs. Love him or hate him, Kazan's articulate and determined defense of his womanizing is fascinating. I mean, the LENGTH Kazan goes on about how important his infidelities were, how they were "educational" and "saved" his marriages! Wow.
Speaking of defense of immoral actions, one can't read "Elia Kazan: A Life" without diving head first into Elia Kazan, the Communist Party, and the horrible HUAC hearings in the 1940's and 50's. The author's "friendly" testimony to HUAC, naming names of past and current Communist friends and associates, "ratting" on people he otherwise revered and respected, haunted him for the rest of his life. Of course, it was not just the act itself, of enabling and endorsing HUAC at that time, and betraying his friends, it was the fact that he never publicly apologized, and instead defended his poor choice in ads placed in newspapers, with every interview since, AND in the pages of his memoir.
Again, Kazan's justification for his dishonorable act is fascinating to read. The author defends himself in the same manner in which he defended his womanizing: with articulate clarity, and self-affirmed justification and politics.
However, Elia Kazan does admit, towards the latter half of the book, that he felt guilty for the hurt he has caused the women in his life, especially his first wife Molly, and even his second wife Barbara, with whom he had a more volatile and complicated relationship. Also later in the book, Kazan accepts the fact the had hurt people with his HUAC testimony, especially dear friend Clifford Odets.
So WHY, you ask, is "Elia Kazan: A Life" an important book? The fact is, no matter how much you may like, love or despise Elia Kazan, one can not deny that this one man, an immigrant from Turkey, was an essential participant in changing the performance, theatrical and motion picture arts landscape forever. Without the monumental work of Elia Kazan, there might not have been "A Streetcar Named Desire" on stage and on film, Marlon Brando would never have had his greatest roles which changed the face of acting for all time, there would be no "On The Waterfront. Consider what the plays of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller would have been were it not for Kazan's collaboration and contributions in order to bringing these plays to life.
On top of all that, Elia Kazan worked with (or rubbed elbows with) some of the greatest actors, directors, playwrights, authors, Hollywood players who ever lived: Marlon Brando, James Dean, Montgomery Clift, Helen Hayes, Tallulah Bankhead, Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Anthony Quinn, Marilyn Monroe, Andy Griffith, Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman, Stella Adler, Clifford Odets, Warren Beatty, Natalie Wood, John Steinbeck, Harold Pinter, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Robert Mitchum, Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, Faye Dunaway, Jason Robards, Geraldine Page, Karl Malden, Hume Cronyn, Lawrence Olivier, Vivian Leigh, John Ford, Joseph Mankiewicz, William Wyler, Nicholas Ray, James Cagney and many many more.
So you see, if you consider the theater today, or Hollywood today, you also consider (whether you realize it or not) the enormous impact of Elia Kazan. "Elia Kazan: A Life" is a uniquely difficult, poignant, pathetic, proud, problematic, poetic, ponderous and probably the most bold, frank and fundamentally honest autobiography you will ever read by a very successful artist, an award-winning accomplished man whose own, defiant and morally compromised soul never deterred his forward momentum, his strength against his enemies, and a line of defense that only made sense to him, and him alone.
Important, you say? Yes, important. Actor, director, writer Elia Kazan may not be someone you like, especially after reading his book. Born into a Greek family in Turkey, Kazan was brought to the United States as a child by his strict, and unloving father, was brought up in New York City and New Rochelle, NY with his caring mother and younger brothers. Rebelling against his father's desire for Kazan to work in the family rug business, Kazan gravitated towards books and creativity. Encouraged by teachers and his mother, Kazan instead went to college and graduated, attended graduate studies at the Yale School of Drama, then later was accepted to New York's Group Theater as an apprentice.
Educated in the Group at the hands of Group leaders Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, Kazan rose from the bottom to become an important part of the Group, where he made lifelong friends with Clurman, director Robert Lewis and writer Clifford Odets, and where he became a star of Odets' hit show "Waiting for Lefty." After the Group's demise, Kazan helped form the Actors Studio, soon become a hot director on Broadway, with such stage hits such as "The Skin of Our Teeth," "All My Sons,"Death of a Salesman," "A Streetcar Named Desire" and many others. Soon, Hollywood came calling.
In Hollywood, Elia Kazan learned and languished at the hands of director Anatole Litvak, actor James Cagney, and big studio heads Darryl Zanuck, Harry Cohn, Jack Warner, and the shady yet successful producer Sam Spiegel. Hollywood brought out the best and worst of Kazan, both in his films and in his private life. Starting with 1945's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," through his premature success with his Oscar-winning "Gentleman's Agreement," Kazan learned as he worked, and got better with each picture, culminating in arguably his greatest achievement in film, ever: 1954's "On The Waterfront."
Yet Kazan was no "flash in the pan" success, nor was he a one-trick pony. Kazan's post "Waterfront" films were also of great quality, such as "East of Eden," "A Face in the Crowd," "Wild River," and the 1961 sad love story "Splendor in the Grass.
After 1961, Kazan had a firm resolution that he no longer wanted to make films written by others. Changing course, he committed himself to telling his own story, his way, and nothing else mattered. Unfortunately, Kazan's tales of his family's history, and his own personal life resulted in two movies that most people did not want to see. 1963's "America America" was at least fairly good, and was nominated for Oscars. Despite his novel "The Arrangement" becoming a best seller, Kazan's 1969 screen adaptation of his own work was a disaster on all fronts. After making a low-budget, independent film for United Artists called "The Visitors" in 1972, Kazan retired from filmmaking after that film bombed at the box office. It took no one else by Sam Spiegel to lure Kazan back to make one, final Hollywood movie, 1976's "The Last Tycoon," with Robert De Niro, Robert Mitchum and Jack Nicholson. When that picture become both a critical and commercial failure across the board, Kazan permanently retired himself from filmmaking forever at age 67.
Elia Kazan's stage work also died a slow, miserable death. To appease his long-suffering first wife, Molly, Kazan committed himself to years of thankless work forming a theater repertory group at the new Lincoln Center. Kazan overextends himself in his book by going on and on and on about the unhappy travails of his failed repertory group, the players involved, the meetings, the arguments, the lack of spirit, the lack of support. Kazan directed more Broadway hits than any director could ever dream of, he was indeed the "Toast of Broadway." Yet like his movie career, his later plays were failures, productions that he also didn't care much for.
Outside of the author's lengthy prose about his long career on Broadway and in Hollywood, Kazan goers into explicit detail on his first two marriages, and his many, many affairs. Love him or hate him, Kazan's articulate and determined defense of his womanizing is fascinating. I mean, the LENGTH Kazan goes on about how important his infidelities were, how they were "educational" and "saved" his marriages! Wow.
Speaking of defense of immoral actions, one can't read "Elia Kazan: A Life" without diving head first into Elia Kazan, the Communist Party, and the horrible HUAC hearings in the 1940's and 50's. The author's "friendly" testimony to HUAC, naming names of past and current Communist friends and associates, "ratting" on people he otherwise revered and respected, haunted him for the rest of his life. Of course, it was not just the act itself, of enabling and endorsing HUAC at that time, and betraying his friends, it was the fact that he never publicly apologized, and instead defended his poor choice in ads placed in newspapers, with every interview since, AND in the pages of his memoir.
Again, Kazan's justification for his dishonorable act is fascinating to read. The author defends himself in the same manner in which he defended his womanizing: with articulate clarity, and self-affirmed justification and politics.
However, Elia Kazan does admit, towards the latter half of the book, that he felt guilty for the hurt he has caused the women in his life, especially his first wife Molly, and even his second wife Barbara, with whom he had a more volatile and complicated relationship. Also later in the book, Kazan accepts the fact the had hurt people with his HUAC testimony, especially dear friend Clifford Odets.
So WHY, you ask, is "Elia Kazan: A Life" an important book? The fact is, no matter how much you may like, love or despise Elia Kazan, one can not deny that this one man, an immigrant from Turkey, was an essential participant in changing the performance, theatrical and motion picture arts landscape forever. Without the monumental work of Elia Kazan, there might not have been "A Streetcar Named Desire" on stage and on film, Marlon Brando would never have had his greatest roles which changed the face of acting for all time, there would be no "On The Waterfront. Consider what the plays of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller would have been were it not for Kazan's collaboration and contributions in order to bringing these plays to life.
On top of all that, Elia Kazan worked with (or rubbed elbows with) some of the greatest actors, directors, playwrights, authors, Hollywood players who ever lived: Marlon Brando, James Dean, Montgomery Clift, Helen Hayes, Tallulah Bankhead, Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Anthony Quinn, Marilyn Monroe, Andy Griffith, Lee Strasberg, Harold Clurman, Stella Adler, Clifford Odets, Warren Beatty, Natalie Wood, John Steinbeck, Harold Pinter, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Robert Mitchum, Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas, Faye Dunaway, Jason Robards, Geraldine Page, Karl Malden, Hume Cronyn, Lawrence Olivier, Vivian Leigh, John Ford, Joseph Mankiewicz, William Wyler, Nicholas Ray, James Cagney and many many more.
So you see, if you consider the theater today, or Hollywood today, you also consider (whether you realize it or not) the enormous impact of Elia Kazan. "Elia Kazan: A Life" is a uniquely difficult, poignant, pathetic, proud, problematic, poetic, ponderous and probably the most bold, frank and fundamentally honest autobiography you will ever read by a very successful artist, an award-winning accomplished man whose own, defiant and morally compromised soul never deterred his forward momentum, his strength against his enemies, and a line of defense that only made sense to him, and him alone.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 6, 2019
Elia Kazan always had his detractors. Despite his enormous success, he was at at various times in his life denounced as a sell-out, a rat, a traitor, a hack, and a has-been. His autobiography has convinced me, though, that if he were alive and working today, he'd be denounced as a sexual predator.
Every generation has a reason to hate Elia Kazan.
Some of his self-absorbed, self-serving, self-justifying statements ("my infidelities saved my marriage") sent my hand to my forehead in utter stupefaction; some ("after my first wife died, I realized that our marriage had been a trap") had me stabbing my Kindle screen with an imaginary knife; some ("I am convinced that Strasberg embarked on this foolish escapade to get revenge on me") inspired me to Google for Frankenstein-style re-animation techniques -- I wanted to raise Elia Kazan for the dead so I could kill him.
But Kazan midwifed of the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th Century -- he directed the stage debuts of "Death of a Salesman" an "A Streetcar Named Desire," not to mention the film version of the latter plus the "On the Waterfront," which still features the greatest performance by a male actor in American film history (I'm talking about Marlon Brando, which you probably guessed unless you're a Rod Steiger or Karl Malden fanatic). In chapter after chapter of "A Life" devoted to his favorite subject -- himself -- Kazan declares that his utter and complete awfulness was the key to his success. That's a depressing premise, but as Tom Verlaine once sang, "never the rose without the prick."
Every generation has a reason to hate Elia Kazan.
Some of his self-absorbed, self-serving, self-justifying statements ("my infidelities saved my marriage") sent my hand to my forehead in utter stupefaction; some ("after my first wife died, I realized that our marriage had been a trap") had me stabbing my Kindle screen with an imaginary knife; some ("I am convinced that Strasberg embarked on this foolish escapade to get revenge on me") inspired me to Google for Frankenstein-style re-animation techniques -- I wanted to raise Elia Kazan for the dead so I could kill him.
But Kazan midwifed of the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th Century -- he directed the stage debuts of "Death of a Salesman" an "A Streetcar Named Desire," not to mention the film version of the latter plus the "On the Waterfront," which still features the greatest performance by a male actor in American film history (I'm talking about Marlon Brando, which you probably guessed unless you're a Rod Steiger or Karl Malden fanatic). In chapter after chapter of "A Life" devoted to his favorite subject -- himself -- Kazan declares that his utter and complete awfulness was the key to his success. That's a depressing premise, but as Tom Verlaine once sang, "never the rose without the prick."
September 19, 2018
I read this a long time ago--very late 80's or early 90's. I was amazed at how interesting it was and how much I learned from this book, on a variety of topics--politics, history, the visual arts, culture. At the same time, it is written by a (still) not particularly admired or liked individual, who is nevertheless a passionate artist. It reads like a good story, exhilarating, and interesting. I want to re-read this book, but I am in the process of downsizing my book collection and this big-axx book needs to be donated. I think this would be interesting to re-read particularly in light of current day politics with Russia, the Me-Too movement and government and industry hijinks. Gaahh, maybe this book will end up in the 'keep' pile.
March 28, 2012
If you are interested in the director's work, you will get into this biography. His chapters on making films are very informative - working with actor like Brando and James Dean and writers like Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams were fascinating and insightful. The book is too long and I think he spent more time than he should have on his very active sex life and the list of women, famours and not so famous - that he had sex with. But if you are interested in how a director evolves and works, this is the biography for you. However, his polictical views and his political actions are at times off putting
May 10, 2007
Before Kazan named names, he had a dazzling career in the post war heyday of Hollywood. Kazan is part of the legend of method acting techniques. A must read for actors.
I just can't gloss over the facts of the abuse his wife suffered, his using his position to bed his young starlets, and the morally confused mess he becomes at the end.
I just can't gloss over the facts of the abuse his wife suffered, his using his position to bed his young starlets, and the morally confused mess he becomes at the end.
July 5, 2020
If Kazan was the best actor's director worldwide, this book is the best advice for an aspiring one. You can judge his behaviour as a person, but not as an artist. His bio reveals the emotions and motivations behind his technique.
June 1, 2016
800 pages of treasure.
September 4, 2021
It's a great book. Long but well written. Honest and informative.
October 1, 2018
"I tell you, the whole world is for men to possess. Heartbreak and terror are not the heritage of mankind. The world is beautiful. No fruit tree wears a lock and key. Men will sing at their work, men will love. Oh, darling, the world is in its morning. And no man fights alone."
- "Paradise Lost" by Clifford Odets
Exploring his life journey at the age of seventy-eight years old, with his theatre and film career behind him, Kazan's brazen and revealing autobiography is Hollywood with the make-up off. It's a peek behind the smoke and mirrors into the crushing realities of financial backers, critical evaluations, infidelity, unglamour of acting and yes, love of the craft.
It's hard to pinpoint another person who was so center to theater culture in the 1930s through the 1950s. Whether it was playing roles in Clifford Odets call-to-action plays like "Waiting for Lefty" or "Paradise Lost", or directing the seminal version of Tennessee William's crushing "Streetcar Named Desire" or his film work with a new cadre of actors from Brando, to De Niro to Nicholson, Kazan had a rich life in the arts...with highs and lows of outrageous fortune.
One of the chief joys is reading the throughline of Kazan's story from an immigrant child under the thumb of his culture and father's rules who broke free to live an artistic life as an in-demand director. Kazan highlights his failings and holes in character - infidelities, guiltless for revealing the names of actors during a House Un-American Activities Committee committee, and a lack of spine in living authentically when people needed it most. There is craft here, and the stories themselves are orchestrated in a manner that both exposes and exonerates Kazan.
Kazan's romantic life would today be under extreme scrutiny, and flagged as someone in power inappropriately getting involved with this leading ladies. He relishes the joy of living outside a middle class lifestyle, appreciating mistresses, wives and love of all kinds.
The book's tonality changes radically, just as our internal dialogue does. Reflecting on his life as a whole he states "Yes, i'm contented. But hte charm of life, if you dare allow it, is that final positions tend to melt like ice sculptures under the sun. Time is an anarchist, and i've learned to distrust absolutes, especially - since I know myself better than I know the rest of you - my own" (p.38). Poetry here, but not everywhere At other times his writing on daily reels, rehearsals that is as dull as second day flapjacks.
Rewarding..intense...deep..solid read. Really great for anyone who is curious about old hollywood or interested in the arts.
- "Paradise Lost" by Clifford Odets
Exploring his life journey at the age of seventy-eight years old, with his theatre and film career behind him, Kazan's brazen and revealing autobiography is Hollywood with the make-up off. It's a peek behind the smoke and mirrors into the crushing realities of financial backers, critical evaluations, infidelity, unglamour of acting and yes, love of the craft.
It's hard to pinpoint another person who was so center to theater culture in the 1930s through the 1950s. Whether it was playing roles in Clifford Odets call-to-action plays like "Waiting for Lefty" or "Paradise Lost", or directing the seminal version of Tennessee William's crushing "Streetcar Named Desire" or his film work with a new cadre of actors from Brando, to De Niro to Nicholson, Kazan had a rich life in the arts...with highs and lows of outrageous fortune.
One of the chief joys is reading the throughline of Kazan's story from an immigrant child under the thumb of his culture and father's rules who broke free to live an artistic life as an in-demand director. Kazan highlights his failings and holes in character - infidelities, guiltless for revealing the names of actors during a House Un-American Activities Committee committee, and a lack of spine in living authentically when people needed it most. There is craft here, and the stories themselves are orchestrated in a manner that both exposes and exonerates Kazan.
Kazan's romantic life would today be under extreme scrutiny, and flagged as someone in power inappropriately getting involved with this leading ladies. He relishes the joy of living outside a middle class lifestyle, appreciating mistresses, wives and love of all kinds.
The book's tonality changes radically, just as our internal dialogue does. Reflecting on his life as a whole he states "Yes, i'm contented. But hte charm of life, if you dare allow it, is that final positions tend to melt like ice sculptures under the sun. Time is an anarchist, and i've learned to distrust absolutes, especially - since I know myself better than I know the rest of you - my own" (p.38). Poetry here, but not everywhere At other times his writing on daily reels, rehearsals that is as dull as second day flapjacks.
Rewarding..intense...deep..solid read. Really great for anyone who is curious about old hollywood or interested in the arts.
September 14, 2022
After I saw "On the Waterfront" for the first time, I was in awe of its director, Elia Kazan. Little did I know then that, despite what I'd learned of his involvement in the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, he'd impacted not only the silver screen, but Broadway as well. In fact, you might say he was equally a director in both film AND theater, and was sought after in both by playwrights and writers.
What I did not know was the level of complexity to Kazan's personal life. To be honest, I did not read his memoir in order to learn the straight dope on his personal life - I didn't even know he was engaged in extramarital affairs. But there's a heavy dose of this information in the book, and Kazan mentions several times that he's giving you the facts, and no longer fears scrutiny of anyone but his children. In this way, he seems a bit selfish, and you could argue that he was sometimes just that. He admits it himself several times.
Of course, if you've read this far you're probably interested in Kazan's movies, and he does give a lot of information of them here. You will probably get more detailed sketches of some of his films you're not as familiar with. He worked with Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Lee Remick, Kirk Douglas, and many other well-known actors.
But also you will get a sense of Kazan's career in the theater, which began in the 1930s in the Group Theater, and continued through his direction of "Death of a Salesman," "A Streetcar Named Desire," and several plays by Inge, Odetts, and others. He was friends with Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, and was sought out as their first choice to direct their plays. Kazan was adored for his movies as well as his direction of plays.
Now, you might be saying, what about the blacklist? And indeed, this chapter of Kazan's life sticks out as unique. But it's not the whole story, and anybody who tells you it is and dismisses his entire career just isn't balanced, and probably has a chip on both shoulders. Of course, you may form an opinion about what he did- many have, but it's not the summation of his life or its ultimate reputation. It's a moment where he did, as he says, what he thought was right, and what was pro-American. And if you take that at face value, it may help put it into a different context. He certainly was punished enough for his choices while he was alive - I choose to let it rest after he rested.
Four stars.
What I did not know was the level of complexity to Kazan's personal life. To be honest, I did not read his memoir in order to learn the straight dope on his personal life - I didn't even know he was engaged in extramarital affairs. But there's a heavy dose of this information in the book, and Kazan mentions several times that he's giving you the facts, and no longer fears scrutiny of anyone but his children. In this way, he seems a bit selfish, and you could argue that he was sometimes just that. He admits it himself several times.
Of course, if you've read this far you're probably interested in Kazan's movies, and he does give a lot of information of them here. You will probably get more detailed sketches of some of his films you're not as familiar with. He worked with Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Lee Remick, Kirk Douglas, and many other well-known actors.
But also you will get a sense of Kazan's career in the theater, which began in the 1930s in the Group Theater, and continued through his direction of "Death of a Salesman," "A Streetcar Named Desire," and several plays by Inge, Odetts, and others. He was friends with Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, and was sought out as their first choice to direct their plays. Kazan was adored for his movies as well as his direction of plays.
Now, you might be saying, what about the blacklist? And indeed, this chapter of Kazan's life sticks out as unique. But it's not the whole story, and anybody who tells you it is and dismisses his entire career just isn't balanced, and probably has a chip on both shoulders. Of course, you may form an opinion about what he did- many have, but it's not the summation of his life or its ultimate reputation. It's a moment where he did, as he says, what he thought was right, and what was pro-American. And if you take that at face value, it may help put it into a different context. He certainly was punished enough for his choices while he was alive - I choose to let it rest after he rested.
Four stars.
March 15, 2017
One has to admire Kazan for writing a memoir so painstakingly honest. While occasionally whiny and self-justifying, mostly he just tells it as he remembers it (and his memory is prodigious). I suspect there is no other autobiography which puts its author sin such a bad light. So, yes, I respect Kazan for what he has written -- and for the fact that he was 85 when he wrote it -- but I find it very hard to like him.
It's a challenge to summarize a personality described in 800+ pages. To Kazan's credit, this is in general a pretty lively read despite its excessive length. In the end, I found myself thinking this was a lucky guy who had no particular talents professionally. His greatest gifts seem to have come in the bedroom. He has three wives and is unfaithful to all of them up to the age of seventy. At 48, he actually had multiple mistresses. Maybe he is just self-effacing, but his theater and cinema successes seem somewhat accidental. He published several novels after his theatrical career, and accurately states that he "has no gift for writing at all." (This book is ample evidence of that).
I'm no psychologist but would guess Kazan suffered from low self-esteem, constantly bolstered by extramarital affairs and by too often "going with the flow," and doing what others want of him (at least, that is Kazan's view of himself). On the other hand, he treats people badly all too often and seems devoid of empathy or sympathy. The sexual profligacy does become heavy and repetitive, and I was appalled towards the end of the book when Kazan writes "Sometimes infidelity is the only thing which keeps a marriage together." Say what?
It is difficult to understand Kazan's relationship with Communism. He joins the Party briefly as a young man, though I could not understand why he did that. He seems essentially apolitical, so perhaps his wanting to be liked does indeed explain this choice. Then in the 1950's he became one of the relatively few Hollywood personalities to name names for the House Un-American Activities Committee. It's difficult to understand that choice as well.
A bonus in the book is the sense the reader gets of so many film and stage stars of the 20th Century: Brando, James Dean, Tallulah Bankhead (a real piece of work!), Marilyn Monroe and many more, as well as literary personalities like James Baldwin, Lillian Hellman and Arthur Miller. There is a lot of history here and I enjoyed learning more of the history of stage and screen in which Kazan was a central figure.
Anyway, this is a very good read and even an important book. It's overlong but rarely drags. I'm glad I read it.
It's a challenge to summarize a personality described in 800+ pages. To Kazan's credit, this is in general a pretty lively read despite its excessive length. In the end, I found myself thinking this was a lucky guy who had no particular talents professionally. His greatest gifts seem to have come in the bedroom. He has three wives and is unfaithful to all of them up to the age of seventy. At 48, he actually had multiple mistresses. Maybe he is just self-effacing, but his theater and cinema successes seem somewhat accidental. He published several novels after his theatrical career, and accurately states that he "has no gift for writing at all." (This book is ample evidence of that).
I'm no psychologist but would guess Kazan suffered from low self-esteem, constantly bolstered by extramarital affairs and by too often "going with the flow," and doing what others want of him (at least, that is Kazan's view of himself). On the other hand, he treats people badly all too often and seems devoid of empathy or sympathy. The sexual profligacy does become heavy and repetitive, and I was appalled towards the end of the book when Kazan writes "Sometimes infidelity is the only thing which keeps a marriage together." Say what?
It is difficult to understand Kazan's relationship with Communism. He joins the Party briefly as a young man, though I could not understand why he did that. He seems essentially apolitical, so perhaps his wanting to be liked does indeed explain this choice. Then in the 1950's he became one of the relatively few Hollywood personalities to name names for the House Un-American Activities Committee. It's difficult to understand that choice as well.
A bonus in the book is the sense the reader gets of so many film and stage stars of the 20th Century: Brando, James Dean, Tallulah Bankhead (a real piece of work!), Marilyn Monroe and many more, as well as literary personalities like James Baldwin, Lillian Hellman and Arthur Miller. There is a lot of history here and I enjoyed learning more of the history of stage and screen in which Kazan was a central figure.
Anyway, this is a very good read and even an important book. It's overlong but rarely drags. I'm glad I read it.
July 1, 2017
Half way - middle ground of the middle road. This is what I believe Elia has given us with his autobiography.
You're not an outsider, maybe you were not a common-er too. Half all your excuses don't add up. A story of half truths and half lies - never wanted the cup half full but swam like a shark in the half empty sea.
Like I always use to say - my father gave me the ocean and I can't swim. It looks like it also appended to you. No matter how far you've gone, how strongly you rejected your family values - your genes are stronger than will.
I cannot remember a more painful book to read. I wish you could just have told lies or truths half the time. Your reasons and explanations just don't seem sincere.
I obsessively scanned the last 250 pages in the futile search of more behind the scenes anectodes of your movie/stage life which I hugely savoured in your first half of the book.
Still your style is only half developed. Autobiographical yes, captivating no.
One word to sum up: mid-honesty.
You're not an outsider, maybe you were not a common-er too. Half all your excuses don't add up. A story of half truths and half lies - never wanted the cup half full but swam like a shark in the half empty sea.
Like I always use to say - my father gave me the ocean and I can't swim. It looks like it also appended to you. No matter how far you've gone, how strongly you rejected your family values - your genes are stronger than will.
I cannot remember a more painful book to read. I wish you could just have told lies or truths half the time. Your reasons and explanations just don't seem sincere.
I obsessively scanned the last 250 pages in the futile search of more behind the scenes anectodes of your movie/stage life which I hugely savoured in your first half of the book.
Still your style is only half developed. Autobiographical yes, captivating no.
One word to sum up: mid-honesty.
November 26, 2025
This gargantuan autobiography is sure to leave you with mixed feelings about its author. He's as quick to give credit to others as he is to criticise them, while he seems remarkably open and honest about his life, but clearly wasn't to many of those close to him. At times, it's definitely a case of Too Much Information as he goes into great detail about some very personal stuff that is at times just not that interesting for the rest of us. He also has a tendency to belabour a point and repeat himself unnecessarily - the book could certainly have done with some stricter editing. But for the most part it's a fascinating read as Kazan was one of those who seemed to know everybody and he's not shy about telling you exactly what he thought of them. I had no idea he had a relationship with Marilyn Monroe - something he goes into considerable detail about here. Other famous figures who feature prominently are Marlon Brando, Arthur Miller, Tennesse Williams, John Steinbeck, Sam Spiegel, Daryl F. Zanuck and Lee Strasberg. In the case of Strasberg in particular, there's a real sense of score settling, but it has to be said that Kazan is frequently just as harsh on himself.
October 17, 2020
This is quite a tome, and Kazan had quite a life, so I guess it's appropriate that this autobiography is close to a thousand pages. I was drawn to this book because I wanted to hear how Kazan characterized the HUAC/McCarthy period and because I am a fan of his films. But I was equally intrigued by his experience as an immigrant to the US. I wish he had spent more time on his family and relations with them, including his siblings who drop out of the picture early on. What's the most striking and fascinating aspect of the story is, of course, his time from joining the Group Theatre until he became a friendly witness for HUAC and named names. Reading from his perspective, including fascinating details about various meetings in the Director's Guild, all the way to his trying to consider his options and what he should do, makes for a fascinating read. He was certainly a complicated man who lived quite a life.
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March 9, 2019Elia Kazan did not write a beautiful book about life. He’s not a talented enough writer to tackle such a subject so directly and he knows that. I have to say, I’m not sure I’ve always liked him while reading this. I respect his attempt to be naked and tell the truth of himself, which means I have the right to give my honest judgment. Even the act of writing an eight hundred plus paged autobiography could be considered gross behavior. But that being said, I respect the man, mostly, and I’ve found that reading this book will prevent me from ever looking at any film or any artist behind the film in the same way again. I’ve seen too much! But if I ever end up writing an end-of-life autobiography, I hope that I can do it with a bit more vividness, concision, and color than Kazan did.
November 30, 2024
Full disclosure - I only read 85% of this book. It's quite long, and In MHO, he needed a stronger editor. He's also a little too misogynistic for my taste and, as most people no know, he named names during the time of the Hollywood blacklist. So, truth be told, I lost interest, shortly after he called Vivian Leigh "a small talent"...I mean...
However, having said that, he did direct some of the most important films and plays of the 20th century (Death of a Salesman on Broadway, A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway and on film) and those stories fascinate. He was there for the start of the Group theatre, he was pals with Clifford Odets and Tennessee Williams. He has many good stories.
However, having said that, he did direct some of the most important films and plays of the 20th century (Death of a Salesman on Broadway, A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway and on film) and those stories fascinate. He was there for the start of the Group theatre, he was pals with Clifford Odets and Tennessee Williams. He has many good stories.
February 14, 2025
I wish that Kazan had focused as much on his directing of monumental classic plays - such as Death of a Salesman, Streetcar Named Desire, and Skin of Our Teeth - as he did on his love life. What results is an inflated (800+ pages) piece of machismo that makes the subject seem as distasteful as prides himself throughout the autobiography. He says this book will not make him any friends; from my perspective, it might even invent a few new enemies. There is some good writing a few quotables about life and the thee-a-tuh, but there are far better and less offensive memoirs out there to capture the golden age of Broadway.
July 7, 2023
Man this book was a DRAG. After page 300 I had pretty accurately summarized this guy and that didn’t really change. Kazan is a bit of a self-loathing guy who frequently creates excuses for his behavior, but I must say I respect his candor. He was blunt about his opinions and perspectives and he gave a very well-documented recount of his entire life. He never asked for sympathy, he verbally rejected it from readers. It made me respect him. But he definitely didn’t need to make this book 800+ pages long. The level of detail wasn’t necessary. It actually gave way for the oozing guilt beneath.
January 13, 2024
It is as honest as an authography, there are truths there are voluntary and involuntary distortions, the way a person sees himself is important to understand who a person is, its a rather candid story if anything, he likes his sex and he wants people to know he had sex he can sex and he will have sex. its from one perspective a deeply immoral life but also an immortal life, its the story of a little man with inextinguishable desire to be seen and noticed and distinguished. Its a super long book, i found it interesting thats why i didnt get bored but see it for yourself.
July 5, 2018
Some good stuff, the rest is an 825-page valentine to himself.
October 13, 2018
Very very interesting and he really tries to be honest!!!
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