Director Elia Kazan dies at 94

Sept. 28, 2003 | NEW YORK (AP) --

Director Elia Kazan, whose triumphs included the original Broadway productions of "Death of a Salesman" and "A Streetcar Named Desire," and the Academy Award-winning film "On the Waterfront," died Sunday. He was 94.

Kazan was at his home in Manhattan when he died, said his lawyer, Floria Lasky. She did not give a cause of death.

"A genius left us," said Lasky. "He was one of the greats."

Five of the plays he staged won Pulitzer Prizes for their authors: "The Skin of Our Teeth," "A Streetcar Named Desire," "Death of a Salesman," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "J.B.," for which Kazan himself won a Tony Award. Other stage credits included "Camino Real," "Sweet Bird of Youth" and "Tea and Sympathy."

http://www.salon.com/ent/wire/2003/09/28/kazan/index.html

He gets special cheers for not naming names and paying the price. RIP Mr. Kazan.

Damned allergies are clogging my memory, I think...I should have stayed in bed....

He refused to name names, questioned the legitimacy of the comitee on unamerican activities, and promptly left for East Germany.

weak person at best, hard to forgive someone involved so deeply with the red scare and all the lives and careers he helped destroy.

n/t

he was a turncoat rat. I'm not glad he's dead, but I'm certainly not sorry about it. Hope all those names you turned in to Congress gave you that career boost you wanted, Elia.

A powerful, powerful movie. I wonder if this country has ever produce an actor better than Marlon Brando? And, has Marlon Brando ever given a performance better than Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront. I first saw that movie as a teenager and did not understand the twist of how the hero is villified for making what is obviously the right choice of testifying to an investigating committee. I did not know Kazan's personal history regarding HUAC. I think the movie can be explained as an attempt by Kazan to justify his unpopular testimony. Regardless of what he did, it was a hell of a movie. Brando's performance was riveting.