The great Elia Kazan has passed away.
Every actor, every director worth his salt, owes him an enormous debt of gratitude.
I saw On the Waterfront when I was 12 years old. The impact it had on me cannot be measured. His autobiography is a classic. Take it all with a grain of salt. He admitted freely he would lie, cheat, steal, whatever, in order to survive.
I am quite sad. A great artist. Not a great man, which he was the first to admit. But as an artist, he is a role model for us all. I met him once. At the Actors Studio, a place that has meant so much to so many, a place he helped found.
Yeah. Great movies, sad little man who destroyed the careers of others for personal gain. Naming names, and still proud of it 40 years later. Read his 1988 autobiography – he had no regrets, none. It will be interesting to see if people applaud during the “Movie legends that have died this year” segment at the Oscars when his name is announced. Just like in 1999, there will be a noticably silent portion of the audience. If he regretted it I would forgive him, but like Pete Rose, it will never happen. And in this day when we have an administration that considers it patriotic to report on your neighbor, what Elia did is even more sinister. So I am sorry you are sad for him, because I adore your ramblings, but I disagree with you utterly.
Greg
Greg,
yeah, I’m used to people responding like you do. I care about art. Art is what I care about most. Life is complicated. The Group Theatre, the Actors Studio, his nurturing the talent of playwrights (primarily Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller), his partnership with Marlon Brando, his sense of style – his directing-style is legendary to even those of us who are way too young to have ever worked with him. Without him, we may not have Death of a Salesman in the American canon. We may not have Streetcar Named Desire. We certainly wouldn’t have had some of Brando’s most indelible performances.
Kazan was a member of the Communist Party. After all, he starred in Waiting for Lefty (one of the most famous moments in American theatre in the 20th century, was him standing downstage center, screaming, “STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE”) – Waiting for Lefty was basically a pamphlet for the Communist Party. Kazan called himself a Communist.
But when the Communist Party began to treat the Group Theatre like a pawn/mouthpiece, when they started showing up at their meetings, telling them what they were allowed to write about, what they were allowed to say … Kazan left the Communist Party. He wouldn’t be anyone’s tool.
If he made crap art, perhaps I would feel differently. But his art is a beacon. And that, for me, was the purpose of his life. It is a far more enduring legacy than the in-fighting of the American Left. He is one of the reasons why I am who I am today. I stand by him.