Elia Kazan: A Biography

John Simon

… a biography, a stirring bit of social history and a panorama of Broadway and Hollywood during what may have been their glory days. It could not be a more pertinent study of a spellbinding subject.
— The New York Times

Publishers Weekly

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to give Kazan (1909-2003) an honorary Oscar in 1999, it rekindled the lingering resentment over his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee nearly 50 years earlier. Schickel, who produced a short film for the Academy's presentation and covered the controversy in his role as Time's movie critic, has virtually no sympathy for Kazan's detractors, arguing that HUAC was "a harsh and permanent fact of American life" in the early Cold War era and, more importantly, that Kazan was testifying against Stalinists, not innocent liberals. He also observes that Kazan's early efforts at self-defense may ironically have worked against him, sealing his image in the public eye. The biography's main goal, however, is to restore Kazan's artistic achievements to their rightful prominence in his life story. Working with the director's extensive production notes, Schickel traces Kazan's rise from a fledgling actor in the Method-touting ensemble the Group Theatre to his creative pinnacle presenting Tennessee Williams on Broadway while making films like 1954's On the Waterfront. Despite Schickel's friendship with his subject, this analysis is unsparingly thorough, to the point where Schickel's forceful, personalized criticism becomes as attention grabbing as Kazan's body of work. Photos. Agents, Don Congdon and Susan Ramer. (Nov. 8) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

From the end of World War II to the early 1960s, director Elia Kazan (1909-2003) had an unparalleled string of triumphs on the Broadway stage and in Hollywood. A former actor, he worked with some of America's most gifted playwrights-Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and William Inge-and showcased the talents of Marlon Brando, James Dean, and Montgomery Clift. Kazan also reluctantly named names before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1952-an act that earned him the enmity of his colleagues and later started a firestorm of controversy when he was awarded a lifetime achievement Oscar in 1998. Drawing on years of friendship with Kazan, as well as access to the director's thoughtful, meticulous production notes, esteemed movie critic and film scholar Schickel (D.W. Griffith: An American Life) perceptively weighs each Kazan production, reserving the most space for key works like the stage productions of Death of a Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire and overlooked or forgotten films like Viva Zapata! and Wild River. Kazan's lifelong attachment to his identity as a first-generation immigrant, his views on the theater's role in promoting social change, and, of course, the still relevant argument of whether Kazan should have cooperated with HUAC are also addressed. This masterly meditation on a complex, conflicted, and underappreciated director deserves a place on the shelf beside Kazan's autobiography, Elia Kazan: A Life. One of the year's best biographies; highly recommended for all collections on stage and screen history.-Stephen Rees, Levittown Lib., PA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Time magazine film critic Schickel seeks to bolster Kazan's reputation as a major American film and theater talent. Fifty-three years after he named names before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), Elia Kazan remains a lightning rod. Mention of his name draws anger, as the outcries over his receiving an honorary Oscar in 1999 attest. Controversy unfairly clouds Kazan's oeuvre, Schickel argues, claiming that "no one has ever been such a dominant directorial force simultaneously in film and theater." Shickel's objectives thus become two-fold: to challenge the impact-or the damage-of Kazan's HUAC testimony, and to assess the value of the plays and films Kazan directed. The author follows Kazan's work in the 1930s with the Group Theater, emphasizing that Kazan's eventual disenchantment with their work centered on matters related to Communism. Kazan, he repeats, endorsed only the more general ideals of Communism while disdaining the goals of American Communists, which many Group members embraced. Kazan's career reached an unparalleled ascendancy during the '50s, Schickel writes, with two now classic Broadway productions, A Streetcar Named Desire and Death of a Salesman, and several films, notably On the Waterfront. Working with Kazan's hitherto unpublished production notebooks, Schickel provides valuable insight into Kazan's work on these lyrical plays and documentary-like films. As for Kazan's HUAC testimony, which coincided with this peak in his career, he downplays its damage and empathizes with its practicality: not to name the names of people who were going to be exposed sooner or later, Schickel writes, would have been career suicide for the director. "The blacklist wasonly occasionally a tragedy; mostly it was an inconvenience," he concludes, an observation that's certain to keep churning the arguments over Kazan's actions before HUAC. These appraisals, notable for their broad critical vision, may persuade some to reconsider Kazan's work, if not his political behavior.

Arthur Schlesinger

"A splendid, subtle, literate biography of one of the grand creative artists of theater and film in our time."

Martin Scorsese

"Schickel has a razor-sharp understanding of the many ways in which his subject’s life and work affected one another."

New York Sun

"Theater and film buffs — not to mention scholars — will revel in this astute explication of a working life."

New York Press

"...contains not a single dull moment for those interested in the behind-the-scenes aspects of theater and movies..."

Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Richard Schickel has produced the first ‘life’ of Kazan...[with] an impressive knowledge of the terrain [and] soundly balanced judgments."

Grand Rapids Press

"Outstanding....Perhaps, thanks to Schickel’s biography, history will once again remember Kazan primarily for his accomplishments, not his testimony."

The Economist

"A worthy companion to the director’s own autobiography...immensely likeable."

Booklist (starred review)

“This sympathetic, scrupulously researched biography...vividly conveys the director’s potent personality...”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"A scintillating and thoroughly readable new biography."

New York Times Book Review

"Breathtaking, often riotous but never excessive...[Elia Kazan] could not be a more pertinent study of a spellbinding subject."

Buffalo News

"One of those exhilarating publishing rarities — the ideal writer for the ideal subject."

Booklist

"This sympathetic, scrupulously researched biography...vividly conveys the director’s potent personality..."