orig. Elia Kazanjoglous
born Sept. 7, 1909, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
died Sept. 28, 2003, New York, N.Y., U.S.
U.S. stage and film director.
At age four he immigrated to the U.S. with his family. An actor with the Group Theatre (1932–39), he became a noted Broadway director with plays such as The Skin of Our Teeth (1942), A Streetcar Named Desire (1947; film, 1951), Death of a Salesman (1949, Tony Award), J.B. (1958, Tony Award), and Sweet Bird of Youth (1959). In 1947 he cofounded the Actors Studio . He was praised for his naturalistic style in movies such as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), Gentleman's Agreement (1947, Academy Award), On the Waterfront (1954, Academy Award), and East of Eden (1955). Though bitterly attacked for his cooperation with the House Un-American Activities Committee in the early 1950s, in which he turned over names of suspected communists, he received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement in 1999.