Elia Kazan

Elia Kazan, born Elias Kazantzoglou on September 7, 1909, in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, and died September 28, 2003, in Manhattan, was a Greek-American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor across film and Broadway theatre. He directed Gentleman's Agreement (1947), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Waterfront (1954), and East of Eden (1955), winning two Academy Awards for Best Director. In 1952 he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee and named eight former colleagues as Communist Party members, a decision that damaged his standing in the industry for the rest of his career; when he received an Honorary Academy Award in 1999, several actors in the audience refused to applaud.