Quotes by Elia Kazan

“Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it.”

“I truly believe that all power corrupts. Such is probably the thinking behind every political film ever made in Hollywood.”

“I want to thank the Academy for its courage and generosity.”

“The writer, when he is also an artist, is someone who admits what others don't dare reveal.”

“Stylized acting and direction is to realistic acting and direction as poetry is to prose.”

“You've got to keep fighting - you've got to risk your life every six months to stay alive.”

“You've got to keep fighting-you've got to risk your life every six months to stay alive.”

“He carried with him the aura of a prophet, a magician, a witch doctor, a psychoanalyst, and a feared father of a Jewish home.... [H]e was the force that held the thirty-odd members of the theatre t...”

“The Group was the best thing professionally that ever happened to me. I met two wonderful men. Lee Strasberg and Harold Clurman, both of whom were around thirty years old. They were magnetic, fearl...”

“I was thirty-three when I made A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and many leading ladies around town were considerably older. It was the first movie of Elia Kazan and for Aunt Cissie he'd wanted Betty Grab...”

“He was from the theatah, meaning he knew nothing about lighting, lenses, close-ups. All that was done for him by our ace cinematographer, Leon Shamroy, who actually asked Zanuck for a directing cre...”

“I went to him and told him I had no such experiences in life and didn't know where to get the emotions I'd need. He was very patient with me and let me ramble on about my misgivings and anxieties. ...”