Alternative Film Guide

Oscar-nominated performances in Elia Kazan’s films

Elia Kazan is best remembered today for two things: His association with Marlon Brando during the first half of the 1950s, and the fact that he claimed to be unrepentant about naming names and ruining careers and lives during the Red-baiting hysteria of the post-World War II years.

Kazan’s 19 feature films are wildly uneven (for every great A Streetcar Named Desire there is a dreadful America, America — plus everything in between), but probably because of his Broadway training, Kazan was definitely an outstanding actors’ director.

Unfortunately, tough-guy Brando is the best-remembered Kazan star today, even though the director coaxed superb performances from a wide range of players, from child actress Peggy Ann Garner (who won a special "juvenile" Oscar for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in 1945) and child-woman Carroll Baker (in Baby Doll) to Deborah Kerr (as a bored housewife in The Arrangement) and Jo Van Fleet (as tough old ladies in both in East of Eden and Wild River).

Kazan was nominated for five best direction Oscars: Gentleman’s Agreement, 1947; A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951; On the Waterfront, 1954; East of Eden, 1955; and America, America, 1963).

He won twice, for Gentleman’s Agreement and On the Waterfront.

Elia Kazan

24 Acting Nominations

(s) supporting category

(*) Academy Award winner

1945

James Dunn (s) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn*

(Additionally, Peggy Ann Garner won a special "juvenile" Oscar for her 1945 performances, including A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)

1947

Gregory Peck Gentleman’s Agreement

Dorothy McGuire Gentleman’s Agreement

Celeste Holm (s) Gentleman’s Agreement *

Anne Revere (s) Gentleman’s Agreement

1949

Lily white Fox star Jeanne Crain was nominated for an Oscar for trying (and failing) to pass for a light-skinned "black" (read: mixed ancestry) girl trying to pass for a lily white girl. Fellow nominee Ethel Waters comforts Crain, "You cayn’t act, but you’re darned purty." (Actually, Crain could be excellent. Check out the nostalgic Margie.)

Jeanne Crain Pinky (co-directed with John Ford)

Ethel Barrymore (s) Pinky

Ethel Waters (s) Pinky

1951

Vivien Leigh originated the role of Blanche DuBois in London. (Jessica Tandy was Marlon Brando’s co-star on Broadway.) Leigh’s performance is one of the greatest ever committed to celluloid, but Brando — sexy, violent, crude, selfish, dumb, in dire need of a bath — is the one with a following today. That says a lot about our culture.

Marlon Brando A Streetcar Named Desire

Vivien Leigh A Streetcar Named Desire *

Karl Malden (s) A Streetcar Named Desire *

Kim Hunter (s) A Streetcar Named Desire *

1952

Marlon Brando Viva Zapata

Anthony Quinn (s) Viva Zapata *

1954

Each time I hear that damned line, "Icouldabinuhcontendah," I wonder if On the Waterfront is the only pre-1975 film people know about. As far as I’m concerned, Eva Marie Saint stole the movie — and Humphrey Bogart shouldabindaoscarwinnah that year (for The Caine Mutiny).

Marlon Brando On the Waterfront *

Lee J. Cobb (s) On the Waterfront

Karl Malden (s) On the Waterfront

Rod Steiger (s) On the Waterfront

Eva Marie Saint (s) On the Waterfront *

1955

James Dean is out to trip Jo Van Fleet after learning that she won the Oscar for East of Eden and he didn’t. (Actually, by the time the nominations were announced, the 24-year-old legend-in-the-making was already dead.)

James Dean East of Eden

Jo Van Fleet (s) East of Eden *

1956

Carroll Baker Baby Doll

Mildred Dunnock (s) Baby Doll

1961

Natalie Wood Splendor in the Grass

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