Quotes By Elia Kazan

I spoke without fear of contradiction. I simply did not suffer self-doubt.

The first thing you should do with an actor is not sign a contract with him. Take him to dinner. And take him for a walk afterwards.

You have no idea how fragile an actor's self-worth is.

When you know what an actor has, you can reach in and arouse it. If you don't know what he has, you don't know what the hell is going on.

You can't just sit there and do the lines. You have to do something revealing or unusual.

I will say nothing to an actor that cannot be translated into action.

There was no doubt that there was a vast organization which was making fools of all the liberals in Hollywood and taking their money, that there was a police state among the Left element in Hollywood and Broadway.

I hate the Communists and have for many years and don't feel right about giving up my career to defend them. I will give up my film career if it is in the interests of defending something I believe in, but not this.

There is only one thing I respect in so-called Broadway actors... and that is their competitive sense.

I was an outsider... but I was also sympathetic with people that were struggling to get up, because I struggled to get up.

I don't remember anything anybody said in any Jack Ford picture. Nothing happens except action.

The Communists automatically violated the daily practices of democracy to which I was accustomed.

I have no spy stories to tell, because I saw no spies. Nor did I understand, at that time, any opposition between American and Russian national interest.

The belief that the good in American society will finally win out... I don't believe any more.

I was not a collective person or a bohemian; I was an elitist.

Every fighter has one fight that makes or breaks him.

I said to Tennessee, this thing is becoming the Marlon Brando show.

I wouldn't go up on a stage now if you paid a thousand dollars for one minute of acting. It's a nasty experience. You're up there all by yourself. You're so damn exposed.

Every picture that is successful has one little miracle in it.

I'm going to make a film where not one word is really important. I'm going to make it all action.

I owe Bankhead a gift; she made a director out of me.

Our relationship was cursed by the fact that we agreed on everything.

I like directors who come on the set and create something that's a little dangerous, difficult or unusual.

The makers of entertainment must try, in our field, to be honest and grown-up.

I value peace when it is not bought at the price of fundamental decencies.

I was the hero of the young insurgent working class art movement.

I was even superior to the Communists and when they didn't go along with me, I quit them.

I would rather do what I did than crawl in front of a ritualistic Left and lie the way those other comrades did betray my own soul.

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

I've lost many of my best friends... I'm going to satisfy myself now, not the critics, not even my friends.