Editing Elia Kazan (section)

===Being an “actor's director”===
[[File:A Face in the Crowd publicity photo (Patricia Neal & Andy Griffith).jpg|thumb|right|[[Patricia Neal]] and [[Andy Griffith]] in ''[[A Face in the Crowd (film)|A Face in the Crowd]]'' (1957)]]
Joanna Rapf adds that Kazan was most admired for his close work with actors, noting that director [[Nicholas Ray]] considered him "the best actor's director the United States has ever produced".<ref name=Rapf/>{{rp|22}} Film historian Foster Hirsch explains that "he created virtually a new acting style, which was the style of the Method{{nbsp}}... [that] allowed for the actors to create great depth of psychological realism".<ref name=Hirsch>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-feb-17-la-et-classic-hollywood17-2010feb17-story.html |last=King |first=Susan |title=Elia Kazan, an actor's director |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=February 17, 2010}}</ref>

Among the actors who described Kazan as an important influence in their career was [[Patricia Neal]], who co-starred with [[Andy Griffith]] in ''[[A Face in the Crowd (film)|A Face in the Crowd]]'' (1957): "He was very good. He was an actor and he knew how we acted. He would come and talk to you privately. I liked him a lot."<ref name=Hirsch/> [[Anthony Franciosa]], a supporting actor in the film, explains how Kazan encouraged his actors:

{{blockquote|He would always say, "Let me see what you can do. Let me see it. Don't talk to me about it." You felt that you had a man who was completely on your side—no qualms about anything you did. He gave you a tremendous sense of confidence{{nbsp}}... He never made me feel as though I was acting for the camera. Many times, I never even knew where the camera was.<ref>{{cite book |last=Salvi |first=Delia |title=Friendly Enemies: Maximizing the Director–Actor Relationship |publisher=Watson-Guptill |year=2002 |pages=239–240}}</ref>}}

In order to get quality acting from [[Andy Griffith]], in his first screen appearance, and achieve what Schickel calls "an astonishing movie debut",<ref name=Schickel/>{{rp|338}} Kazan would often take surprising measures. In one important and highly emotional scene, for example, Kazan had to give Griffith fair warning: "I may have to use extraordinary means to make you do this. I may have to get out of line. I don't know any other way of getting an extraordinary performance out of an actor."<ref>{{cite book |last=Williamson |first=Jerry Wayne |title=Hillbillyland: What the Movies Did to the Mountains and What the Mountains Did to the Movies |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1995 |page=168}}</ref> Actress [[Terry Moore (actress)|Terry Moore]] calls Kazan her "best friend", and notes that "he made you feel better than you thought you could be. I never had another director that ever touched him. I was spoiled for life".<ref name="Hirsch" /> "He would find out if your life was like the character", says [[Carroll Baker]], star of ''Baby Doll''; "he was the best director with actors".<ref name="Hirsch" />

Kazan's need to remain close to his actors continued up to his last film, ''[[The Last Tycoon (1976 film)|The Last Tycoon]]'' (1976). He remembered that [[Robert De&nbsp;Niro]], the star of the film, "would do almost anything to succeed", and even cut his weight down from 170 to 128 pounds for the role. Kazan adds that De&nbsp;Niro "is one of a select number of actors I've directed who work hard at their trade, and the only one who asked to rehearse on Sundays. Most of the others play tennis. Bobby and I would go over the scenes to be shot."<ref name=Kazan/>{{rp|766}}

The powerful dramatic roles Kazan brought out from many of his actors was due, partly, to his ability to recognize their personal traits. Although he did not know De Niro before this film, for example, Kazan later writes, "Bobby is more meticulous{{nbsp}}... he's very imaginative. He's very precise. He figures everything out both inside and outside. He has good emotion. He's a character actor: everything he does he calculates. In a good way, but he calculates."<ref name=Kazan1/>{{rp|210}} Kazan developed and used those personality traits for his character in the film.<ref name=Kazan/>{{rp|766}} Although the film did poorly at the box office, some reviewers praised De&nbsp;Niro's acting. Film critic Marie Brenner writes that "for De&nbsp;Niro, it is a role that surpasses even his brilliant and daring portrayal of [[Vito Corleone]] in [[The Godfather Part II|''The Godfather, part&nbsp;II'']],{{nbsp}}... [his] performance deserves to be compared with the very finest".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Brenner |first=Marie |title=Tender is the Plight |magazine=Texas Monthly |date=January 1977}}</ref> [[Marlon Brando]], in his autobiography, goes into detail about the influence Kazan had on his acting:

{{blockquote|
I have worked with many movie directors—some good, some fair, some terrible. Kazan was the best actors' director by far of any I've worked for{{nbsp}}... the only one who ever really stimulated me, got into a part with me and virtually acted it with me{{nbsp}}... he chose good actors, encouraged them to improvise, and then improvised on the improvisation{{nbsp}}... He gave his cast freedom and{{nbsp}}... was always emotionally involved in the process and his instincts were perfect{{nbsp}}... I've never seen a director who became as deeply and emotionally involved in a scene as Gadg{{nbsp}}... he got so wrought up that he started chewing on his hat.

He was an arch-manipulator of actors' feelings, and he was extraordinarily talented; perhaps we will never see his like again.<ref name=Brando>{{cite book |last1=Brando |first1=Marlon |last2=Lindsey |first2=Robert |title=Brando: Songs My Mother Taught Me |publisher=Random House |year=1994 |pages=169–176}}</ref>}}