Elia Kazan was an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is best known for his films 'On the Waterfront' and 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. He was also a recipient of the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1909 and immigrated to the United States in 1923. He began his career as a stage director in the 1930s and went on to direct some of the most acclaimed films of the 1950s and 1960s. He was also known for his political activism and his involvement in the Hollywood blacklist.