Stage director of A Streetcar Named Desire and On The Waterfront among others, tells of his background from a Greek immigrant family in New York to the heights of success and his controversial relationships with legendary figures like Marlon Brando, Tennessee Williams and James Dean. With his director's eye for the telling scene, Kazan shares the joys and complications of production, his insights on acting, directing and producing. He talks with candor about himself as husband and, in the many years when he obsessively sought adventure outside marriage, as lover. He discusses the Communist Party years and his wrenching decision in 1952 to be a co-operative witness before HUAC. He also gives a revealing portrait of Marilyn Monroe.