Elia Kazan directed enduring classics, like On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, and East of Eden, and he has won two Academy Awards® for Best Director and an additional honorary Oscar for his "long, distinguished and unparalleled career during which he has influenced the very nature of filmmaking through his creation of cinematic masterpiece."

Tonight, Martin Scorsese presents A Letter to Elia, which was written and directed by Scorcese and Kent Jones, on PBS stations at 9pm (ET) as part of the network's American Masters series. The PBS web site describes the show as:

Composed of clips, stills, readings from Kazan’s autobiography and his speech on directing (read by Elias Koteas), a videotaped interview done late in Kazan’s life, and Scorsese’s commentary on and offscreen, A Letter to Elia takes a close look at the life of art and its creation – the work, the distractions, the inspirations, the complications, the intersections between art and experience. 

You can view a preview of the show below, and the Read link will take you to the PBS web site for more information.

Watch the full episode. See more American Masters.