Stanford lecturer Bahram Beyzaie has died

Beyzaie’s prolific career in film and theater made him one of Iran’s most iconic artists and cultural figures.

Stanford lecturer Bahram Beyzaie, a prominent and award-winning Iranian filmmaker, playwright, educator, and scholar often described by media as a “giant” of Iranian cinema, died Dec. 26 at his home in Palo Alto. He was 87.

One of Iran’s most important and prolific directors, Beyzaie was noted for art that blended Iranian history, mythology, and politics. He directed 10 feature films; four short films; 14 stage plays, including six at Stanford; and published more than 70 books, as well as numerous monographs, screenplays, and research papers.

Abbas Milani, the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies, called Beyzaie an “iconic figure” in Iranian film and theater. “The plays he put on at Stanford in the last several years are the most important plays in the Farsi language anywhere in the world.”

Beyzaie, who’d been exiled from Iran for years, was often asked why he would not return. Milani recalled him once responding: “At Stanford, I found the Iran I love where I can work without censorship. Nobody tells me what to cut from a play. Nobody tells me I can’t say something on the stage.”

“Stanford was a second home for Bahram,” said his wife, actress Mojdeh Shamsaie. “And for 15 years he was able to do what he loved there – things that were banned in our country – from teaching to performing his prohibited plays.”

The ‘Shakespeare of Iran’

Beyzaie was born on Dec. 26, 1938, in Tehran. He was a leader of the generation of filmmakers known as the Iranian New Wave who, beginning in the 1960s, helped revitalize Iran’s performing arts by incorporating Iranian mythology with modern theater and cinema. He was a frequent target of Iran’s government censorship, and his films were banned in the 1980s.

Notably, many of his films feature female protagonists or center on the female experience in Iran. “Historically, Iran has faced a systematic and structural effort to enforce misogyny and second-class citizenship for women,” said Milani. “He used his artwork to compensate women for what he saw as this great injustice.”

Beyzaie’s final play, Dash Akol According to Marjan, was performed in two parts in 2024 and 2025. Based on a short story by Sadegh Hedayat about a man who becomes executor and caretaker of a dying man’s home and family, Beyzaie’s adaptation is told through the eyes of the daughter.

Many of Beyzaie’s Farsi-language plays had universal appeal, attracting audiences who didn’t speak the language but nonetheless were drawn to the performances. He was often described as the “Shakespeare of Iran” for his innovative storytelling. “Like Shakespeare, he covered a multiplicity of forms of theater, and he took what was a traditional form and turned it into a modern masterpiece – something completely different than what it was,” said Milani.

A noted scholar and historian, Beyzaie conducted research on the origins of One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folktales, and his book Theatre in Iran, published in 1965, is still considered an authoritative account of Iranian theater history.

Colleagues remember Bayzaie as a meticulous artist and scholar who also cared deeply about his role as a teacher. “He was extremely disciplined,” Milani said. “And he prepared meticulously and attended to his students.”

Teaching students to see

Beyzaie was chair of the Department of Theater at the University of Tehran in the 1970s, but was dismissed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In 2010, Milani recruited Beyzaie to Stanford to serve as the Bita Daryabari Lecturer of Persian Studies. In his 15 years at Stanford, Beyzaie taught more than 750 Stanford students in courses such as Contemporary Iranian Theater and delivered numerous lectures, held workshops, and directed many plays.

Coterminal master’s student Mobina Riazi took courses with Beyzaie, including Iranian Cinema in the Diaspora. She described his independent study on Film Farsi, a subgenre of Iranian cinema, as the single most formative course of her academic career at Stanford, showing her how to look beyond camera angles, lighting, and sound choices in film to see herself and the world more fully.

“He taught me to attend to what often goes unnoticed,” she said. “To question what is taken for granted in my own reality, and to engage thoughtfully even with those who resist seeing.”

Matin Mirramezani, ’24, said Beyzaie’s courses and plays were among the most rewarding parts of his Stanford experience. “That he was not just a once-in-a-generation figure, but a historic one, was always palpable in his teaching, commentary, and, most importantly, his art. His work was exceptional in both craft and concept.”

Mirramezani said Beyzaie challenged others to be themselves, and exemplified the spirit of Stanford with an “unwavering commitment” to freedom of thought and expression.

“At the time when Iran is engulfed in protests, and many Iranians are fighting for their rights and livelihood, it is also important to note that he was truly unique in fighting societal and cultural dogmas against women, minorities, and dissidents,” Mirramezani said.

Beyzaie held an honorary doctorate from the University of St. Andrews, and his films received numerous awards. His 1989 film Bashu recently won the Venice Classics award for Best Restored Film at the Venice Film Festival.

Like Shakespeare, Beyzaie died on his birthday. He is survived by his wife, Mojdeh Shamsaie; daughters Negar and Niloofar Beyzaie; and son, Niassan Beyzaie.