American actor James Byron Dean was born on February 8, 1931, and passed away on September 30, 1955. Despite having a brief but impactful career in Hollywood, he rose to prominence in the 1950s. He only had a small but significant role in three big films, yet his influence on film and pop culture was enormous. His portrayal of a disillusioned and defiant adolescent in Rebel Without a Cause(1955), his eloquent display of passion in East of Eden(1955), and Giant(1956), a massive drama that came out a year after he passed away, are all noteworthy films. Their "cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance" led to their preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. His untimely death in a vehicle crash in 1955 at the age of 24 has become an enduring emblem of disobedience, youth, and the restless soul.
Following his death, Dean's performance in East of Eden earned him a posthumous nomination for Best Actor at the Academy Awards. As a result of his performance in Giant the following year, he became the only actor to ever get two nods for posthumous acting. Among the 100 male cinema stars from Hollywood's Golden Age, he was named the 18th greatest in 1999 by the American cinema Institute's "AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars" list. Dean was named one of TIME's "All-Time Most Influential Fashion Icons."
Dean's performances and aesthetic had a profound effect on Hollywood, encapsulating the vibe of the youth of the 1950s and leaving an indelible mark that influenced American popular culture and characterized counterculture stances for many years to come.
Background and schooling ==
Dean was born to Mildred Marie Wilson and Winton Dean on February 8, 1931, in Marion, Indiana. He was the only child in his family. Claiming ancestry from a "line of original settlers that could be traced back to the Mayflower" and a Native American mother, he made these assertions about his father. Dean and his family relocated to Santa Monica, California, six years after his father had abandoned farming to pursue a career as a dental technician. He started out at Brentwood Public School in Los Angeles's Brentwood district but quickly switched to McKinley Elementary. There they stayed for a while, and word on the street is that Dean became rather close to his mom during that time. "The only person capable of understanding him" was, in Michael DeAngelis' statement, her. In 1938, Dean's mom had a severe case of stomach ache and started losing weight unexpectedly. When Dean was nine years old, his mother passed away from uterine cancer. Ortense and Marcus Winslow, Dean's aunt and uncle, reared him at their Quaker home on their farm in Fairmount, Indiana, after his father was unable to care for him. After serving in WWII, Dean's father remarried.
It appears that the Rev. James DeWeerd, a local Methodist preacher, had a formative impact on Dean during his teens, particularly on his interests in bullfighting, auto racing, and theater. Dean sought out DeWeerd's advise and companionship. An "intimate relationship with his pastor, which began in his senior year of high school and endured for many years" was Dean's, according to Billy J. Harbin. Paul Alexander's 1994 biography, Boulevard of Broken Dreams: James Dean's Life, Times, and Legend, included sexual connection allegations. According to reports from 2011, Dean told Elizabeth Taylor about his sexual assault at the hands of a pastor about two years after his mother passed away. According to some accounts of Dean's childhood, DeWeerd sexually molested him while he was a youngster or a late adolescent.
As a whole, Dean excelled academically and was well-liked by his peers. While attending Indiana High School, he was a member of the varsity basketball and baseball teams, took acting classes, and participated in public speaking competitions via the Forensic Association. Moving back home with his father and stepmother, Ethel Case Dean, he graduated from Fairmount High School in May 1949 and returned to California. Dean attended Santa Monica College with the intention of becoming a lawyer. Instead of majoring in history, he switched to theater during his one semester at UCLA. When Winton tried to steer him toward a more conventional profession, it generated an impasse of "uncommunicative antagonism" and ruined his attempt at reconciliation with his father. He joined the Sigma Nu sorority but never had his initiation rites. Dean played Malcolm in Macbeth while he was an undergraduate at UCLA, beating out 350 other performers for the role. He started training with James Whitmore, an actor, about the same period. Leaving UCLA in January 1951, he dove headfirst into acting.
First several years of work ===
It was in a Pepsi commercial that Dean first appeared on television in 1950. Hill Number One, an Easter television spectacular dramatizing the Resurrection of Jesus, was his first speaking role, and he dropped out of college to pursue acting full-time. During the program's production, Dean was an employee at the famously shot Iverson Movie Ranch in Los Angeles's Chatsworth neighborhood, where a recreation of Jesus' tomb was recreated. The third of Dean's later film appearances was as a soldier in Fixed Bayonets! Sailor Beware (1952), a boxing cornerman (1951), and Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1953) all featured young actors. In 1952. Dean worked as a parking valet at CBS Studios when he was attempting to get opportunities in Hollywood. During that period, he crossed paths with Rogers Brackett, an advertising agency's radio director, who not only provided him with housing but also offered him professional assistance and direction in his chosen career path. As a result of Brackett's introductions, Dean was able to secure his breakthrough Broadway role in See the Jaguar.
Brackett developed Alias Jane Doe, in which Dean had an appearance in July 1951.
Dean relocated to New York City in October 1951 at the urging of actor James Whitmore and the counsel of his tutor Rogers Brackett. The game show Beat the Clock allegedly sacked him from his position as stunt tester because he completed the assignments too fast. Prior to his entrance to the Actors Studio to study method acting under Lee Strasberg, he had guest appearances on several CBS television shows, as well as in Studio One, Lux Video Theatre, The Web, and Studio One. His silent role as a pressman in Humphrey Bogart's 1952 film Deadline—U.S.A. was his only acting credit.
In a 1952 letter to his family, Dean proudly described the Actors Studio as "the greatest school of the theater. It houses great people like Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, Arthur Kennedy, Mildred Dunnock, Eli Wallach... Very few get into it... It is the best thing that can happen to an actor. I am one of the youngest to belong." Along with Carroll Baker, who he would later star with in Giant (1956), Dean was a classmate and close friend at the studio. Dean's career took off, and he appeared in more episodes of Kraft Television Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents, The United States Steel Hour, Danger, and General Electric Theater in the early 1950s, among others. "Glory in the Flower," an episode of the CBS series Omnibus, featured Dean in an early part that set the stage for the disillusioned adolescent he would later portray in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). This show aired in the summer of 1953 and featured the rock and roll tune "Crazy Man, Crazy"—a pioneer in dramatic television.
Hollywood contacted Dean after his 1954 stage performance as Bachir, a gay North African houseboy in an adaption of André Gide's The Immoralist (1902), received positive reviews. Dean had an extramarital romance with Geraldine Page when they were filming The Immoralist. According to Angelica Page, their relationship lasted three and a half months. After Jimmy's death, Page continued to be friends with Dean and kept many personal mementos from the play, including drawings by him. It was not uncommon for her to find pictures of Jimmy taped to her mirror in her dressing room, even after Dean had passed away. Page believes that Dean and Jimmy were artistic soul mates.
This is the East of Eden.
For screenwriter Paul Osborn's 1953 adaptation of John Steinbeck's 1952 novel East of Eden, director Elia Kazan was casting for a significant actor to portray the multi-layered character of Cal Trask. The Trask and Hamilton families are the subjects of this book, which spans three generations and mostly concerns the lives of the second and third generations in Salinas Valley, California, from the middle of the nineteenth century until the 1910s. The film script diverged from the novel in that it concentrated on the story's latter half, particularly Cal's role. In contrast to their religious and always disapproving father (Raymond Massey), Cal emerges as more pragmatic, business-savvy, and emotionally tormented than his twin brother Aron. Cal also aspires to develop a method for preserving vegetables. Actress Jo Van Fleet performed the role of their mother, who is believed to be dead, but Cal finds out that she is actually alive and working as a brothel owner.
Osborn proposed the young, unheralded actor Dean to Elia Kazan, who had previously stated his desire for "a Brando type" to play Cal. Steinbeck met with Dean, who was ideal for the role despite her personal dislike of the complicated and gloomy young guy. Following his casting, Dean departed New York City for Los Angeles on April 8, 1954, to commence filming.
After finding his mother in neighboring Monterey, Dean danced in the bean field and rode a railroad boxcar in a fetal position; most of his performance in the film was unrehearsed. The most famous scene from the film is the improvised scene where Cal's father refuses the $5,000 that Cal had earned by trading beans before the United States got involved in World War I. Instead of fleeing from his father, as the script had it, Dean turned to Massey and, in an act of intense emotion, swooped forward, embraced him tightly, and sobbed. Kazan preserved both this and Massey's startled response for the film. Foreshadowing his part as Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause, Dean's performance in the picture was impressive. Both protagonists suffer from anxiety and are social misfits who want for their dads' acceptance. For his work in East of Eden, Dean received the first-ever official posthumous acting nomination at the 1956 Academy Awards, for Best Actor in a Leading Role of 1955. Dean only appeared in one film during his lifetime, East of Eden, and Jeanne Eagels was nominated for Best Actress in 1929, under different methods for selecting the winner.
The roles of Rebel Without a Cause, Giant, and those who had them planned
In the years immediately after his appearance in Eden, Dean landed the lead part of Jim Stark in the adolescent blockbuster Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Many have pointed to the movie as a realistic depiction of the struggles that teenagers face. After starring in East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, Dean sought to break out of the typical character of a defiant adolescent (think Jim Stark or Cal Trask) and instead played the part of Jett Rink, a ranch hand from Texas who finds oil and becomes rich in the 1956 picture Giant, which was released after Dean's death. The film follows the lives of Rink, Elizabeth Taylor's Leslie, Rock Hudson's Bick Benedict, a rancher from Texas, across several decades. Dean bleached his hair gray and receded his hairline to play an older version of his character in the film's final sequences.
It turned out that Giant was Dean's final feature. Because it takes place just before Dean's untimely death, the scene where he delivers an inebriated speech at a banquet—officially titled the "Last Supper"—dubbed the film's last act. Because Dean wanted the sequence to seem more authentic, he was drunk while filming. However, this caused director George Stevens to determine that Nick Adams, who had a limited role in the film due to Dean's death before editing began, would have to overdubbed the scene. At the 29th Academy Awards in 1957, for films released in 1956, Dean made it to the finals for his part in Giant, earning him his second posthumous Best Actor nomination. After completing Giant, Dean was supposed to play Rocky Graziano in the 1956 movie Somebody Up There Likes Me, and Nicholas Ray said that he and the director were planning to do a narrative called Heroic Love.
="life outside of work"
The family of Dean stated that screenwriter William Bast was one of their closest pals. Bast claims to have known Dean for the past five years of his life; he was Dean's roommate at UCLA and then in New York.
Beverly Wills was an actress with CBS, and Dean dated fellow UCLA student Jeanette Lewis. They were typically on two dates at once with Bast and Dean. "Bill, there's something we have to tell you. It's Jimmy and me. I mean, we're in love." Wills subsequently told Bast about his newfound romance with Dean.71? Dean "exploded" when another man asked her to dance at a gathering, and they split up.74?
Even though he was Dean's first biographer, Bast waited until 2006 to say whether or not the two had an intimate connection. Surviving James Dean was Bast's more forthcoming account of his connection with Dean; he said that the two had been lovers for one night at a Borrego Springs motel.
The actress Liz Sheridan described her 1952 New York City romance with James Dean as "just kind of magical" in 1996. We were both swept away by that initial love.
Dean met actress Barbara Glenn through their common friend Martin Landau while he was a New York resident. The couple dated for two years, going through several breakups and reconciliations. In 2011, their love letters were sold at auction for $36,000.
Upon signing his contract with Warner Brothers, early in Dean's career, the studio's public relations department started peddling stories about Dean's affairs with a number of young actresses, most of whom were clients of Dean's Hollywood agent, Dick Clayton. In addition, press releases from the studio grouped Dean with two other actors, Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter, and described each of them as a 'eligible bachelor' who had not yet located the time to commit to a woman: "They say their film rehearsals are in conflict with their marriage rehearsals."
The most famous relationship that Dean had was with Italian actress Pier Angeli. They met on the Warner lot next to each other while she was filming The Silver Chalice (1954), and as a token of their love, they traded pieces of jewelry. In an interview given fourteen years after their breakup, Angeli recalled their times together:
Once upon a time, we would sneak off to the California coast and hide out in a cottage on a remote beach, far from prying eyes. There, we would spend a lot of time lounging around and talking like college students—about everything from our problems and our lives to acting and movies and the afterlife. We understood each other perfectly; we were like Romeo and Juliet—inseparable and together. There were moments when our love for each other was so strong that we wanted to hold hands and walk into the sea, symbolizing our eternal unity.:?196?
According to Dean, Angeli's soul is the most beautiful thing about Pier. She is under no need to dress formally. She is under no obligation to speak or do anything. It's perfect the way she is. Her perspective on life is very unique.
The people who thought Dean and Angeli were madly in love with each other said that several things drove them apart, including Angeli's mother's disapproval of his non-Catholicism and his clothing code, which she said was unacceptable in Italy.
Furthermore, Dean's co-star on East of Eden, Richard Davalos, asserted that Dean actually desired to wed Angeli and was prepared to have their children raised Catholic. Among Dean's personal belongings discovered after his death was an Order for the Solemnization of Marriage booklet with the name "Pier" lightly penciled in every blank space where the bride's name should be.
William Bast and Paul Alexander are among the commentators who think the relationship was all a publicity stunt. Elia Kazan, who directed East of Eden, writes in his autobiography that he never thought Dean could have been successful with women, even though he remembered Dean and Angeli making out in Dean's dressing room. Author Paul Donnelley quotes Kazan as saying, "He always had uncertain relations with girlfriends."
John Howlett, Dean's biographer, noted that Pier Angeli's lone interview on the relationship in her latter years seemed like wishful fantasies, which is what Bast says they are. Angeli gave detailed accounts of their romantic beach encounters.
Dean took a short trip to New York in October 1954 after completing his role in East of Eden. During his absence, Angeli announced her engagement to Italian-American singer Vic Damone. The press was taken aback, and Dean expressed his irritation. The following month, Angeli married Damone. Rumor has it that Dean rode his motorcycle across the street and even revved the engine during the wedding, but he later denied doing anything so "dumb." Angeli later divorced Damone and married Armando Trovajoli, an Italian film composer. In her final years, friends claimed that Dean was her soulmate. Tragically, she died of a barbiturate overdose in 1971 at the age of 39.
"She was seen riding around Hollywood on the back of James's motorcycle," says author Darwin Porter of Dean's relationship with Swiss actress Ursula Andress. Also, she was spotted in Dean's sports automobiles and was with him on the day he acquired the car he died in.
In 1974, a documentary titled James Dean Remembered highlighted significant moments from Dean's career in film and television and featured interviews with notable figures such as Sammy Davis Jr., Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, and Leonard Rosenman. In the documentary, Rosenman contended that fans often admired Dean for traits he actually despised in himself, such as his rebellious and eccentric image. He emphasized that, rather than embracing this persona, Dean had a profound desire for "peace and intellectual growth". While he felt compelled to adopt a rebellious identity reminiscent of Marlon Brando's character in The Wild One, he ultimately sought to distance himself from that image, which prompted him to pursue therapy later in life. Natalie Wood also offered insights into Dean's behavior, suggesting it stemmed from an emotional need for connection rather than mere rebellion. She noted that he sought love and attention, expressing a desire for others to listen to him instead of rejecting him. Though often perceived as a nonconformist and eccentric, Wood pointed out that many of Dean's actions—like avoiding suits and social functions—are less uncommon today. She characterized him in an interview by Peter Lawford: "But I think he was not into drugs or anything very spooky or weird. In my opinion, he was a young man in excellent health. Quite lyrical and gloomy. However, unaffected by drugs or a state of panic.
The end of life
Hobbit: racing automobiles
After filming East of Eden wrapped in 1954, Dean showed interest in pursuing a career in motorsport. He bought a Triumph Tiger T110 and a Porsche 356, among other vehicles. Just before Rebel Without a Cause began, Dean competed in his first professional event at the Palm Springs Road Races in Palm Springs, California, on March 26-27, 1955. He won the novice class and finished second in the main event. A month later, he raced again in Bakersfield, where he won his class and third overall. Unfortunately, his hectic schedule prevented him from competing in the Indianapolis 500.
On Memorial Day, May 30, 1955, Dean raced in Santa Barbara, but he was unable to complete the race because of a blown piston. Warner Brothers banned him from racing while he was filming Giant, so he had finished filming his scenes and the movie was in post-production when he decided to race again.
With a yearning to be back in the "liberating prospects" of motor racing, Dean sold his Speedster and bought a newer, faster 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder. He entered the Salinas Road Race event that was scheduled for October 1-2, 1955, and on his way to the track on September 30 were stunt coordinator Bill Hickman, Collier's photographer Sanford Roth, and Rolf Wütherich, the German mechanic from the Porsche factory who had worked on Dean's Spyder, "Little Bastard" car. Wütherich, who had urged Dean to drive the car from Los Angeles to Salinas to break it in, rode shotgun with Dean in the Porsche. At 3:30 p.m., both Dean and Hickman were issued speeding tickets, with Hickman following in another car.
At about 5:45 p.m. on September 30, the group was traveling westbound on U.S. Route 466 (currently SR 46) near Cholame, California, when a 1950 Ford Tudor, driven by Donald Turnupseed, a 23-year-old student at California Polytechnic State University, was going east. Just ahead of the oncoming Porsche, on Highway 41 heading north toward Fresno, Turnupseed made a left turn, and Dean, who couldn't stop in time, slammed into the passenger side of the Ford. The collision caused Dean's car to bounce across the pavement onto the side of the highway. Wütherich was thrown from the Porsche, and Dean was trapped in the car, suffering multiple fatal injuries, including a broken neck. Turnupseed, on the other hand, had only minor injuries.
Many onlookers stopped to help after the accident; according to Dean's biographer, George Perry, a nurse attended to Dean and found a weak pulse; however, Perry also contradictorily stated that "death appeared to have been instantaneous"; and Dean was declared dead upon arrival at the Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital shortly after his ambulance arrived at 6:20 p.m.
Although news of Dean's death took some time to reach newspapers in the East, word quickly spread via radio and television. By October 2, both domestic and foreign media had paid close attention to the story. On October 8, 1955, at the Fairmount Friends Church in Fairmount, Indiana, the funeral took place. The coffin was closed to conceal Dean's severe injuries. About 600 mourners were there, and another 2,400 fans gathered outside the building during the procession. Dean is laid to rest at Park Cemetery in Fairmount.
A half-mile from the accident site, in front of the former Cholame post office (which closed in 1994) and a restaurant (until its closing in 2022), there is a James Dean memorial, funded by a Japanese businessman, which an inquest found Dean totally at responsible for the tragic accident.
The moving image and the small screen
Dean was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. In 1999, he was named the 18th best male Golden Age Hollywood actor in the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list. The Library of Congress has preserved all three of Dean's films in the United States National Film Registry. American teenagers of the mid-1950s, when his major films were released, related to Dean and his roles, particularly Rebel Without a Cause, in which he played Jim Stark. The film portrays the dilemma of a typical adolescent of the time, who feels that no one, not even his peers, can understand him. Humphrey Bogart commented on Dean's legacy and public image after his death: "Dean died at just the right time." His legacy lives on in mythology. He could never have lived up to the hype if he had survived.
According to Joe Hyams, Dean was "one of the rare stars, like Rock Hudson and Montgomery Clift, whom both men and women find sexy." Marjorie Garber argues that this quality is "the undefinable extra something that makes a star." Fans of the time looked to Dean to represent the disenfranchised youth and the androgyny he portrayed onscreen contributed to his popularity.
Many works of art have used Dean as a touchstone; for example, September 30, 1955 (1977) shows the reactions of characters in a small US Southern town to Dean's death. Another work, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, written by Ed Graczyk, depicts a reunion of Dean fans on the 20th anniversary of his death. Robert Altman staged this play in 1982, but it was misunderstood and closed after 52 performances. In November 1982, Cinecom Pictures released a film adaptation of the play.
According to NBC writer Wayne Federman's research for a Ronald Reagan television retrospective, a long-lost live episode of the General Electric Theater titled "The Dark, Dark Hours" featuring Dean and Reagan was unearthed on April 20, 2010. The episode, which had originally aired December 12, 1954, garnered worldwide attention and had highlights featured on multiple national media outlets, such as CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and Good Morning America. It was later discovered that portions of the episode had originally appeared in the 2005 documentary James Dean: Forever Young.
Forbes magazine reports that James Dean's estate continues to bring in approximately $5,000,000 annually. On November 6, 2019, it was announced that a Vietnam War film called Finding Jack, based on the Gareth Crocker novel, would use CGI to recreate Dean's likeness. The project had been planned to be directed by Anton Ernst and Tati Golykh, with another actor set to voice Dean's part. Despite the directors having acquired the rights to use Dean's image from his family, the announcement was greeted with scorn by Hollywood insiders.
When asked about the influence of James Dean on his career, Martin Sheen has been quite outspoken, saying things like, "All of his movies had a profound effect on my life, in my work and all of my generation." Dean's films are an inspiration to Sheen. He went beyond acting in movies. Sheen played the role of Charles Starkweather–influenced spree killer Kit Carruthers in Terrence Malick's first feature Badlands, and the role became more about human behavior than acting.
Nicolas Cage echoed Johnny Depp's sentiments, saying, "I started acting because I wanted to be James Dean." Johnny Depp also remarked that Dean inspired Nicolas Cage to pursue acting. East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause were both where I saw him. Neither rock nor classical music had the same impact on me as Dean's performance in Eden. I was astounded. After seeing Jimmy Dean in East of Eden, Leonardo DiCaprio said, "I remember being incredibly moved by Jimmy Dean, in East of Eden. His performance was so powerful. It was like, 'That's what I want to do.'" Robert De Niro and DiCaprio both mentioned Dean as an actor who inspired them. That performance had a very forceful and unfiltered quality about it. His openness... his bewilderment over his entire past, his sense of self, and his intense want for affection. "That performance just broke my heart." Salman Shah, widely recognized as a major player in Bangladeshi cinema, is often likened to James Dean for the parallels between their lives and careers. Like Dean, Shah had a fleeting but prolific acting career, was passionate about fashion and cars, passed away at the age of 24 (the same as Dean), and left behind an enduring legacy.
Many critics have argued that Dean was the one and only man who shaped rock and roll as we know it today. American cultural theorist David R. Shumway of Carnegie Mellon University argues that Dean was "a harbinger of youth-identity politics" and the first prominent figure to represent youth rebellion. The image that Dean presented in his films, particularly Rebel Without a Cause, had an impact on Elvis Presley and later rock stars Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent.
"Ironically, though Rebel had no rock music on its soundtrack—and especially the defiant attitude and effortless cool of James Dean—would have a great impact on rock," wrote Lawrence Frascella and Al Weisel in their book Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause. "The music industry trade publication Music Connection even went to the extent of calling Dean 'the first rock star.'" The media frequently portrayed Dean as inseparably tied to rock.
While rock and roll was a cultural phenomenon that touched cultures all over the globe, Dean's mythic status solidified his position as a rock and roll icon. Dean's musical tastes extended from traditional African music to Stravinsky and Bartók's modern classical music, as well as to modern singers like Frank Sinatra. Dean's magnetic presence and charisma drew audiences of all ages and orientations, and his image of a rebellious youth served as an inspiration for younger generations.
In The Origins of Cool in Postwar America, Joel Dinerstein traces the eroticization of the rebel archetype in film by Dean and Marlon Brando and how Elvis Presley, imitating them, did the same in music. Dinerstein explores the dynamics of this eroticization and its impact on sexually isolated adolescent girls. In a 1956 Parade magazine interview with Lloyd Shearer, Presley said, "I've made a study of Marlon Brando. Also, I've been studying Jimmy Dean, poor soul. I've done the research, and I know why the young women choose us. We're grumpy, we're sulking, and we pose a threat. Girls enjoy that in males, even though I don't fully get it. Despite my lack of Hollywood knowledge, I am aware that smiling does not make you attractive. Grinning makes you look like a coward.
Dean and Presley have frequently been portrayed in academic works and media as embodiments of the angst felt by young white Americans regarding their parents' values, and as symbols of the rebellious spirit inherent to rock and roll. According to rock historian Greil Marcus, they served as symbols of tribal adolescent identity, offering an image that the youth of the 1950s could identify with and aspire to emulate. In Lonely Places, Dangerous Ground: Nicholas Ray in American Cinema, Paul Anthony Johnson remarked that Dean's performance in Rebel Without a Cause served as a "performance model for Presley, Buddy Holly, and Bob Dylan, all of whom borrowed elements of Dean's performance in their own carefully constructed star personas." Frascella and Weisel further stated, "As
Rock musicians as diverse as Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie regarded Dean as a formative influence. The playwright and actor Sam Shepard interviewed Dylan in 1986 and wrote a play based on their conversation, in which Dylan discusses the early influence of Dean on him personally. A young Bob Dylan, still in his folk music period, consciously evoked Dean visually on the cover of his album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963), and later on Highway 61 Revisited (1965), cultivating an image that his biographer Bob Spitz called "James Dean with a guitar". Dean has long been invoked in the lyrics of rock songs, famously in songs such as "A Young Man Is Gone" by the Beach Boys (1963), "James Dean" by the Eagles (1974), and "James Dean" by the Goo Goo Dolls (1989). He has also been referenc
What is sexuality?
There are many who hold Dean in high esteem as a sexual icon due to his ambivalent sexuality and his generally seen experimental approach to life. When asked about his sexual orientation, Dean reportedly responded, "No, I am not a homosexual." He was named the greatest male gay icon of all time by the Gay Times Readers' Awards. On the other hand, I refuse to live with only one arm free.
Joe Hyams, the journalist, implies that Dean was eager to have sex with men who could help him advance in his career. Dean lived with Rogers Brackett, an advertising executive with connections in the entertainment industry, who allegedly set up meetings with them for Dean, leading to speculation that Dean was having sex "for trade." William Bast called Dean Rogers Brackett's "kept boy." An obscene drawing of a lizard with Brackett's head was discovered in a sketchbook belonging to Dean. Brackett was quoted as saying about their relationship, "My primary interest in Jimmy was as an actor—his talent was so obvious." Thus, Dean's sexual exploits were criticized. I loved him secondarily, and Jimmy loved me first. One of Dean's UCLA friends, James Bellah—son of American Western writer James Warner Bellah—said, "Dean was a user." This suggests that the bond between the two was more than just paternal; it may have even been incestuous. In my opinion, he was not gay. But if there was a way for him to get something through acting... At one point... Mark Rydell said, "I don't think he was essentially homosexual." Dean informed me at an agent's office that he had worked as a "professional house guest" on Fire Island throughout the summer. It seems to me that he had enormous hunger pangs, and he certainly satisfied them.
Several biographers of Dean, including Bast, dispute the "trade only" idea. A member of the "Night Watch" and fellow motorcyclist, John Gilmore, asserted that he and Dean "experimented" with gay sex on several occasions in New York, calling their encounters "Bad boys playing bad boys while opening up the bisexual sides of ourselves." Gilmore went on to say that he thought Dean was more gay than bisexual.
"James Dean was not straight, he was not gay, he was bisexual," comments Rebel director Nicholas Ray when asked about Dean's sexuality. People either get confused or choose to disregard the facts when faced with that. While the majority of people would likely claim he was gay, there is evidence to suggest otherwise, beyond the typical relationships amongst actors of his age. Some would argue that this is not the case and that he was gay; some even have evidence to support this claim, but it is usually more difficult to obtain such evidence. Why is there so much ambiguity or uncertainty when Jimmy has stated several times that he swung both ways?"According to Martin Landau, who was Dean's buddy from their time at the Actors Studio, Jimmy was allegedly quite intent on taking his own life. That is not correct. Many homosexual men assume he is gay. That is not correct. We used to discuss ladies a lot while Jimmy and I were together. Male and female actors. It was when we were young adults, just out of our twenties. That was what we aspired to. "Elizabeth Taylor, whom Dean had become friends with while working together on Giant, referred to Dean as gay during a speech at the GLAAD Media Awards in 2000. When questioned about Dean's sexuality by the openly gay journalist Kevin Sessums for POZ magazine, Taylor responded," He hadn't made up his mind. As he passed away, he was just 24 years old. Women, nevertheless, captivated him without a doubt. Flirting was his game. The two of us... glittered little.
The world of fashion
James Dean's signature style—denim, white T-shirts, and leather jackets—made an indelible impression on youth culture and broader fashion trends; today, his laid-back look is a closet staple for men everywhere; and his style is still influencing men's fashion, as seen in the clothes worn by actors and celebrities.
In addition to James Dean's inclusion in TIME's "ALL TIME 100 Fashion Icons" list, which highlights his enduring influence on pop culture and style, Montblanc included Dean in its "Great Characters" collection, which honors influential figures from different fields who have made a lasting impact on society and culture, and Harper's Bazaar ranked James Dean as the top choice in their list of "The 50 Hottest Men of All Time."
Stage credits are a must.
The Broadway
Looking at the Jaguar (1952)
Based on André Gide's novel, The Immoralist (1954)
Being Off-Broadway
Film adaptation of Franz Kafka's short tale "The Metamorphosis" (1952)
"The Scarecrow" from 1954
In 1954, Ezra Pound translated Women of Trachis.
Movie List ==
Motion picture
There is television.
Honors and suggestions
A motion picture star at 1719 Vine Street commemorates Dean's posthumous induction into the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960.
In its 100 Years...100 Stars list, the American Film Institute placed Dean at number eighteen for male Golden Age Hollywood actors on June 15, 1999.
A film on a person's life
The 1974 TV documentary James Dean Remembered comprises interviews with Leonard Rosenman, Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood, Sammy Davis Jr., and covers Dean's notable film and television roles.
Stephen McHattie starred as James Dean in the 1976 film James Dean (1976, sometimes titled James Dean: Portrait of a Friend).
An interview with Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood, and Nicholas Ray is part of the 1976 television biography James Dean: The First American Teenager.
James Dean: Forever (1988), Warner Home Video (1995).
A&E Network US airing of an episode of Naked Hollywood, a 1991 James Dean biopic that openly discusses Dean's homosexuality and incorporates interviews with William Bast, Liz Sheridan, and Maila Nurmi.
Casper Van Dien starred as James Dean in the 1997 film Race with Destiny.
A television biopic on the life of James Dean, starring James Franco.
Rod Steiger, William Bast, and Martin Landau are among the interviewees in the 2002 episode of the US television documentary Biography that focuses on James Dean—Outside the Lines.
Among the guests interviewed for the Australian television biography Living Famously: James Dean (2003, 2006) are Martin Landau, Betsy Palmer, William Bast, and Bob Hinkle.
German television biography of James Dean (2005), Kleiner Prinz, Little Bastard (also known as James Dean - Little Prince, Little Bastard), has interviews with William Bast, Marcus Winslow Jr., and Robert Heller.
The 2005 film Forever Young starring James Dean and narrated by Martin Sheen.
The 2005 PBS American Masters television biography, Sense Memories, has interviews with Lois Smith, Mark Rydell, Eartha Kitt, and Martin Landau.
The 2005 Austrian television biography of James Dean, "Mit Vollgas durchs Leben," features interviews with William Bast and Rolf Weutherich.
The 2012 short film Two Friendly Ghosts, in which Cole Carson plays the role of Dean.
James Preston starred as James Dean in the 2012 biopic Joshua Tree, 1951.
Dean, played by Dane DeHaan, in the 2015 film Life.