James Dean Liz Taylor

James Dean Liz Taylor
Amy Davidson Sorkin has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2014. She has been at the magazine since 1995, and, as a senior editor for many years, focussed on national security, international reporting, and features.
Sign up and get Amy Davidson Sorkin’s analysis of world news, American politics, and more, all delivered to your in-box.
To revisit this article, select My Account, then View saved stories
To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories
Since hearing about Elizabeth Taylor’s death, I’ve been thinking about “Giant.” She made that film in 1956; when I saw it, about thirty-five years later, I was fascinated by the film’s fantasies of aging, and why they never became real. The movie follows a few decades in the lives of Bick Benedict, a Texas rancher, played by Rock Hudson; his wife, Leslie, played by Taylor; and Jett Rink, played by James Dean. Taylor was twenty-three when she made the film; Dean was twenty-four. In “Giant” ’s more than three hours, they are transformed from a young, horseback-riding bride and brooding ranch-hand into a gray-haired grandmother and dissolute oil man. Around the time I watched it, Elizabeth Taylor was marrying Larry Fortensky, whom she’d met in rehab, at Michael Jackson’s Neverland. She was about the same age as she was meant to be in the movie, but in the pictures in the tabloids she looked jarringly different from the gracefully aged woman in “Giant.” (Though somehow both versions were beautiful, even if one was more depressing; her beauty may have spoken particularly well to the style of a certain era, one I didn’t especially fetishize, but it was undeniable.) It wasn’t that the movie’s makeup artists and costume designers had gotten it wrong, or didn’t know their craft, or didn’t really make her look old—they did; she might have become that woman, but didn’t.
Dean, meanwhile, never grew old at all, in real life; he died in a car crash on September 30, 1955, before the film even finished shooting and more than a year before it came out, and so the aged version of him is not so much an admonition about how one lives as it was simply very sad.
I was also watching “Giant” a few years after the death, in 1985, of Rock Hudson, from AIDS . He was fifty-nine; until not too long before his death he hadn’t looked so different from the older Bick Benedict. (At the end, he did.) Seeing him on the Texas ranch, entirely beautiful, or in a fist-fight in an diner (see the video above), I understood, as I don’t think I quite had, what with his appearances on “Dynasty,” what it meant to many people it became clear that he had been living as a closeted gay man. He was so visible, and yet, until his body was stricken, so hidden.
Meanwhile, when “Giant” comes up in conversation now, it is often because the town where it was filmed, Marfa, Texas, has become a center for the arts. Peter Schjeldahl has more about that .
© 2022 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices

Amy Davidson Sorkin has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2014. She has been at the magazine since 1995, and, as a senior editor for many years, focussed on national security, international reporting, and features.
Sign up and get Amy Davidson Sorkin’s analysis of world news, American politics, and more, all delivered to your in-box.
To revisit this article, select My Account, then View saved stories
To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories
Since hearing about Elizabeth Taylor’s death, I’ve been thinking about “Giant.” She made that film in 1956; when I saw it, about thirty-five years later, I was fascinated by the film’s fantasies of aging, and why they never became real. The movie follows a few decades in the lives of Bick Benedict, a Texas rancher, played by Rock Hudson; his wife, Leslie, played by Taylor; and Jett Rink, played by James Dean. Taylor was twenty-three when she made the film; Dean was twenty-four. In “Giant” ’s more than three hours, they are transformed from a young, horseback-riding bride and brooding ranch-hand into a gray-haired grandmother and dissolute oil man. Around the time I watched it, Elizabeth Taylor was marrying Larry Fortensky, whom she’d met in rehab, at Michael Jackson’s Neverland. She was about the same age as she was meant to be in the movie, but in the pictures in the tabloids she looked jarringly different from the gracefully aged woman in “Giant.” (Though somehow both versions were beautiful, even if one was more depressing; her beauty may have spoken particularly well to the style of a certain era, one I didn’t especially fetishize, but it was undeniable.) It wasn’t that the movie’s makeup artists and costume designers had gotten it wrong, or didn’t know their craft, or didn’t really make her look old—they did; she might have become that woman, but didn’t.
Dean, meanwhile, never grew old at all, in real life; he died in a car crash on September 30, 1955, before the film even finished shooting and more than a year before it came out, and so the aged version of him is not so much an admonition about how one lives as it was simply very sad.
I was also watching “Giant” a few years after the death, in 1985, of Rock Hudson, from AIDS . He was fifty-nine; until not too long before his death he hadn’t looked so different from the older Bick Benedict. (At the end, he did.) Seeing him on the Texas ranch, entirely beautiful, or in a fist-fight in an diner (see the video above), I understood, as I don’t think I quite had, what with his appearances on “Dynasty,” what it meant to many people it became clear that he had been living as a closeted gay man. He was so visible, and yet, until his body was stricken, so hidden.
Meanwhile, when “Giant” comes up in conversation now, it is often because the town where it was filmed, Marfa, Texas, has become a center for the arts. Peter Schjeldahl has more about that .
© 2022 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices

Category
Select a post category

All
1000s
11th Century
1200s
1300s
1400s
1500s
1600s
1700s
1800s
1900s
1910s
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
21st Century
Advertising
Alcohol
architecture
Art
Bad Taste
Books
Business And Work
Cars
Catalogue
Christmas
Cold War
Collectors
Comic Books
Crime
Decor
Drugs
Editors Picks
Fads
Family
Famous Faces
Fashion
Fitness
Fleshbak
Food
Found Photos
Halloween
Holidays
Horror
Letters
London
Long Reads
Magazines
Medicine
Money
Motorcycles
Movies
Music
Nature
News
Occult
On This Day
photographs
Photojournalism
Politics
Posters
Readers Photos
Religion
Royal Family
School
Science Fiction
Sex
Shopping
Shot
Sponsored
Sport
Technology
The Home
The Office
The Stage
theatre
Toys
Travel And Places
TV & Radio
Vinyl
War

Search Type to search posts on Flashback

These portrait photographs of Russia's ruling Romanovs were taken in 1903 at the Winter Palace in majestic. St. Petersburg. Knowing what was to follow, the venue was apposite. St Petersburg is the city Christopher Hitchens called "an apparent temple of civilization: the polished window between Russia and Europe... the ...

Ephemeral, disposable, they served only one purpose—to let someone know "I'm here. I'm thinking of you" - Pablo Iglesias Maurer ...

Gorgeous photographs of Blondie's lead singer by Brian Arts ...

At the cusp of mega-fame photographs of the Rolling Stones in their respective homes by Danish photographer Bent Rej. ...

‘I cannot believe, today, that the world almost ignored those people and what was happening. How could we have all stood by and have let that happen? They do not owe us anything. We owe them, for what we allowed to happen to them.’ – Carrol Walsh, Liberator ...

37 Snapshots of Manchester In The 1970s Via: MMU

"Advice my father gave me: never take liquor into the bedroom. Don’t stick anything in your ears. Be anything but an architect" - Kurt Vonnegut ...

"I never made a cent from these photos. They cost me money but kept me alive..." ...

Steve Vistaunet's photgraphs of cassette spine designs take us back to pressing 'play' and 'record' on to make compilation mixes. Spotters: Kadrey, Lefty Limbo, BoingBoing

In White’s own words these amazing photographs catch the “spirit, love, zeal, pride and hopes” of the African-American community of Chicago. ...

FREE SHIPPING ON PRINTS, T-SHIRTS & HOODIES - GET 20% OFF ANY MIX OF 10 CARDS & POSTCARDS
The day after James Dean's death was announced, director George Stevens required a distraught and inconsolable Taylor to complete reaction shots for a scene she had played with Dean. The actress never forgave him.
James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Giant
Giant , released at the beginning of 1956, is still remembered not only for its particularly long running time but more notably as the last film James Dean made. He died just after the main shooting had completed at the wheel of his Porsche at the junction of California State Route 46 (former 466) and California State Route 41. He was 24 years old. The Manchester Guardian, described the movie as ‘not a great film but certainly an awesome one,’ but thought Dean’s role beyond his raw, albeit talented, acting ability. The newspaper also noted that it contained a ‘long sustained achievement in acting by Elizabeth Taylor which is an astonishing revelation of unsuspected gifts.’
Most of the photos in this post were taken in 1955 by Frank Worth who, despite being friends with many actors and actresses including James Dean Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, James Cagney and Pat O’Brien, died virtually penniless in December 2000. His cousin, acting executor, found 10,000 negatives in Worth’s dilapidated apartment. Some of these photos auctioned by Christie’s in London in 2002 were described as “the most extraordinary collection of its kind for the past 50 years”. Frank Worth’s friendship with many of the stars he photographed meant that his photos were more candid than the usual posed glamour portraits more typical of the era.
London Illustrated News, January 1957
NOVEMBER 24: Actress Elizabeth Taylor and as actor James Dean sit in a car on the set of the movie ‘Giant’ which was released on November 24, 1956. (Photo by Frank Worth)
Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and George Stevens
James Dean as Jett Rink, Rock Hudson as Jordan Bick Benedict and Elizabeth Taylor as Leslie Lynnton Benedict, cutting cake.
Elizabeth Taylor as Leslie Lynnton Benedict.
Elizabeth Taylor as Leslie Lynnton Benedict, seated wearing cowboy hat, Rock Hudson as Jordan Bick Benedict shirtless, wearing sunglasses, and director George Stevens wearing hat.
Director George Stevens seated with Elizabeth Taylor as Leslie Lynnton Benedict.
Elizabeth Taylor as Leslie Lynnton Benedict visited by James Dean who plays Jett Rink (in his Rebel Without A Cause costume) before he had started work on the film himself.
Director George Stevens, Elizabeth Taylor as Leslie Benedict and Rock Hudson as Jordan Bick Benedict, relaxing between scenes.
Director George Stevens (center, white hat), seated with cameraman and crew, watching Rock Hudson as Jordon Bick Benedict standing on porch stairs.
James Dean as Jett Rink surrounded by cast and crew, all watching writer Edna Ferber twirl lasso.
Director George Stevens, wearing hat, and shirtless James Dean as Jett Rink, wearing sunglasses, cigarette in mouth.
Elizabeth Taylor signing autographs in between takes
Edna Ferber and George Stevens on the set of Giant, 1956
Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and George Stevens
Rock Hudson’s wardrobe test for Giant
Elizabeth Taylor’s wardrobe test for Giant
Liz Taylor in ‘Giant’ by Floyd McCarthy, 1956
Rock Hudson & Elizabeth Taylor, filming a scene in Giant (1956)
James Dean on the set of Giant directed by George Stevens, 1956
James Dean cleans up after filming the oil scene in Giant, (1956
George Stevens and Elizabeth Taylor
Please consider making a donation to our site . We don't want to rely on ads to bring you the best of visual culture. You can also support us by signing up to our Mailing List . And you can also follow us on Facebook , Instagram and Twitter . For great art and culture delivered to your door, visit our shop .
If you enjoy what we do, please consider becoming a patron with a recurring monthly subscription of your choosing. DONATE

Part of HuffPost Entertainment. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mar 25, 2011, 01:49 PM EDT | Updated May 25, 2011
Don't miss a beat. Your culture and entertainment cheat-sheet.
Он начинал пол года назад, всего с 200$...
Wrap Foil Around Doorknobs When Alone, Here's Why
The Best Summer Fashion Finds At Target Right Now
The Best Ways To Clean Your Grill, From Deep Cleaning To Regular Maintenance
This Hammock Camping Chair Offers VIP Outdoor Comfort
How To Safely Track Your Period Now That Roe v. Wade Is Overturned
What Is Compassion Fatigue? Here Are The Signs You're Experiencing It.
The Citizenry’s Linen Bedding Is Worth The Hefty Price Tag
Dermatologists Warn About TikTok's Dangerous Skin Care Lies
Trevor Noah Nails The Most Absurd Part Of Supreme Court's EPA Decision
'Tiger King' Star Charged With Animal Trafficking, Money Laundering
Ohio Police Officers On Paid Leave After Fatal Shooting Of Black Driver
Conservatives Shocked As 'Baymax!' Shows – GASP – Trans Man Shopping For Health Products
Stephen Colbert Frets The Supreme Court Might Deliver 'Another Kick To Your Groin'
North Korea Blames 'Alien Things' From South For COVID-19 Outbreak
Part of HuffPost Entertainment. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.
James Dean's short life is now known perhaps more in legend and lore than solid fact, but even he had a secret no one knew. Except for Elizabeth Taylor.
Kevin Sessums, writing for The Daily Beast , reveals that in a wide ranging interview with the just passed Taylor , the famed actress let him in on a secret about Dean that she had promised she'd keep forever. Sworn to secrecy until Taylor's death, Sessums revealed the hidden past of the Rebel Without a Cause.
"When Jimmy was 11 and his mother passed away, he began to be molested by his minister," Taylor said. "I think that haunted him the rest of his life. In fact, I know it did. We talked about it a lot. During 'Giant' we'd stay up nights and talk and talk, and that was one of the things he confessed to me."
Taylor and Dean co-starred in Giant, a 1956 film for which Dean was posthumously nominated for an Academy Award.
After Dean's mother died in 1940, he was sent back from California, where his family had relocated , to Indiana to live with his grandparents. He was sent back on the same train as his mother's body. Known for his young rebel roles, Dean was cast as -- and was in real life -- a confused, somewhat angry and abandoned young man.
Dean was known to have a chip on his shoulder against fathers , thanks in part to never reconciling with his own -- whether the minister story, if true, has anything to do with that, is perhaps unknowable.
While he never married, he had a short-lived public relationship with Italian actress Pier Angeli. Best friend, roommate and biographer William Bast claims to have had a sexually intimate relationship with Dean , as well.
For much more from Sessums' interview with Taylor, click over to The Daily Beast .

Tamia Nude
Maggie Siff Nude Billions
Navel Fetish Stories

James Dean Liz Taylor

Report Page