James Deann

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James Deann
University of California at Los Angeles
“Dream as if you'll live forever, and live as if you'll die today.” “I'm not going to go through life with one arm tied behind my back.” “Only the gentle are ever really strong.” “Being a good actor isn't easy. Being a man is even harder. I want to be both before I'm done.” “My purpose in life does not include a hankering to charm society.”
Movie actor and cultural icon James Dean starred in 'East of Eden,' 'Rebel Without a Cause' and 'Giant.' He was killed in a tragic car accident at age 24.
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James Dean starred in the film adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel East of Eden , for which he received a posthumous Oscar nomination. Dean's next starring role as an emotionally tortured teen in Rebel Without a Cause made him into the embodiment of his generation. In early autumn 1955, Dean was killed in a car crash, quickly becoming a film icon whose legacy has endured for decades. His final film, Giant , was also released posthumously.
James Byron Dean was born on February 8, 1931, in Marion, Indiana, to Winton Dean and Mildred Wilson. Dean's father left farming to become a dentist and moved the family to Santa Monica, California, where Dean attended Brentwood Public School. Several years later, Dean's mother, whom he was very close to, died of cancer, and Dean's father sent him back to Indiana to live on his aunt and uncle's Quaker farm. During this time, Dean sought counsel from his pastor, the Rev. James DeWeerd, who influenced his later interest in car racing and theater. The two formed an intimate relationship that is rumored to have been sexual.
In 1949, Dean graduated from high school and moved back to California. He attended Santa Monica City College for a time, but eventually transferred to University of California, Los Angeles, and majored in theater.
After appearing as Malcolm in the school's production of Macbeth , Dean dropped out of UCLA. His first television appearance was in a Pepsi Cola commercial, while his first big-screen parts, uncredited, were in 1951's Fixed Bayonets! and 1952's Sailor Beware , a comedy starring Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin . To make ends meet, Dean worked as a parking lot attendant at CBS Studios, where he met Rogers Brackett, a radio director who became his mentor, with the two also said to have been romantically attached. 
In 1951, Dean moved to New York City and was later admitted to the Actors Studio to study under Lee Strasberg , though the two were reputed to not have gotten along. Dean's career began to pick up, and he performed in such 1950s television shows as Kraft Television Theatre, Omnibus and General Electric Theate r , with a high school fan club formed after his appearance as a contemporary John the Apostle in 1951's Hill Number One: A Story of Faith and Inspiration . The fledgling actor was also garnering a reputation for being unstructured in his technique, though the work continued to come. 
After a Broadway role in the short-lived 1952 drama See the Jaguar , Dean's success as an Arab boy in 1954's The Immoralist led to interest from Hollywood. 
Over the ensuing months, Dean starred in three major motion pictures, beginning with the 1955 film adaptation of John Steinbeck 's novel East of Eden . Director Elia Kazan chose Dean after the actor met with Steinbeck, who thought him perfect for the part. Many of Dean's scenes in the film were unscripted improvisations. He would eventually be nominated for an Academy Award for the role, making him the first actor in history to receive a posthumous Oscar nomination.
In his next film, Dean starred as the agonized teenager Jim Stark in 1955's Rebel Without a Cause , a part that would define his image in American culture. He co-starred in Rebel with Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo , with the film focusing on the emotional alienation of three youngsters and the devastating drama that ensues from adolescent rivalry.
Dean then landed a supporting role to Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson in the epic, intergenerational family saga Giant , with Hudson playing a well-off, racially prejudiced ranch owner to Dean's impoverished, racially prejudiced ranch hand. Giant , which was Dean's last film, had a running time of more than three hours and saw the actor portray a character whose fortunes change over the decades. He died before production was complete, with Giant ultimately released in 1956. Dean received an Academy Award nomination for this role as well, making him the only actor in history to receive more than one Oscar nomination posthumously.
In late 2019, it was announced that a CGI version of Dean would return to theaters in the Vietnam War-era film Finding Jack , based on a novel by Gareth Crocker. While some prominent actors like Captain America star Chris Evans expressed their displeasure with the idea of using a digitized Dean, Finding Jack co-director Anton Ernst defended the choice by noting there were "still a lot of James Dean fans worldwide who would love to see their favorite icon back on screen."
When Dean wasn't acting, he was a professional car racer. On Friday, September 30, 1955, Dean and his mechanic, Rolf Wuetherich, drove Dean's new Porsche 550 Spyder to a weekend race in Salinas, California. At 3:30 p.m., they were stopped south of Bakersfield and given a speeding ticket. Later, while driving along Route 466, a 23-year-old Cal Poly student named Donald Turnupseed, after turning at an intersection, collided with Dean's Porsche. The two cars hit each other almost head-on, with the Spyder devastated from the impact. Wuetherich was seriously injured but survived, while Dean was killed almost immediately. He was 24.
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Actor, singer Dean Martin starred in several films with Jerry Lewis and belonged to the "Rat Pack," which included Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.
Jimmy Dean was a Grammy Award-winning country musician, actor, television host and entrepreneur. He owned a hog-butchering company that he sold to Sara Lee in 1984.
Millvina Dean was the youngest of the 705 survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic and lived to be the last survivor.
Natalie Wood was an actress who starred in 'Rebel Without a Cause' and 'West Side Story.' She died tragically, drowning during a boating trip in 1981.
Sal Mineo was an Oscar-nominated film, TV and stage actor known for roles in 'Rebel Without a Cause' and 'Exodus,' among many other projects.
Computer scientist and engineer Mark Dean is credited with helping develop a number of landmark technologies, including the color PC monitor, the Industry Standard Architecture system bus and the first gigahertz chip.
Paul Newman came to be known as one of the finest actors of his time with films like 'Cool Hand Luke' and 'The Hustler.' He also started the Newman's Own food company, which donates all profits to charity.
Noted for his exceptional good looks and comedic film performance, Rock Hudson was an iconic actor who, later in life, contracted and died from the AIDS virus.
American composer and conductor John Williams has scored more than 100 films, including 'Jaws,' eight 'Star Wars' movies, 'E.T.' and the first three 'Harry Potter' films.

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Known for playing well-meaning but deeply troubled characters


The red jacket, white T-shirt and blue jeans from Rebel Without a Cause (1955)


He was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#42) (1995).


In October 1997, he was ranked #33 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.


The famous Failure Analysis Associates, from Menlo Park, California, reconstructed and recreated all details of the accident at the same approximate time on September 30 and have concluded that James Dean was travelling 55 to 56 mph when the fateful accident occurred, thereby proving he had not been speeding, as rumor had it.


Most of his so-called affairs with various starlets were made up by the Warner Brothers public relations. He did have love affairs with Pier Angeli and Liz Sheridan .


He also worked as a "stunt tester" on the game show Beat the Clock (1950), testing the safety of the stunts that some of the studio audience members would later perform. However, he proved so agile at completing the stunts that his results could not be used to set time limits for contestants to complete them. So he was reluctantly released.


Following his untimely death, he was interred at Park Cemetery in Fairmount, Indiana, which is nearly 2,300 miles from where he perished in his fatal car crash on the intersection leading to Cholame, California.


Reportedly, Dean was very much in love with Pier Angeli and they planned to marry, but her mother blocked the union because Dean was not Catholic and she helped arrange Pier's marriage to Vic Damone . Before she committed suicide, Pier wrote that Dean was the only man she had ever really loved.


He briefly studied dance with Katherine Dunham .


He won the Bloom Award as "Best Newcomer" for early Broadway work in "The Immoralist".


He was issued a speeding ticket only two hours and fifteen minutes before his fatal accident.


He is the subject of the songs "James Dean" by Eagles and "Mr. James Dean" by Hilary Duff . He is mentioned in the lyrics of many other songs, including "Rock On" by David Essex , "Electrolite" by R.E.M. , "Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp , "Vogue" by Madonna , "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel , "Forever" by Skid Row , "American Pie" by Don McLean , "Speechless" by Lady Gaga , "Walk on the Wild Side" by Lou Reed , "Rather Die Young" by Beyoncé , "Choke On This" by Senses Fail , "Blue Jeans" by Lana Del Rey , "Style" by Taylor Swift and "Ghost Town" by Adam Lambert .


He was the first actor to receive an Academy Award nomination posthumously, for his role in East of Eden (1955). However, he did not win.


He was the grandson of Charles Dean and Emma Dean .


He was the nephew of Ortense Winslow (sister of his father) and Marcus Winslow .


He was the cousin of Marcus Winslow Jr. .


He is the only actor in history to receive more than one Oscar nomination posthumously.


He was pictured on a 32¢ US commemorative postage stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series, originally issued on Monday, June 24, 1996.


He pledged Sigma Nu fraternity but dropped out of college before being initiated.


As promotion for Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Dean filmed an interview with actor Gig Young for the "Behind the Camera" segment of the ABC series "Warner Bros. Presents" in July 1955. Dean told Young, "I used to fly around quite a bit, you know, I took a lot of unnecessary chances on the highway.... Now when I drive on the highway, I'm extra cautious." When asked if he had advice for young drivers, Dean concluded the interview, "Take it easy driving. The life you might save might be mine." Dean died soon afterward and the interview was never aired.


Donald Turnupseed, the driver of the other car involved in Dean's accident, died of cancer in 1995. Turnupseed could not swerve out of the way of Dean's Porsche Spyder, but he successfully swerved journalists who frequently pestered him for interviews about the accident.


He is one of several famous and tragic figures from history to be featured on the sleeve artwork of the album "Clutching at Straws" by rock band Marillion (released in 1987).


East of Eden (1955) was the only one of the three movies in which he had major roles to be released while he was alive.


He is one of only six male actors to be posthumously nominated for an Academy Award as best actor in a leading role. The others were Spencer Tracy , Peter Finch , Massimo Troisi , Heath Ledger and Chadwick Boseman .


Contrary to popular belief, Dean's middle name was not taken from Lord Byron , but from a relative, "Byron" Dean.


During the filming of Giant (1956), he and Rock Hudson did not get along. This tension heightened their onscreen clashes. However, according to Hudson's ex-wife Phyllis Gates , he cried after hearing the news of Dean's untimely death. Gates wrote, "Rock couldn't be reached. He was overcome by guilt and shame, almost as though he himself had killed James Dean.".


At the time of his untimely death, James Dean did not leave behind a will, so most of his possessions went to his father, Winton Dean, whose relationship with him was distant at best.


In her book "Dizzy and Jimmy", Liz Sheridan claims she and Dean were engaged.


Dean's acting breakthrough came on Broadway in the drama "See the Jaguar", despite its run of only four days.


He was voted the 22nd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.


He attended and graduated from Santa Monica College, a California junior college that boasts its elite drama program. Went on to UCLA but left after appearing in one stage production, as Malcolm in "Macbeth", as he was anxious to get his acting career started.


According to "The Mutant King", David Dalton 's 1974 biography of James Dean, the rumor that Dean was a masochist who liked to have cigarettes stubbed out on his naked body can be traced to a pencil sketch of his called "The Human Ashtray". The sketch featured a human body, in the guise of an ashtray, with many cigarette stubs in it. Dalton speculates that the sketch has nothing to do with Dean's sexual proclivities but much to do with the fact that he was a heavy smoker.


Marlon Brando , in his 1994 autobiography "Songs My Mother Taught Me", says that Dean, who idolized him, based his acting on him and his lifestyle on what he thought Brando's lifestyle was.


Elia Kazan , in his 1988 autobiography "A Life", says that during the production of East of Eden (1955), he had to have Dean move into a bungalow near his on the Warner Brothers lot to keep an eye on him, so wild was his nightlife.


Director Elia Kazan did not believe that Dean would have been able to sustain the momentum of his career. He felt that Dean's career, had he lived, would have sputtered out, as he was not well-trained and relied too much on his instincts, as opposed to his idol Marlon Brando , who, contrary to what people believed, had been very well-trained by his acting teacher Stella Adler and relied on that training to create his characters.


His favorite book was "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry . James Franco - who played Dean in the biopic James Dean (2001), voiced The Fox in the animated film adaptation of the book, The Little Prince (2015).


He was voted the 30th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere magazine.


He was named #18 greatest actor on the 50 Greatest Screen Legends list by the American Film Institute.


He loved playing practical jokes on friends and reading.


He had a fondness for auto racing and had purchased the 1955 Porsche Spyder sports car, one of only 90 made of that year model, planning to participate in the upcoming races in Salinas, California on October 1, 1955.


He was descended largely from early British settlers to America.


He received posthumous Oscar nominations for his his first and last ever screen performances: East of Eden (1955) and Giant (1956).


Imitating Marlon Brando , he also bought a Triumph motorcycle. Instead of Brando's 650cc 6T Thunderbird model, which he used in the film The Wild One (1953), he bought the smaller 500cc TR5 Trophy model. This Triumph featured in a famous series of photographs by Phil Stern , the motorcycle itself being recovered, restored and currently displayed at the "James Dean Museum" in Fairmount, Indiana.


He lost his two front teeth in a motorcycle accident in his youth.


President Ronald Reagan referred to Dean as "America's Rebel".


His tastes in music were eclectic. He liked African Tribal music and Afro-Cuban music, as well as classical ( Béla Bartók , Igor Stravinsky ); jazz/blues ( Billie Holiday ) and pop ( Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra ). His favourite song was Holiday's "When Your Lover Has Gone" and his favourite album was Sinatra's "Songs for Young Lovers".


Dean's first filmed appearance was in a commercial for Pepsi-Cola in 1950. He is the character who puts money in the piano/jukebox.


His final screen test for East of Eden (1955) was shot with Paul Newman , who also was in the final running for one of the roles. Originally, director Elia Kazan had considered casting Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift in the roles of the two brothers, but they were too old to play teenagers as they were both in the their 30s in 1954. Newman's age, 29, also put him at a disadvantage. Dean, 23 years old and Richard Davalos , aged 19, were cast as the fraternal twins.


At the time of his untimely death, Dean was signed to appear in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) at MGM and The Left Handed Gun (1958) at Warner Brothers. Both roles subsequently were taken by Paul Newman and helped make him a star. Newman's career may very well have been retarded if Dean had lived as, while still alive, they competed for the same roles ( East of Eden (1955)).


He signed a nine-picture, $1-million deal with Warner Brothers before his untimely death. He did not live long enough to honor that deal.


Like his hero Marlon Brando (Dean had been separated from his own father as a child and was distant from him. Brando apparently served as a role model for Dean) Dean wanted to write. He told gossip columnist Hedda Hopper that writing was his supreme ambition.


According to Marlon Brando , Dean would often call him, leaving messages with Brando's answering service. Brando would sometimes listen, silently, as Dean instructed the service to have Brando call back. Brando, disturbed that Dean was copying his lifestyle (motorcycle, bongo drums) and acting techniques, did not return his calls. The two met at least three times: on the set of East of Eden (1955); on the set of Désirée (1954) and at a party, where Brando took Dean aside and told him he had emotional problems that required psychiatric attention.


While a struggling actor in the 1950s, he once lived at 19 West 68th Street, off Manhattan's Central Park West.


He was good friends with Martin Landau .


His performance as Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) is ranked #43 on Premiere magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).


Just before his un
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