James Dean: Actor * Legend ∞ Icon

In the early hours of the morning of February 8, 1931, 20-year-old Mildred Wilson Dean, married for the previous 7 months to Winton Dean a dental technician, gave birth, in the couple's tiny apartment in Marion, Indiana, to a healthy baby boy she named James Byron.  For his services, the doctor who delivered the baby was paid the sum of $15.  No one, except perhaps Mildred, could have possibly imagined the future that lay in store for this little boy.

55 years ago James Dean’s life ended in a car crash when his limited edition Porsche Spyder racing car (nicknamed “Little Bastard”) crashed into a Ford Sedan driven by 23-year-old Donald Turnupseed at the intersection of Routes 41 and 46, just outside the small town of Cholame, California.  Dean was heading to a car race in Salinas that afternoon with his friend and mechanic, Rolf Wutherich, in the two-seater Porsche purchased the week before at Competition Motors in L.A. Following Dean and Wutherich, in Dean’s Ford station wagon, were Jimmy’s friends, actor/stunt coordinator,  Bill Hickman and noted photographer, Sanford Roth.  Although ticketed, by a California Highway Patrolman, for going over the speed limit earlier in the afternoon, no evidence suggests that speeding caused the fatal accident.  Turnupseed, traveling in the opposite direction, turned left into Jimmy’s lane making his car a stone barrier that when hit by the Porsche crushed it like a tin can.  Wutherich was thrown from the car,  suffering multiple fractures and lacerations.  Jimmy’s chest was crushed and his neck was broken on impact.  He died moments after being removed from the car; thus ending the most promising acting career of the 20th century, and the birth of an icon.

Like a religious icon, James Dean has symbols by which we recognize him; the red jacket, the motorcycle boots, the ever present cigarette.  For he too is an icon, a cultural one and his image appears all over the globe from retail advertising campaigns to cheap Times Square gift shops.  His is a household name, as ubiquitous as Band Aids or Mr. Clean.  For me, that is what he always was, and not much more. 

This February I noted that had he lived James Dean would have celebrated his 80th birthday.  The thought that the rebel on the motorcycle would today be an old man intrigued me, and I began to read.  There are volumes of books on Dean, from memoirs by friends and colleagues, to souvenir style cocktail table glossies, most published on significant anniversaries, i.e. the 25th anniversary or the 50th anniversary of his death.  With the help of Amazon, the Connecticut Statewide Online Catalogue and Linda, my ever-resourceful, librarian, I began my research.

What I realized straightaway was there is James Dean the legend and Jimmy Dean the man.  The difficult part would be sorting through the many interpretations to find the "real" Jimmy Dean.  For the most part, the authors were even-handed and gave as complete a picture of Dean’s personality and habits, with the resources available to them, while offering up non-expert analyses of why he did what he did and how he did it.

I began with “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Paul Alexander (published in 1997) which speculated, perhaps too widely, on Dean’s sexual orientation, and gave too much credence to rumors painting Jimmy as a sexual adventurer with wide and varied appetites.  Mr. Alexander re-printed a very fuzzy pornographic photo of a young man purported to be Dean.  I recommend “Boulevard” with the proviso that it be read in conjunction with Val Holley’s "James Dean: The Biography" published in 2001 (James Dean: The Biography - link to Amazon) which dealt less in gossip and speculation, and was thoroughly researched and comprehesive, and/or “James Dean:  The Mutant King” by David Dalton, originally published in 1974 and revised in 2000, considered by some the seminal biography of Dean, and indeed Dalton covers all the bases, however the language and style still sound very much like a counter-culture classic of the '60's. 

 "Not every one has a friend.  And if I forget him, I may become like the grown-ups who are no longer interested in anything but figures" ("The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint Exupery - 1943)
 “Surviving James Dean” published in 1956, the year after Dean's death and written by his close friend, Bill Bast, was revised and reissued in 2006.  The 2006 edition revealed a great deal more about Jimmy and about Bill Bast than would have been safely permitted 50+ years ago.  Bast’s & Dean's relationship was deep, strong, strained at times, eventually sexual in nature, abiding and the longest lasting of Dean’s life.  Like Dean, Bast was a midwesterner new to California in 1950 and a student in the Theatre Arts Department at UCLA.  Bast attended a performance of "Macbeth" in which Dean performed the role of Malcolm and thought he was awful (as did the UCLA theatre reviewer).  When Dean was kicked out of a fraternity house for pummeling a frat brother who derided his masculinity and theatrical aspirations, the two decided to share an apartment off-campus.  They stumbled upon a place on the top floor of a small residential building which just happened to have a great view of L.A.  Though neither could afford it, they signed the lease and christened the place "The Penthouse".  A year or so later, Jimmy took off for New York, but not before leaving Bast a 4-word message "Gone to NY, Jimmy".  They'd reunite in the Big Apple, when Bast came East a year later and shared a room at The Iroquois, a downscale residential hotel, and few other tiny apartments before Jimmy made enough money to get his own place.  Bast returned to L.A. to pursue writing jobs in the new television industry on the coast.  Soon thereafter, Jimmy got his big break, landing the lead role in Elia Kazan's film "East of Eden".  He returned to L.A. (on the first plane trip of his life) and immediately corralled Bill into joining him on a trip to Palm Desert, where he was ordered by Kazan to get a tan and gain some weight prior to the start of filming.  Bast said it was in Palm Desert that he and Dean consummated their relationship.  Although the friendship continued until Dean's death, the physical relationship did not.  Bast had aspirations to write a screenplay, which Dean encouraged him to do, even offering to financially support Bill, put him up in his house and help get the script produced.  Sadly, Jimmy died before they could get started.  Bast loved Dean, even when doing so was far from easy, and he struggled for years to understand the strange young man who found his way into his life and his heart.  “Surviving James Dean” is more than a biography, it is a portrait of friendship. 

"The great big city's a wondrous toy, just made for a girl and boy.  We'll turn Manhattan Into an isle of joy." (Lyrics from "We'll have Manhattan" by Rogers & Hart).  “Dizzy & Jimmy:  My Life with James Dean – A Love Story” by Elizabeth “Dizzy” Sheridan published in 2000 is not only an ode to an old love, but a wonderful look at New York in the 1950’s.  The city itself is more than a setting, it is the third party in the romance.  It is easy to be cynical and dismissive of Ms. Sheridan’s memories, as a woman's romanticized version of a relationship almost 60 years in the past, but other friends of Jimmy remember this relationship well, if not always agreeing on the intensity or the significance given to it by Sheridan.  Ms. Sheridan, captures, and sweetly so, Dean's, impish quality.  It is with Dizzy that Dean felt he could truly play, and so they did, most often with Jimmy's cherished matador cape, gotten, he claimed, on a trip to Tijuana to watch the bullfights.  Sheridan insists Dean told her the cape (with actual blood stains) was given to him by the American Bullfighter, Sydney Franklin, after a Bullfight.  It would hang on the wall (along with a pair of bull horns) anywhere Jimmy lived.  Into Central Park they would run and Jimmy, always the matador, would practice his passes as Dizzy, playing the bull, would run at him.  She recalled that in the cold nights the cape would also be their blanket.  “Dizzy & Jimmy” is a natural follow-up to “Surviving James Dean”.  For you trivia buffs, Ms. Sheridan would find fame in later life when she portrayed Jerry Seinfeld's mother on the 90's television series.

"He didn't have a bad angle" (Elia Kazan).  There are 4 photographers who worked closely with Jimmy during his life and it is their photographs that  cemented the image of James Dean into the public consciousness:  Roy Schatt, Dennis Stock, Sanford Roth and Phil Stern.  Roy Schatt met Jimmy in New York when he was an unknown working on the occasional live television play and struggling to pay the rent.  It was one of Schatt’s photos (from the "torn sweater series") from which the U.S. Postal Service chose the image for the stamp honoring James Dean.  Photography being an interest of Dean's he convinced Schatt to give him some lessons.  A dabbler, in all but acting, Dean would take photography lessons now and again, modern dance lessons with the great Katharine Dunham and piano lessons from composer and close friend, Leonard Rosenman.  At the time, Schatt was unable to sell his photos of Jimmy, as magazines were not in the habit of featuring unknown actors in photo layouts.  Post-mortem Schatt's photos of Jimmy took on greater significance.  Schatt compiled his memorable photographs of Jimmy in “James Dean:  A Portrait” published in 1982 (link to Amazon - James Dean: A Portrait).  This is a hard book to track down, especially in good condition, but if you do, it is a something to hold onto.   
 

Photo by Sanford Roth 
Jimmy entertaining Sanford & Beulah Roth

Even harder to find and expensive if you do, is "The Memory of the Last 85 Days - James Dean", compiled by Beulah Roth and published in 1986 (Link to Amazon - Memory of Last 85 Days; James Dean, the).  Sanford Roth, a noted photographer, captured the Hollywood stars from the 1930's through the 1950's.  Roth met Jimmy while taking photographs on the set of "Giant".  He and his wife Beulah became surrogate parents to Jimmy, whom they loved and indulged with attention.  Roth has the sad distinction of taking the last photos of Jimmy as his broken body was carried to an ambulance after the fatal car crash.  Out of friendship, Roth destroyed the negatives of those morbid shots.  

 

Jimmy got to know Phil Stern when the photographer nearly hit him with his car, as Dean was flying incautiously down a Hollywood street on his motorcycle.  Stern's tirade of curses amused Jimmy and the two struck up a friendship.  Stern took some amazing photos of Jimmy in rehearsals and out and about on his treasured Triumph cycle. 



Photo by Dennis Stock

Photo by Dennis Stock

Jimmy was introduced to Dennis Stock by Nick Ray during one of his artist gatherings just prior to the start of "Rebel Without a Cause".  Although "East of Eden" was completed it had not yet been released and Stock had no idea who James Dean was.  The two got talking (about photography) and Jimmy, invited Stock to a preview of "East of Eden".  Figuring the strange kid probably had a bit part Stock nevertheless went to the preview.  He was blown away by Jimmy's performance, as were the critics and everyone who saw the picture.  It was then he conceived the idea, which he later pitched and sold to Life magazine, of following the newcomer back to his hometown in Indiana and to his old stomping grounds in New York.  That photo series contained many great images, however the one most remembered was of Jimmy in a coffin at a local store in his hometown of Fairmount.  It was an eeery premonition on what was to come 8 months later.  Among the photos Stock took in New York, the one of Jimmy walking down Broadway in the rain, with his borrowed overcoat and ever present cigarette, became the iconic image most associated with James Dean.   "James Dean:  Fifty Years Ago" by Dennis Stock published in 2005 is a gorgeous book and would make a great gift for a James Dean fan or photography enthusiast.

On the 20th anniversary of James Dean's death (1975), John Howlett published a souvenir-style book, "James Dean:  A Biography" with photos and reprints of reviews of Dean's performances.  I was able to get a copy via inter-library loan, sadly it was crumbling with age.   In 2005, the 50th anniversary of Jimmy's death, The James Dean Foundation authorized George C. Perry to write "James Dean".  This one, I purchased after reading a library copy.  It is beautifully put together and includes things like Jimmy's "To Do" notes (turn in car, pay balance, read Nick's script, work on Welsh accent).  Without a doubt my favorite addition to the book is an old-fashioned studio portrait taken of Jimmy in 1950 to provide to casting agents.  With his pomaded hair and sweet expression he looks even younger than his 19 years.  He sent a copy of this photo to his Grandparents, Emma and Charlie Dean, back home in Indiana and inscribed it "to my precious grandmother and wonderful grandfather.  With all my love forever, Jimmie".  Note the "ie not the usual y". 

Two books I found disappointing and would be hard pressed to recommend are "James Dean:  Little Boy Lost" by Joe Hyams published in 1992 and "Rebel:  The Life and Legend of James Dean" by Donald Spoto published in 1996.  Hyams was a gossip columnist and claims to have had a close friendship with Jimmy.  I have no doubt he knew Jimmy, however, I'd find it a little hard to believe that a gossip columnist would be the one Dean would turn to with his secrets, especially considering how protective he was of his private life.  Also Hyams was often inaccurate regarding factual details.  

"Rebel:  The Life and Legend of James Dean" by Donald Spoto was not only inaccurate on the basic facts, but was prejudicial and judgemental.  In Spoto's opinion the motherless Jimmy was "spoiled" and virtually everyone who came in contact with him, be they family, friends or professional colleagues, found him impossible to deal with.  No doubt Jimmy wasn't easy in the professional sense, as he had a particular process he adhered to in order to create his characters, but still he had many friends who loved him and speak highly of him (Eartha Kitt, Martin Landau, to name just two).  He was adored by his grandparents, and Ortense & Marcus Winslow, the aunt and uncle who raised him, evidenced in the interviews they gave during his life and after his passing.  In emphasizing Dean's impolite and insular behavior as a major character flaw, Spoto, neglects, in my opinion, to recognize the impact he had on youth and their growing discomfort with the hypocritical behavior & prejudicial attitudes of their elders, which came to fruition with a generational rebellion 10 year after Dean's death. 

A few other books I came across in my research are:  "The James Dean Story" by Ronald Martinetti published in 1996 which purports to be a "myth-shattering biography of an icon"; "The Death of James Dean" by Warren Newton Beach published in 1994 concentrates on the fatal accident and the events surrounding it;  John Gilmore the mystery/crime writer indulges in nostalgia as he looks back at his youth in New York and Hollywood with his good buddy, James Dean in the   

dramatically titled "Live Fast - Die Young:  My Life with James Dean" published in 1998; and for the car & motorcycle enthusiast there is "James Dean:  At Speed" by Lee Raskin published in 2005 detailing Jimmy's love affair with his motorcycles and sports cars.


         The first cycle was a gift from Jimmy's uncle, Marcus Winslow

 




Jimmy in Hollywood on his Triumph

  You cannot possibly tackle the subject of James Dean without reading (or in my case rereading) Antoine de Saint-Expurery's "The Little Prince" first published in 1943.  Bill Bast said this book was Jimmy's bible and Dean often quoted the one sentence that summed up the meaning of life for the the Little Prince and for himself "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."   

Jimmy's studio apt. W. 68th Street, NYC

Jimmy was introduced to the classic "The Little Prince" by Rogers Brackett, an older sophisticated advertising executive and television director who played mentor, lover and predator (depending on who you ask) to James Dean.  When Bill Bast & Jimmy shared an apartment in New York the two of them would underline passages that held special meaning to them.  According to Bast, Jimmy gifted his copy to Bill one night in an uncommon act of largess and affection, but knowing what the book meant to Dean, Bast didn't accept it.  When word of Jimmy's death reached his friends in New York, they broke into his 5th floor studio walk-up on W. 68th Street and proceeded to remove anything they imagined might harm Dean's reputation.  It's likely Jimmy's much beloved copy of "The Little Prince" was taken then, eventually finding its way to Dean's co-star in "Giant", Elizabeth Taylor, via a journalist.  It was on a visit to Taylor shortly thereafter that Bast was shown the book, with his notes intact; he never revealed to Taylor the meaning "The Little Prince" had for him. 

Home Sweet Home - Fairmount, Indiana

The Winslow Farmhouse - Fairmount, Indiana

When Jimmy was 9 his mother died, and he was sent by his  father to live with his paternal aunt, Ortense, her husband, Marcus Winslow and their 14 year-old, daughter, Joan on the family farm in Fairmount, Indiana.  At the time of Mildred's death the Dean's were living in Santa Monica, California, where Winton had taken a job at the V.A. Hospital some 4 years earlier.  Having never developed the same deep parental bond that Mildred had with Jimmy, Winton remained behind in California, going on to serve in army during World War II, remarrying and only very infrequently visiting Jimmy in Indiana.  It had always been Mildred that was Jimmy's companion and playmate, inventing games for the two of them and sending him for music and dance lessons to encourage  the artist she hoped he's someday become.  Her death and his father's abandonment, would haunt him all the days of his short life, despite finding love and acceptance with the Winslow's.  And indeed, Ortense and Marcus Winslow were delighted to have Jimmy come live with them.  In a short time they became, and remained for the rest of his life, Mom & Dad.  When Jimmy was 12 the Winslow's son, Marcus, Jr. was born.  Everyone called him Markie and he became a baby brother for Jimmy.  The Winslows & Deans were Quakers and theirs was a peaceful, nurturing home, in which Jimmy's aspirations, whether they be athletic or artistic, were encouraged.  As a youngster it was evident that he had a flair for dramatic oratory and Ortense had him perform dramatic readings at her Ladies Temperance Society meetings on the evils of drink.  At one oratory competition the judges refused to allow Jimmy the chair he was using for a prop, and when it came time to give his performance he stood stock still and didn't utter a word.  It was then that Ortense learned, what directors would learn years later "...you can't make Jimmy Dean do what he doesn't want to do."  Adeline Nall, his High School English teacher and drama coach helped him prepare for the state wide Forensic (Oratory) Contest with a reading of Charles Dickens' "Madman".  Dean won the Indiana contest, but lost the national championship by not adhering to the time limit and perhaps by dressing less formally than the other contestants (he didn't see how he could go "mad" in a suit and tie).  His artistic temper flared when he came in 6th place, and blamed Mrs. Nall for his loss.  She forgave him his outburst and whenever he returned to Fairmount he made sure to visit her classroom, where he enthralled the small town students about an actor's life in the big city.


Actors' Studio
432 W. 44th Street, NYC
http://www.theactorsstudio.org/

An Actor Prepares

James Whitmore

After High School, Jimmy moved out to Los Angeles, where he   stayed for about a year with Winton and his wife, Ethel.  At first, Jimmy acquiesced to Winton's demand that he attend Santa Monica City College where he took pre-law as his course of study.  In his spare time he sought out opportunities to study dramatic arts, even painting scenery for a local theatre company.  The next year he transferred to UCLA to major in Theatre Arts, and for defying his father's wishes, he was told he could no longer live with Winton and Ethel.  Through his friend, Bill Bast, he became acquainted with James Whitmore, a Broadway actor of some note who had been a student at Actors Studio in New York.  Bast and Dean soon entreated Whitmore to teach them and a small group of students what he had learned of "The Method" in a rented space above a store.  Jimmy was encouraged by Whitmore to go to New York if he wanted to seriously study acting.  He would always credit Whitmore for giving him the tools to begin his acting career.  Perhaps because of circumstance (he was broke) and because of fear he did not immediately proceed to Actors Studio until quite by coincidence in the office of his New York agent, Jane Deacy, he encountered a beautiful young actress named Chistine White busily typing a scene she was preparing for her audition at the Studio.  Dean made himself a nuisance asking her questions until she finally shooed him away.  On her way out, feeling bad for her abrupt behavior, she apologized and Dean invited her for coffee.  He determined that they should do her scene together and audition simultaneously for the Studio.  Chris was dubious, but Jimmy as always was a bulldozer when determined.  They performed their scene for Lee Strasberg, Cheryl Crawford and Elia Kazan and were only two of a handful selected among the many who auditioned to become members of the prestigious acting school.  At the time Jimmy was the youngest member of the Studio.  Along with a request for money, Jimmy wrote home about his acceptance to the Studio and noted that maybe he “would contribute something to this world someday”.  Unfortunately, his inability to handle the inevitable criticism from his teachers did not bode well for his tenure at the Studio.  Following a monologue he performed for Strasberg, he was dissected and found completely inadequate.  This was classic Strasberg and was to be expected, but it took such an emotional toll on Jimmy, he could never bring himself to again perform at the Studio, stating he feared analysis of his process would destroy his ability to perform, when in fact he could not handle another emotional battering from Strasberg.  Today, Jimmy's very good friend, fellow Studio member, and Academy Award winning actor, Martin Landau, is the Co-Artistic Director of Actors Studio West in L.A. 

Jimmy practicing photography
with Martin Landau as his subject

The Directors:  The Man Who Made Brando - The Partnership - The Nemesis

  East of Eden

Elia Kazan

Jimmy had complicated and difficult relationships with Directors from the start of his career doing bit parts on TV dramas in New York, up through "Giant" the third and last picture he made.  In 1952 Dean was cast in a Broadway play "See the Jaguar" written by N. Richard Nash.  This was a new play and Dean was fortunate to be cast in an important role.  Acclaimed stage and screen actor Arthur Kennedy had the lead.  This was an actor, Dean could admire and a man he could emulate.  However Dean's erratic behavior startled Kennedy when he pulled a knife on a stagehand during an argument.  Kennedy read him the riot act after the incident and Jimmy's behavior improved.  The play opened to poor reviews, but Dean's performance of a simple-minded innocent won him critical acclaim. 


See The Jaguar



The Immoralist

The following year, Jimmy won the role of Bachir, an Arab servant, who comes  between a young husband and wife when he insinuates the husband's homosexual yearnings and acts to procure on his behalf. The play, adapted from Andre Gide's novel of the same name, was produced by Billy Rose and featured Geraldine Paige and Louis Jourdan, the French actor, in his New York stage debut.  Herman Shumlin was hired to direct and he developed a good working relationship with Dean.  Rose and the other actors resented Shumlin's coddling Jimmy in rehearsals.  Geraldine Paige and Billy Gunn, his understudy, were his only friends in the production.  While in out-of-town tryouts Rose fired Shumlin, and brought in Daniel Mann and greatly cut down Jimmy's role.  Needless to say, Dean was incensed.  Despite receiving rave reviews for his performance (and a Theatre World Award for Most Promising Newcomer), on opening night, he gave two week notice.  He did so knowing he had something better in the offing. 

Jimmy had just done a screen test for Elia Kazan, who wanted him to play the part of "Cal" in the film adaptation of John Steinbeck's "East of Eden".  This was a modern retelling of the Cain and Abel story set in Salinas, California (Steinbeck's home country) and the film would only concern itself with the last part of the novel.  Kazan and Steinbeck concurred immediately upon meeting Jimmy; he was Cal and more importantly Kazan got Warner Bros. to agree.  Upon arrival in California for the start of production, Jimmy asked Kazan to meet his father.  The obvious strain and bad feeling between Winton Dean and his son was exactly what Kazan wanted to portray onscreen.  As one of the founders of Actor's Studio, steeped in the Stanislavsky method, Kazan was going to use the ill will between father and son as the emotional base to build Jimmy's performance.  Most importantly, Jimmy trusted Kazan because he was the man that directed Jimmy's idol, Marlon Brando, in his brilliant performance on stage and screen in "A Streetcar Named Desire".  During the search for a young man to play Aron (Abel to Jimmy's Cain) Kazan auditioned many of the same actors Jimmy encountered at cattle calls in Manhattan.  One of his regular competitors was a young actor, a few years his senior, named Paul Newman.  At the time, Newman was appearing in the Broadway production of "Picnic".  Although Kazan ultimately decided to cast Richard Davalos in the role, the screen test remains.   Note:  Newman's shirt is sweat-stained and he has a cigarette behind his ear.  Jimmy is nervously playing with a pocket knife and his glasses are in his shirt pocket.  It is Elia Kazan's voice giving them direction.



James Dean & Julie Harris
East of Eden

Kazan also tested Joanne Woodward to play Abra, Aron's girl, who falls in love with Cal.  This is long before Woodward became Mrs. Paul Newman.  Kazan went with Julie Harris, only in her 20's but already an acclaimed stage and screen actress for her role in "Member of the Wedding" and a member of Actors Studio.  Raymond Massey, the distinguished classical actor known for playing Abraham Lincoln, was cast as Cal and Aron's father, Adam Trask.  Massey, like many other actors before him, could not get used to Dean's style of acting.  This led to tension that Kazan again used to enhance the performance of both Massey and Dean.  Kazan would say, he never personally cared for Jimmy, but he recognized his talent.  In either case the pairing of Kazan and Dean created a great film that 56 years later still reaches out and touches the heart.  Jimmy was honored with an Academy Award nomination for his performance. 

Rebel Without a Cause

Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood, James Dean
Rebel Without a Cause

Nicholas Ray & James Dean

            Just before and during the shooting of Rebel, Dean due perhaps to his insomnia, began hanging out at Googies Diner next door to Schwab’s Drugstore on Sunset Boulevard and found himself with some strange characters known as the "Night Watch".  Prominent among them was Maila Nurmi (known to television viewers as Vampira the hostess of late night television horror movies) and a strange guy named Jack Simmons.  Simmons attached himself to Jimmy, who befriended him and at the same time used him as a gopher.  Dean also got a bit part for him Rebel and a G.E. Theatre television play.  After Dean's death, Simmons bragged that he had been Jimmy's lover, although those close to Jimmy doubted his claims.  The director of Rebel, Nicholas Ray, was 47-years-old at the time of filming, but he had the exuberance and energy to match his young cast - so much so that he was conducting an affair with 17-year-old Natalie Wood, much to the chagrin of her then boyfriend and fellow cast mate, Dennis Hopper.  Ray for all intents and purposes made Jimmy his co-director during the shoot and adapted his filming to Jimmy's acting style.  The film, originally slated as a lower budget picture for Warner Bros., got the star treatment once the dailies started coming in and the scenes already shot in black and white were redone in technicolor, necessitating a wardrobe adjustment, for which Dean changed his leather bikers jacket for the famous red windbreaker.  The film would not only be a hit, but would inspire suburban teenagers for generations to come.  Tragically, Jimmy died just before the film opened. Below is the infamous "Chickie Run" where Buzz played by Corey Allen and James Dean as Jim race to the edge of the cliff in a teenage show of machismo.

Giant 

 

George Stevens directing James Dean
on set of Giant



Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean
in a scene from Giant

The filming of Giant was a rude awakening for Dean, after his experiences with Kazan and Ray.  Academy   Award winning director, George Stevens, was first and foremost an editor and cinematographer and he shot thousands of miles of film and scenes from every angle, which he would later edit together to fit the story he was telling.  Giant, the epic tale of two generations of a wealthy Texas family, adapted from Edna Ferber's novel of the same name, was a big budget Warner Bros. production and no expense was spared.  Stevens chose Elizabeth Taylor whom he directed in "A Place in the Sun" as his female lead and Rock Hudson as his male lead.  Dean wanting the role of "Jett Rink", the discontented farmhand turned oil magnate, loitered around Stevens' production office on the Warner Bros. lot angling to play the part.  Following his sensational performance in "East of Eden"  he got the role.  Filming began in Virginia with Taylor and Hudson, and then Dean joined them on-location in Marfa, Texas for the next part of the shoot.  From the start Dean was in trouble.  He resented sitting around, sometimes all day without shooting a single scene, while Stevens shot reels of film or set up different scenes.  Dean's process required him to build up emotionally for every scene and he could not get into and out of character like Taylor, who learned her acting skills on a Hollywood soundstage.  Dean challenged Stevens, but ultimately came around to the veteran filmmakers' way of doing things.  Dean had said he wanted to direct eventually, and it is likely that during the Giant shoot he learned that film is a directors' medium and the actor is there to serve the director and the story.  Jimmy kept away from the movie folks - mostly spending his time with his cowboy/dialogue coach shooting rabbits and he was never without his lasso with which he was forever practicing rope tricks.  Most photos taken on the set show him with that rope.  The townspeople of Marfa remember him with great affection and take pride in the photos they took with him during the shoot. 

Part of the Giant story concerned racial prejudice, in this instance toward the Mexican workers on the ranch owned by the Benedicts (played by Taylor and Hudson).  Dean's character, Jett Rink, maintained the negative attitudes of his employers toward the Hispanic population, but one of the qualities most appealing in Dean was that he himself was without prejudice, racial or otherwise.  Although Dean and Hudson disliked each other, they both had a great friend in Taylor.  23 and 24 years old at the time "Giant" was filmed, Taylor and Dean connected emotionally and confided a great deal in each other.  Taylor remembered after their long talks (most late in the night) Dean would be shy and reclusive the next day, perhaps feeling he had offered up too much, making him more vulnerable than he was comfortable with.  By the time "Giant" was released (1956), Jimmy would be dead nearly a year.  He received his second Academy Award Nomination for "Giant", which he lost to Yul Brynner for "The King and I". 

When Jimmy smiled it was almost always with his head down

 Entertaining Elizabeth on set of Giant

Jimmy steals the scene

The kitten Jimmy named "Marcus" was a gift
from Elizabeth Taylor

That's Amore

Barbara

Elizabeth Sheridan may have been Dean's first big romance, but for sure, she wasn't his last.  After his death, women would often profess (most in fan magazines) to have been romanced by Jimmy; almost all of these were pure fiction.  However, there were one or two women who did claim a piece of James Dean's heart.  One of them was Barbara Glenn (Gordon), a young actress in New York, when she met Jimmy Dean.  Theirs was a tempestuous relationship, loving and fighting in equal measure.  He wrote her letters (which have been re-printed in many of the Dean biographies) filled with self-pity and adolescent longing (not unusual in your average 22 year old) and typical of an actor's life filled with insecurity.  Added to which were Jimmy's dark moods when he was either deliberately cruel or sullenly silent. 

Ultimately, it was Barbara who decided she could not go on with it and soon after met and fell in love with actor, Marc Gordon.  On his return from filming in L.A. she introduced Jimmy to Marc, her fiancee, and despite her misgivings the two got along well.  Jimmy asked to see her one last time; alone.  She came to his apartment where he begged her not to leave him – she claims he had a suitcase full of money which she thought at the time was his way of paying her back for all the times she floated him when he was broke.  He may have been trying to say "look now I have money".  She made it plain it was over between them and as she left he tossed the suitcase at her, down the stairwell, crying "I’ll be dead and it will be your fault".  When Martin Landau phoned Barbara to tell her of Jimmy's death, he began, "I have to tell you something" and without knowing, she replied "Jim is dead". 

Pier

Their 3-month affair, whatever may have been its reality, has now gone down in the celebrity annals as a "love of a lifetime" and Pier Angeli as "the love of James Dean's life".  Ms. Angeli helped fuel this belief a dozen years after Dean's death, when her star had faded and life had dealt her some harsh blows (2 divorces and a custody battle for her son).  She declared that she never loved any man, except James Dean, and when alone with her husbands she wished she was with Dean.

James Dean had been offered the lead in “The Silver Chalice”, which his agent Jane Deacy, quite rightly passed on, as the film was a failure.  The lead went to Paul Newman, who so reviled the film, years later he took out an ad in the trades apologizing for it.  The female lead went to new Italian import, Pier Angeli.  "The Silver Chalice" by lucky coincidence was filming next door to "East of Eden" on the Warner Bros. lot.  Prior to Dean, Pier (still living home with her strict Catholic Italian mother) had several romantic relationships; with Kirk Douglas, Eddie Fischer and Vic Damone.  When she met Jimmy sparks flew and it immediately became a passionate affair much to the consternation of both Pier's mother and Jack Warner.  Kazan insisted he heard Dean and Angeli being intimate in Jimmy's dressing room.  When Jimmy left for a trip to New York, Pier reignited her relationship with Damone and became engaged to him 3 days later.  Urban myth has Dean on his motorcycle outside St. Timothy’s Church during Angeli's & Damone's elaborate wedding, and revving his motor to draw the crowds attention when the bride and groom appeared on the steps of the church.  Dean denied having done something “so dumb”.

Ursula 

Jimmy & Ursula Andress
Partying at the Villa Capri in Hollywood

After Pier, Jimmy dated other women, but Swiss born bombshell Ursula Andress was a regular date often joining him for dinner at his favorite restaurant, the Villa Capri, whose owner, Patsy D'Amore let him eat in the kitchen.  It was Patsy who rented Jimmy his last home, a log cabin structure on his own property.  Andress was touted as the female Brando when she first appeared on the scene, however, people often remarked that she and Jimmy could pass for brother and sister.  The relationship did not progress as Ursula has said, she was already in love with the married actor, John Derek, who she'd eventually marry.  Still she was a frequently seen about town with Dean, giving the gossip columns something to talk about. 


Jimmy's House in Hollywood

The Finish Line

“For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been'.”

(John Greenleaf Whittier)

What might have been is the question inevitably spoken about James Dean.  Would he have gone the route of Marlon Brando, whose recognized artistic genius and adulation yielded nothing but personal misery and tragedy.  Or like Orson Wells, the boy genius who made what some considered the greatest motion picture of all time “Citizen Kane”, only to grow into a parody of his former self and selling out his artistic sensibilities.  Or worse like Elvis Presley, in a prison of his own making, hidden away from the world, surrounded by sycophants and living and dying in a drug-fueled haze.  Or just maybe, James Dean would have escaped that tragic fate, and at last come to terms with the loss of his mother and the rejection of a cold unloving father, and found a sense of peace within himself and continue to grow as an artist and a man.  That is also possible. 

The Man

Jimmy Dean was troubled, his early life left emotional scars and he tormented himself desperately wanting love and desperately wanting not to be hurt.  He lashed out when he was hurt, made ridiculous demands, sought to be the center of attention and pouted when it was not forthcoming.  But he also was capable of great charm, compassion, humor, kindness and love.  He never judged anyone on anything other than their character and he had great and natural affinity with children and animals.  He detested the phoniness of Hollywood and was as much home in a two-bit cold-water apartment in New York as he was on an Indiana farm.  He was an amalgam of many things, but one could say that the quality most admirable in James Dean was his authenticity. He was who he was and he lived how he wanted.  For rugged individualism you could find no better an example than James Dean. 

The Actor

His two front teeth were false (he knocked them out falling in a barn as a child), so nearsighted he was virtually blind without his glasses, short (5’8”), and never weighed more that 150 lbs.  He didn’t dress well and his grooming was at the best half-hazard.  And he mumbled when he spoke.  Hardly the qualities we associate with a screen star.  But what he achieved as an actor was to bring truth into every moment he stood on stage or screen.  He took the pain from within his psyche and fed his character with raw emotion that took a toll on him each time, but he never stopped mining his inner life to bring something real to every scene.  And in turn his audience, whether they were male, female, old or young could see something of themselves in his performance.  Every actor or director who worked with him, whether they personally liked or disliked him, found his process inspiring or annoying, could not deny that James Dean was magic in performance.  Natalie Wood summed it up succinctly and eloquently when she said “All of us were touched by Jimmy, and he was touched by greatness”.

“If there is another world, he lives in bliss. If there is none, he made the best of this.”

(Robert Burns)

There is something poetic that Jimmy Dean died in September, just as summer gives way to autumn.  Summer is the time of youth and unbridled passions.  Anything seems possible in the beauty of the summer sun.  While autumn’s beauty is bittersweet for the memory of the summer is palpable but we can sense the winter will soon be upon us.  It is the time of endings and moving on.  Jimmy’s clocked stopped as the sun was setting over the California hills that September afternoon, the cool winds of autumn and the bitter chill of winter never touched him and he stayed forever young. 



The Memorials

James Dean's Grave
Park Cemetery, Fairmount, Indiana

Above is the James Dean Memorial erected by Seita Ohnishi, a Japanese businessman, in 1977, a few hundred yards from the sight of the fatal crash.  The stainless steel sculpture surrounds a tree of heaven inscribed with a quote from "The Little Prince", a statement from Bill Bast and the words James Dean - 1931 Feb 8 - 1955 Sep 30 5:59 and the symbol meaning infinity.

The Junction of Routes 41 & 46 have been proclaimed by the State of California The James Dean Memorial Junction

Kenneth Kendall's bust of James Dean, begun the day he died and recently restored, is mounted on a pedestal outside the Griffith Observatory (the site of "Rebel Without a Cause") with the Hollywood sign in the background.  An identical bust & pedestal has been erected in the James Dean Memorial Park in his hometown of Fairmount, Indiana.

James Dean Filmography

Giant (1956) (Academy Award Nomination) - Jett Rink

Rebel without a Cause (1955) - Jim Stark

East of Eden (1954) (Academy Award Nomination) - Cal Trask

Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952) - Bit part in film starring Rock Hudson

Sailor Beware (1952) - Non-speaking role in Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis comedy

Fixed Bayonets (1951) - One line role ultimately cut from war film

James Dean Television Credits
The Unlighted Road (1955) Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

The Thief (1954) The U.S. Steel Hour – Mary Astor, James Dean

The Dark, Dark Hour (1954) General Electric Theatre – Ronald Reagan, Constance Ford, James Dean

I’m a Fool (1954) General Electric Theatre – Natalie Wood, Eddie Albert, James Dean

Padlocks (1954) Danger TV Series

Run Like a Thief (1954) Philco TV Playhouse

The Little Woman (1954) Danger TV Series

Harvest (1953) Robert Montgomery Presents the Johnson’s Wax Program

The Bells of Cockaigne (1953) Armstrong Circle Theatre

A Long Time Till Dawn (1953) Kraft Television Theatre

Life Sentence (1953) Campbell Soundstage

Keep Our Honor Bright (1953) Kraft Television Theatre

Glory in the Flower (1953) Omnibus

The Big Story (1953)

The Evil Within (1953) Tales of Tomorrow TV Series

Death is my Neighbor (1953) Danger TV Series

Sentence of Death (1953) Studio One Summer Theatre

Something for an Empty Briefcase (1953) Campbell Soundstage

The Case of the Sawed-Off Shotgun (1953) Treasury Men in Action TV Series

No room (1953) Danger TV Series

The Capture of Jesse James (1953) You Are There TV Series

The Case of the Watchful Dog (1953) Treasury Men in Action TV Series

Hound of Heaven (1953) The Kate Smith Show TV Series

Forgotten Children (1952) Hallmark Hall of Fame

Abraham Lincoln (1952) Studio One Television Theatre

Prologue to Glory (1952) Kraft Television Theatre

The Foggy, Fogg Dew (1952) Lux Video Theatre

Ten Thousand Horses Singing (1952) Studio One TV Theatre

Sleeping Dogs (1952) The Web TV Series

Hill Number Number One (1951) Family Theatre Easter Special. John the Beloved Apostle

James Dean Theatre Credits

Broadway      

The Immoralist (1954) Directed by Daniel Mann and Produced by Billy Rose.  Cast:  Geraldine Paige, Louis Jourdan, James Dean (Received 1954 Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer).  James Dean gave 2-week notice opening night.

See The Jaguar (1952)  Directed by Michael Gordon and Produced by Lemuel Ayers.  Cast Included:  Arthur Kennedy, Constance Ford, James Dean (Despite play being panned by critics and closing after 5 performances – James Dean won critical acclaim for his role)

Off-Broadway

Women of Trachis (1954) (Reading) Eli Wallach, Ann Jackson, James Dean

The Scarecrow (1953)

The Metamorphosis (1952)

James Dean on DVD & VHS 

       

      

  

Blog - Bibliography 

Books - Radio - DVDs & VHS - Websites 

Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Paul Alexander (1997)

Dizzy & Jimmy:  My Life with James Dean – a Love Story – Elizabeth Sheridan

James Dean­ – George C. Perry (2005) Authorized by the James Dean Foundation

James Dean:  A Biography – John Howlett (1975)  

James Dean:  A Portrait – Roy Schatt (1982)

James Dean:  At Speed – Lee Raskin (2005)

James Dean:  Fifty Years Ago – Dennis Stock with Intro. by Joe Hyams (2005)

James Dean:  Little Boy Lost – Joe Hyams (1992)

James Dean:  The Biography – Val Holley (2001)

James Dean:  The Mutant King – David Dalton (1974 – rev. ed. 2001)

Live Fast – Die Young:  My Life with James Dean – John Gilmore (1998)

Rebel:  The Life and Legend of James Dean – Donald Spoto (1996)

Surviving James Dean – William Bast (1956 – rev. ed. 2006)

The Death of James Dean – Warren Newton Beach (1994)

The James Dean Story:  A Myth-Shattering Biography of an Icon – Ronald Martinetti (1996)

The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – (1943)

The Memory of Last 85 Days – James Dean –Beulah Roth (1986)

BBC 2:  The James Dean Legacy - Documentary Radio Program Hosted by Johnny Depp

The Complete James Dean Collection (East of Eden / Giant / Rebel Without a Cause Special Edition)

(1955) (reissued on DVD 2005)

James Dean - Classic Television Collection (Issued 2007 for DVD) Television appearances by James Dean during the Golden Age of Television; 4 plays:  Sentence of Death ("Studio One") (1953) - Gene Lyons/Betsy Palmer/Ralph Dunn/James Dean; Hill Number One ("Family Theatre") (1951) Roddy MacDowall/William Schallart/Gene Lockhart/Michael Ansara/James Dean; I'm A Fool ("General Electric Theater") (1954) James Dean/Natalie Wood/Eddie Albert; The Bells OF Cockaigne ("Armstrong Circle Theatre") (1953) Gene Lockhart/James Dean/Vaughn Taylor/Tige Andrews         

The James Dean Story (1957) Documentary on the life of James Dean sanitized by Warner Bros. by Robert Altman

Forever James Dean Documentary (1990) VHS

The Real James Dean: From Indiana Farmboy To Hollywood Legend Documentary from mid-1990’s and reissued in on DVD 2005 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of James Dean’s death

James Dean - Forever Young Documentary narrated by Martin Sheen (2005)

James Dean – Sense Memories (American Masters Series) Documentary (2005) Martin Landau and others reminisce about their friend James Dean

James Dean: The Fast Lane (2-Disc DVD 2009 Release) Documentary with tv appearances; clips from movies and trailers; ***The episodes available on this set, in order on both discs, are as follows: Hill Number One; 10,000 Horses Singing; Abraham Lincoln; The Evil Within; Something for an Empty Briefcase; Sentence of Death; A Long Time Till Dawn; The Bells of Cockaigne; Harvest; I'm a Fool. Included extras: Pepsi commercial, Highway Safety PSA, The James Dean Story (40 minutes of 80 minute movie); Trailers to 3 films in which he had bit parts and done prior to his NYC years:  Fixed Bayonets, Sailor Beware (Martin & Lewis comedy), Has Anybody Seen My Gal (funny bit in movie starring Charles Coburn and Rock Hudson), and Trouble Along the Way

James Dean (1976) TV Bio-picture based on Bill Bast 1956 Memoir starring Stephen McHattie

James Dean (2000) TV Bio-picture starring James Franco (winner - Golden Globe 2000) Great performance by Franco, sadly film is historically inaccurate

The Official Site of James Dean – The James Dean Foundation - http://jamesdean.com/

IDBb – The Internet Movie Database - http://www.imdb.com/

Marion, Indiana & Grant County Tourist Information - http://showmegrantcounty.com/

The Trumbull CT Public Library System -  http://www.trumbullct-library.org/ 

(Connecticut Statewide Library Catalogue - iConn.org)