Actors - James Dean

Home > Listing Index > Actors > James Dean

	Actors - James Dean

James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) was an American film actor who epitomized youthful angst. Dean's mainstream status as a cultural icon is best embodied in the title of his most cited role in Rebel Without a Cause
. As with Buddy Holly and Marilyn Monroe, his death at a young age helped guarantee a legendary status.

Childhood and education

Born in a Marion, Indiana, apartment to Winton and Mildred Wilson Dean, James Dean and his family moved to Santa Monica, California six years after his father had left farming to become a dental technician. Dean was enrolled in Brentwood Public School until his mother died of cancer in 1940.

At age nine, Dean was sent by his father to live with his aunt Ortense and uncle Marcus Winslow on a farm in Fairmount, Indiana where he was brought up with a Quaker influence. In high school Dean played on the school basketball team and studied forensics and drama. After graduating from Fairmont High School in 1949, Dean moved back to California to live with his father and stepmother.

He enrolled in Santa Monica College, pledged to the Sigma Nu fraternity and majored in pre-law. Dean transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles and changed his major to drama, resulting in his estrangement from his father.

Acting career

Dean began his acting career with a Pepsi-Cola commercial followed by a stint as a stunt tester in the Beat the Clock game show. He quit college to focus on his budding career, but struggled to get jobs in Hollywood and paid his bills only by working as a parking lot attendant at CBS Studios.

Following friends' advice, Dean moved to New York City to pursue live stage acting, where he was accepted to study under Lee Strasberg in the storied Actors Studio. His career picked up, and he did several episodes on early-1950s TV shows such as Kraft Television Theater, Studio One, Lux Video Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents, Danger and General Electric Theater. One early role, for the CBS series, Omnibus (Glory in the Flower) saw Dean portraying the same type of disaffected youth he would later immortalize in Rebel Without a Cause (this summer 1953 program was also notable for featuring the song "Crazy Man, Crazy", one of the first dramatic TV programs to feature rock and roll). Positive reviews for his role in André Gide's The Immoralist led to calls from Hollywood and paved the way to film stardom.

East of Eden

Director Elia Kazan was looking for a new actor to play the role of Cal in East of Eden; Dean and another relatively unknown actor, Paul Newman, were the final two chosen. Following a screen test in New York City the part was given to Dean.

On March 8, 1954, Dean left New York City and headed for Los Angeles to begin shooting East of Eden. Dean played the son of a constantly disapproving father (played by Raymond Massey).

The relationship between Cal and his father paralleled that between Dean and his own father, and so Dean took the role personally. He became known on the set for his improvisational contributions to the script; his creativity proved to be very important as some of the most famous scenes were his addition to the script. Dean would apparently drive past cinemas during the release of the film and stare in amazement as people lined up to see him. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role (the first posthumous acting nomination in Academy Awards history.)

Rebel Without a Cause

He followed this up in rapid succession with the starring role in Rebel Without a Cause , a film that would prove to be hugely popular amongst teenagers. The film is widely cited as an accurate representation of teenage angst of the early 1950s.

The film co-starred Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo. Director Nicholas Ray often encouraged Dean’s creative input.

During filming, Dean purchased one of only 90 Porsche 550 Spyders, and introduced himself to competitive auto racing, where he had early success.

Giant

Giant which was posthumously released in 1956, saw Dean play a supporting role to both Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson. His role was notable in that, in order to portray an older version of his character in one scene, Dean dyed his hair grey and shaved some of it off to give himself a receding hairline.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for James Dean ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article James Dean; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.