Log in / create account Article Discussion Read Edit View history Search James Dean From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Main page This article is about the actor. For other uses, see James Dean (disambiguation). Contents James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) Featured content was an American film actor.[1] He is a cultural icon, best James Dean Current events embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without Random article a Cause (1955), in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles Donate to Wikipedia teenager Jim Stark. The other two roles that defined his stardom were as loner Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955), and Interaction as the surly farmer, Jett Rink, in Giant (1956). Dean's enduring Help fame and popularity rests on his performances in only these About Wikipedia three films, all leading roles. His premature death in a car Community portal crash cemented his legendary status.[2] Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Dean was the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and remains the only actor to Toolbox have had two posthumous acting nominations. In 1999, the Print/export American Film Institute ranked Dean the 18th best male movie star on their AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list.[3] Languages Contents [hide] Dean in 1955 اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ Aragonés 1 Early life Born James Byron Dean Bosanski 2 Acting career February 8, 1931 Български Marion, Indiana, U.S. open in browser customize free license pdfcrowd.com Български 2.1 East of Eden Marion, Indiana, U.S. Català 2.2 Rebel Without a Cause Died September 30, 1955 (aged 24) Česky 2.3 Giant Cholame, California, U.S. Cymraeg 3 Racing career and 'Little Bastard' Other names Jimmy Dean Dansk 4 Personal relationships Occupation Actor Deutsch 5 Death Eesti Years active 1951–1955 5.1 Memorial Ελληνικά 5.2 Documentary Español Esperanto 6 Legacy and iconic status Euskara 6.1 Impact on culture and media Speculated sexual orientation 6.2 ﻓﺎرﺳﯽ Français 6.3 The "curse" of "Little Bastard" Gaeilge 7 Filmography Galego 8 Stage 한국어 8.1 Broadway Hrvatski 8.2 Off-Broadway Ido 9 Television Igbo 10 Biographical films Bahasa Indonesia 11 References Íslenska 12 Further reading Italiano 13 External links עברית ಕನಡ Early life [edit] ქართული Latina James Dean was born on February 8, 1931, at the Seven Gables apartment house in Marion, Indiana, to Latviešu Winton Dean and Mildred Wilson. Six years after his father had left farming to become a dental technician, Lëtzebuergesch James and his family moved to Santa Monica, California. The family spent several years there, and by all Magyar accounts young Dean was very close to his mother. According to Michael DeAngelis, she was "the only Nederlands person capable of understanding him".[4] He was enrolled at Brentwood Public School in the Brentwood 日本語 open in browser customize free license pdfcrowd.com 日本語 neighborhood of Los Angeles until his mother died of cancer when Dean was nine years old. Norsk (bokmål) Unable to care for his son, Winton Dean sent James to live with Winton's sister Ortense and her husband Occitan Marcus Winslow on a farm in Fairmount, Indiana, where he was raised in a Quaker background. Dean Plattdüütsch sought the counsel and friendship of Methodist pastor Rev. James DeWeerd. DeWeerd seemed to have had Polski a formative influence upon Dean, especially upon his future interests in bullfighting, car racing, and the Português theater. According to Billy J. Harbin, "Dean had an intimate relationship with his pastor... which began in his Română senior year of high school and endured for many years."[5] Their sexual relationship was earlier suggested in Русский the 1994 book, Boulevard of Broken Dreams: the life, times, and legend of James Dean by Paul Shqip Alexander.[6] In 2011, it was reported that he once told Elizabeth Taylor, his co-star in Giant, that he was Simple English sexually abused by a minister two years after his mother's death.[7] Slovenčina Српски / Srpski In high school, Dean's overall performance was mediocre. However, he was a popular school athlete, having Srpskohrvatski / successfully played on the baseball and basketball teams and studied drama and competed in forensics Српскохрватски through the Indiana High School Forensic Association. After graduating from Fairmount High School on May Suomi 16, 1949, Dean moved back to California with his beagle, Max, to live with his father and stepmother. He Svenska enrolled in Santa Monica College (SMC) and majored in pre-law. Dean transferred to UCLA[8] and changed లుగు his major to drama, which resulted in estrangement from his father. He pledged the Sigma Nu fraternity but ไทย was never initiated. While at UCLA, he was picked from a pool of 350 actors to land the role of Malcolm in Türkçe Macbeth. At that time, he also began acting with James Whitmore's acting workshop. In January 1951, he Українська dropped out of UCLA to pursue a full-time career as an actor.[9] Tiếng Việt 粵語 Acting career [edit] 中文 Dean's first television appearance was in a Pepsi Cola television open in browser customize free license pdfcrowd.com Dean's first television appearance was in a Pepsi Cola television commercial.[10] He quit college to act full time and was cast as John the Beloved Disciple in Hill Number One, an Easter television special, and three walk-on roles in movies, Fixed Bayonets!, Sailor Beware, and Has Anybody Seen My Gal? His only speaking part was in Sailor Beware, a Paramount comedy starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis; Dean played a boxing trainer. While struggling to get jobs in Hollywood, Dean also worked as a parking lot attendant at CBS Studios, during which time he met Rogers Brackett, a radio director for an advertising agency, who offered him professional help and guidance in his in East of Eden (1955) chosen career, as well as a place to stay.[11][12] In October 1951, following actor James Whitmore's and his mentor Rogers Brackett's advice, Dean moved to New York City. There he worked as a stunt tester for the game show Beat the Clock. He also appeared in episodes of several CBS television series, The Web, Studio One, and Lux Video Theatre, before gaining admission to the legendary Actors Studio to study Method acting under Lee Strasberg. Proud of this accomplishment, Dean referred to the Studio in a 1952 letter to his family as "The greatest school of the theater. It houses great people like Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, Arthur Kennedy, Mildred Dunnock. ... Very few get into it ... It is the best thing that can happen to an actor. I am one of the youngest to belong."[11] Dean's career picked up and he performed in further episodes of such early 1950s television shows as Kraft Television Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents, Danger, and General Electric Theater. One early role, for the CBS series Omnibus in the episode "Glory in the Flower", saw Dean portraying the 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 Dean's 1954 theatrical role as "Bachir", a pandering North African houseboy, in an adaptation of André Gide's book The Immoralist, led to calls from Hollywood.[13] East of Eden [edit] Main article: East of Eden (film) open in browser customize free license pdfcrowd.com In 1953, director Elia Kazan was looking for a substantive actor to play the emotionally complex role of 'Cal Trask', for screenwriter Paul Osborn's adaptation of John Steinbeck's 1952 novel East of Eden. The lengthy novel had dealt with the story of the Trask and Hamilton families over the course of three generations, focusing especially on the lives of the latter two generations in Salinas Valley, California, from the mid-19th century through the 1910s. In contrast, the film chose to deal predominantly with the character of Cal Trask. Initially seeming more aloof and emotionally troubled than his twin brother Aron, Cal is quickly seen to be more worldly, aware, business savvy, and even sagacious than their pious and constantly disapproving father (played by Raymond Massey) seeking to invent vegetable refrigeration, and estranged mother, whom Cal discovers is a brothel-keeping 'madame' (Jo Van Fleet). Elia Kazan said of Cal With Julie Harris in East of Eden (1955) before casting, "I wanted a Brando for the role". Osborn suggested Dean, who then met with Steinbeck; the future Nobel laureate did not like the bold youth personally, but thought him perfect for the part. Kazan set about putting the wheels in motion to cast the relatively unknown young actor in the role; on April 8, 1954, Dean left New York City and headed for Los Angeles to begin shooting.[14][15][16] Dean's performance in the film foreshadowed his role as Jim Stark in Rebel Without A Cause. Both characters are angst-ridden protagonists and misunderstood outcasts, desperately craving approval from a father figure. Much of Dean's performance in the film is unscripted, including his dance in the bean field and his fetal-like posturing while riding on top of a train-car (after searching out his mother in a nearby town). The most famous improvisation during the film was when Cal's father rejects his gift of $5,000 (offered in reparation for his father's business loss). Instead of running away from his father as the script called for, Dean instinctively turned to Massey and, crying, embraced him.