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Famous
Actors > James Dean
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James
Dean
James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 - September 30,
1955) was an American film actor. Epitomizing youthful angst and charisma,
Dean's screen persona is probably best embodied in the title of his
most representative work, Rebel without a Cause.
Born on a Marion, Indiana family farm to Winton and Mildred Wilson
Dean. The family moved to Santa Monica, California six years later
after Winton left farming to become a dental technician. While there,
Dean was enrolled in Brentwood Public School until his mother died
of cancer in 1940. |
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Then, at age nine, Dean's father sent him back to live with relatives
on a farm near Fairmount, Indiana where he was raised with a Quaker
upbringing. In high school, Dean played on the school basketball team
and participated in forensics debate and drama. After graduating from
Fairmont High School in 1949, Dean moved back to California to live
with his father and stepmother.
While there, he enrolled in Santa Monica City College, pledged Sigma
Nu fraternity and majored in pre-law. After struggling with law, against
his father's wishes, Dean changed his major to drama. The resulting
parental fight left Dean once again being turned out of his father's
house.
Dean began his career with a soft drink commercial followed by a bit
part in the television series, Hill Number One. He quit college to
focus on his budding career, but he struggled to get jobs in Hollywood
and only succeeded in paying bills by working as a parking lot attendant.
Following the advice of friends, Dean moved to New York to pursue
a career in live stage acting. While there he was accepted to study
under Lee Strasberg in the storied Actors Studio. His career turned
around and Dean did several episodes of such early-1950s episodic
television progams such as Kraft Television Theater, Danger, and General
Electric Theater. His rave reviews in André Gide's The Immoralist
led to his being called back to Hollywood and film stardom. During
his New York period he spent time in Sayville and the resort towns
of Fire Island.
He appeared in several uncredited bit roles in such forgettable films
as Sailor Beware, but finally gained recognition and success in 1955
in his first starring role, that of Cal Trask in East of Eden, for
which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a
Leading Role. He followed this up in rapid succession with two more
starring roles, in Rebel Without a Cause, and in the 1956 release
Giant, for which he was also nominated for an Academy Award.
Dean died in a road accident in a Porsche 550 Spyder when a car driven
by Donald Turnupseed veered into Dean's lane. This occurred before
the release of Giant. He is buried in Park Cemetery in his home town
of Fairmount. He is one of only five people to be nominated for Best
Actor for his first feature role, and the only person to be nominated
twice after his death.
Dean epitomized the rebellion of 1950s teens, especially in his role
in Rebel Without a Cause. Many teenagers of the time modeled themselves
after him, and his death cast a pall on many members of his generation.
His very brief career, lifestyle, bisexuality, violent death and highly
publicized funeral transformed James Dean into a cult object and pop
icon of apparently timeless fascination. |
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