 |
James Dean
Age: 24 (passed away Sep. 30th, 1955)
Height: 5' 8"
Birth Place: Marion, Indiana, USA
Born: Feb. 8th, 1931
+ Add to My Celebs
|
James Dean's Main TV Roles
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at
IMDB
BIOGRAPHY: James Dean was raised on a farm by his aunt and uncle in Fairmount, Indiana. He received rave reviews for his work as the blackmailing Arab boy in the New York production of Gide's "The Immoralist", good enough to earn him a trip to Hollywood. His early film efforts were strictly bit parts: a sailor in the Dean Martin (I) and Jerry Lewis (I) overly frantic musical comedy Sailor Beware (1952); a GI in Samuel Fuller's moody study of a platoon in the Korean War, Fixed Bayonets! (1951) and a youth in the Piper Laurie-Rock Hudson comedy Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952). He had major roles in only three movies. In the Elia Kazan production of John Steinbeck's East of Eden (1955) he played Caleb, the "bad" brother who couldn't force affection from his stiff-necked father. His true starring role, the one which fixed his image forever in American culture, was that of the brooding red-jacketed teenager Jim Stark in Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause (1955). George Stevens (I)' filming of Edna Ferber's Giant (1956), in which he played the non-conforming cowhand Jett Rink, was just coming to a close when Dean, driving his Porsche Spyder, collided with another car in Cholame, California. He had received a speeding ticket just two hours before. His very brief career, violent death and highly publicized funeral transformed him into a cult object of apparently timeless fascination.
TRIVIA:
- Much like Dean himself was with Marlon Brando, Elvis Presley emulated and idolized James Dean. He would talk to friends for hours about his reverence for Dean, and got into acting as a way of following in Dean's footsteps. He confessed to his friends and close ones that Dean had the acting career he always wanted.
- Dean's acting breakthrough came on Broadway in the drama "See the Jaguar", despite its run of less than a week (only 4 days).
- 'Elia Kazan' (qv), in his 1988 autobiography "A Life", says that during the production of _East of Eden (1955)_ (qv), he had to have Dean move into a bungalow near his on the Warner Bros. lot to keep an eye on him, so wild was his nightlife.
- (1995). Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#42).
- Immortalized in 1974 by the song "Rock On" sung by 'David Essex (I)' (qv).
- Mentioned in 'Don McLean (I)' (qv)'s hit song "American Pie".
- His father inherited his estate, which was valued at the time of his death at $96,438.44 after taxes. The bulk of the estate came from his life insurance policy as well as $6,750 in insurance claims from his Porsche Spyder. His checking account had a balance of $3,256.48.
- The famous Failure Analysis Associates, from Menlo Park, California, re-constructed and re-created all details of the accident at the same approximate time on September 30th and have concluded that James Dean was travelling 55 to 56 m.p.h. when the fateful accident occurred, thereby proving he had not been speeding, as rumor had it.
James Dean Photos | powered by  |
Previous |
Next (1)
James Dean Fans [0]
Page created in 0.1262 seconds
Facebook
Twitter
