Happening This Month

Wednesday, April 26 | 5 Films

James Dean is one of the few stars of the mid-20th century who remains iconic in the 21st. For nearly 70 years, his brand of misunderstood youth has appealed to young people, despite changes in acting styles, fashion and society. Through the decades, many up-and-coming actors have drawn comparisons to Dean, some have blatantly imitated him and several have starred in Dean biopics. Although established as a cultural icon, James Dean only starred in three films. There had been early, uncredited parts in Fixed Bayonets! (1951), Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952) and Sailor Beware (1952) before he played his first lead in the movie adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden (1955), but that film made him an instant star with both critics and the public. Tragically, James Dean was only able to enjoy his success for a little over six months.

The image of the troubled young man reflected the pain of Dean’s own life. Born in Marion, Indiana on February 8, 1931, he moved to Santa Monica, California in 1935. Dean wanted to be an actor from childhood, but his father did not share his interests and was not close to his son. Dean did have a loving relationship with his mother, but she died of cancer when he was nine. Unable or unwilling to care for his son, Dean’s father soon sent him back to Indiana to be raised by relatives and wouldn’t see his son again until he was 18.

Determined to be an actor, James Dean returned to Los Angeles and studied with James Whitmore who advised him to go to New York. There, he attended the famed Actors Studio and soon made his name both on the stage and in the earliest days of television dramas, like The Lux Video Theatre, The United States Steel Hour and Robert Montgomery Presents, many of which still exist for viewing. It was in New York that director Elia Kazan hired Dean to star in East of Eden, and he was quickly signed to a contract with Warner Bros. In his first starring role, Dean played a young man who desperately wanted to be loved by his father and Kazan had him use his own life experience to color his performance on-screen. The result was a type of raw vulnerability that had rarely been seen in Hollywood films, most notably in those of Dean’s friend, Marlon Brando. According Eli Wallach, Dean’s improvisation on set irritated his fellow actors, but that friction was what Kazan wanted. 

At the film’s preview in December 1954, Variety criticized Kazan for supposedly instructing Dean to imitate Brando, “although [Dean] has a basic appeal that manages to get through to the viewer despite the heavy burden of copying another’s acting style in voice and mannerisms.” The overwhelming success of East of Eden led to Warner Bros. giving Dean the lead role of Jim Stark over the more established star, Tab Hunter, in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Dean was cast opposite Natalie Wood, his co-star in the General Electric Theater television production of I’m a Fool (1954). The script of Rebel Without a Cause was changed to focus more on Dean’s character, and Warners decided to shoot the film in color, rather than the scheduled black-and-white. Dean took a deep dive into embodying Jim Stark by befriending gang leader Frank Mazzola, hired by Warners as a consultant, fight choreographer and actor in the film. Mazzola told The Evening Standard in 2005 that director Nicholas Ray wanted him to “hang out with Jimmy and show him the kind of clothes we wore and the cars we drove." Dean managed to scare the hard-bitten Mazzola when he offered him a ride, recklessly driving around Laurel Canyon. “It was the most insane ride. I've driven cars fast, driven hot rods, but Jimmy just had his pedal to the metal. He was going round blind curves. If there had been cars there, we would have been dead.” Dean copied Mazzola’s clothes and stance, but Mazzola said in return, Dean made him “realize the potential of who I could be - that I could take all of the energy I put into the physical and transfer it into the creative." Mazzola would later abandon his gang life and become a respected film editor.

Immediately after shooting ended in late May 1955, Dean began his final film, George Stevens’ epic, Giant (1956). Based on the controversial Edna Ferber novel about a wealthy oil family in Texas, the film touched on racial discrimination and featured one of the first feminist protagonists in film, played by Elizabeth Taylor. Again, Dean was cast as ranch hand-turned-millionaire, Jett Rink, over bigger stars who had been considered for the role, this time Brando and Montgomery Clift. Some of the location filming occurred in the Texas town of Marfa. During the 44-day shoot, the subject of the documentary Return to Giant (2003), Stevens had an open set, so town members were allowed to watch filming and some were hired to be extras. Dean is still remembered by the residents of Marfa for his kindness to the locals, taking time to pose for photos, sign autographs and bring ice-cold Coca-Colas for the kids. As he did with his previous films, Dean was completely dedicated to the realistic creation of his character, telling his dialogue coach, Robert Hinkle, “I want to be a Texan 24 hours a day. I want to be that character until that movie’s over.” While in Texas, he spoke of his interest in becoming a director, and brought his own home movie camera to capture the goings on on set. Frank Mazzola confirmed Dean’s interest in directing, remembering that just before he left for Texas, Dean discussed starting a production company with Mazzola and Nicholas Ray.

With location shooting complete, the company returned to Warner Bros. to wrap-up interior scenes on the lot. Dean finished shooting on September 29th, and had a rare week off before he was scheduled to return to Warners to re-record some of his dialogue in post-production. Contractually unable to take risks during filming, Dean was anxious to get back to one of his great loves - racing. He was a notorious collector of fast motorcycles and, when he could finally afford it, sports cars. The Salinas Optimists Club Road Car Race at the Salinas Airport was being held on October 1st, and Dean decided to go race his brand-new Porsche 550 Spyder there. En route, Dean was killed when his car collided with another at the intersection of Hwys 41 and 46. He was 24 years old. Ironically, Dean had just made a public service announcement for young drivers while filming Giant, in which he discouraged fast and reckless driving, ending with, “The life you save might be mine.” 

Rebel Without a Cause was released one month after Dean’s death, on October 27,1955, and cemented his image for all time. When the Academy Award nominations were announced, Dean was the first actor to be honored posthumously. Nominated for Best Actor, he would lose to Ernest Borgnine in Marty (1955). George Stevens spent a year editing the nearly three-and-a-half hour long Giant. By then, the cult of James Dean was growing. At the film’s premiere in October 1956, some fans were so obsessed that they camped out at the Roxy Theater, refusing to believe that he had died, convinced that the announcement of his death was a publicity stunt and that he would appear at the premiere. 

Giant was a smash at the box office, with The New York Times’ film critic Bosley Crowther calling it “a strong contender for the year's top-film award.” Crowther praised the cast, but singled out Dean, writing “[I]t is the late James Dean who makes the malignant role of the surly ranch hand who becomes an oil baron the most tangy and corrosive in the film. Mr. Dean plays this curious villain with a stylized spookiness—a sly sort of off-beat languor and slur of language—that concentrates spite. This is a haunting capstone to the brief career of Mr. Dean.” 

For his performance in Giant, Dean was again nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, losing to Yul Brynner in The King and I (1956).

And that was it. There would be no more James Dean films, but his legend survives. Two giant cut-outs of him from Rebel Without a Cause stand at Blackwells Corner, the gas station on Hwy 46 where he stopped a half-hour before the crash. At the accident site itself, fans from all over the world continue to gather and leave mementos on the fence where his car landed. The intersection is named for him and memorialized by a highway sign. A new sports bar in Salinas bears his name and likeness, Dean’s face appears in murals on the sides of Hollywood buildings and his photos are still sold in the souvenir shops. James Dean may be gone, but his spirit lives on in every new actor who blazes across the screen as a brooding, handsome rebel.