Biography

         He was a U.S. motion-picture actor enshrined as a symbol of the confused, restless, and idealistic youth of the 1950s.  James Byron Dean was born on February 8, 1931, in Marion, Indiana.  His father Winton, was a dentist and his mother Mildred, devoted much of her time to her young son - by exposing him to the arts.  In 1935, Winton moved the family to Santa Monica, California and Dean began school in the Westwood public school system.  The tale of the happy family life would come to a tragic halt when Mildred Dean discovered she had cancer.  She died on July 14, 1940, at the age of 29.  Mildred's death would leave a heavy emotional scar on Jimmy.  After her death, Dean's father sent him to live with his aunt and uncle, Ortense and Marcus Winslow Sr.  Jimmy's relationship with his father would never really be close again.  Sadly, it can be said, that when Jimmy's mother died, he not only lost one parent, but both at the same time.  Dean would live on the Winslow farm from 1940 to 1949. After Dean graduated from Fairmount High School in 1949, he left Fairmount and went to live with his father in Santa Monica.  Dean had aspirations to be an actor and Winton scoffed at the idea.  Dean enrolled at Santa Monica City College.

        Dean studied theatre for two years and then began a professional stage career in New York.  Dean was helped early in his career by Rogers Brackett, a Hollywood producer.  He got Dean into bit parts in various movies and television.  Brackett was the key starter to Dean's eventual success, albeit Dean eventually would've been discovered anyway with his talent and photogenic face.  It's been well documented that Dean and Brackett were briefly lovers, and Dean made every effort to hide and conceal his association with Brackett by creating myths that would dispel anything being related to Brackett.  In Ron Martinetti's fine book, The James Dean Story, Brackett would give his only interview about his relationship with James Dean.

         He got a role in a broadway play called See the Jaguar when he was only 21 years old.  At this time Dean started to get many roles in television dramas and eventually he won another role on Broadway in The Immoralist co-starring Louis Jordan and Geraldine Page.  His portrayal of the blackmailing Arab in this particular play (New York City, 1954) showed promise, and he was offered a Hollywood contract.  He gave a sensitive interpretation of the brooding, restless son in the film East of Eden (1955), based on the novel by John Steinbeck, then starred in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), a film dealing with the explosive social relationships among misunderstood teenagers.  This would be the film that teenagers identified with and it made Dean the spokesperson for rebellious youth.

        In Giant (1956), from the novel by Edna Ferber, Dean (in a supporting role) was featured as a rough, nonconformist ranch hand.  Dean, was not originally considered for the part of Jett Rink.  Alan Ladd was considered for the role, but James Dean convinced director George Stevens that he was right for the part of  Jett Rink.  Stevens was impressed after viewing Dean in a television special and also from watching East of Eden.  Dean and Stevens had several clashes on the set of Giant, so it didn't make for a very enjoyable experience for Dean.  Critics were mixed in their evaluation of Dean's performance.  Some thought he was wonderful, others thought he was mediocre - especially when he played the old Jett Rink.  Nonetheless, these three films established Dean as the personification of youthful frustration and made him the object of a cult of young Americans.  His tragic death in a automobile crash on September 30, 1955, before the release of Rebel Without a Cause and Giant caused nationwide mourning among them and contributed to his further idolization.  He had very little publicity when he was alive and his death turned him into an eternal legend.
 

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