James Dean

**James Byron Dean** (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American movie actor. He was one of the most important people in Hollywood in the 1950s. His career was only 5 years long. He was also only in 3 major movies. However, he had a very big impact on cinema and popular culture. He was best known for his part in a movie called _Rebel Without a Cause (1955)_. In this movie, he played a rebellious teenager. He was also in two other movies. He was in _East of Eden (1955)_. He was also in  _Giant (1956)_. All of these movies are in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. He was killed in a car accident in 1955. He was 24.

He got an Academy Award (Oscar) nomination after his death for Best Actor for his role in _East of Eden_. He was the first person to get this nomination posthumously (after he died). After his first nomination, he was given a 2nd nomination for his role in _Giant_. This makes him the only actor that has been given 2 acting nominations after his death. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him as the 18th best male movie star from Golden Age Hollywood on their "AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars" list. _Time_ magazine said Dean was one of the "All-Time Most Influential Fashion Icons."

## Early life

James Dean was born in 1931 in Marion, Indiana, United States. His parents were called Winton Dean and Mildred Wilson. Six years later, the family moved to California, and James went to school in Los Angeles. He was very close to his mother. She died of cancer when he was nine, and James went to live with his aunt and uncle in Fairmount, Indiana. In high school, he became interested in drama and car racing. After he graduated, he moved back to California to live with his father and stepmother. He attended Santa Monica College and UCLA, but left college in 1951 to become a professional actor.

In an interview, Elizabeth Taylor told something which James Dean had said to her during their filming. After his mother’s death, when he was 11 years old, he was sexually harassed by a Protestant minister. This experience tortured him during all his whole childhood.

### Racing hobby

In 1954, Dean started doing motorsports. He bought many automobiles after he was done acting for _East of Eden_. He bought a Triumph Tiger T110 and a Porsche 356. On March 26–27 1955, he was in his first professional race at the Palm Springs Road Races in Palm Springs, California. Dean was 1st place in the novice class. He was 2nd place at the main event. He raced in Bakersfield a month later. He was 1st in his class. He was 3rd overall. Dean said he wanted to race in the Indianapolis 500. However, he had a very busy acting schedule. This meant that this was not possible.

Dean's last race was in Santa Barbara on May 30, 1955. He was not able to finish the competition. This was because he had a blown piston (his piston was damaged). He was not able to race after that because Warner Brothers said he could not race while acting for _Giant_. Once he was done acting for that movie, however, he wanted to race again.

### Accident

Dean loved motor racing. After acting for _Giant_, he bought a new 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder. He entered into the upcoming Salinas Road Race. This would be on October 1–2, 1955.  Dean went to the race track. 3 other people went with him. The first person was the stunt coordinator Bill Hickman. The second person was _Collier's_ photographer Sanford Roth. The 3rd person was Rolf Wütherich. He was the German mechanic from the who maintained Dean's Spyder car.

On September 30, the group went west on U.S. Route 466 (now SR 46) near Cholame, California. At the same time, a 23-year-old California Polytechnic State University student Donald Turnupseed, was driving east. He was in a 1950 Ford Tudor. At 5:45 p.m.,  Turnupseed turned left onto Highway 41. He would be going north toward Fresno. This turn was in front of Dean's Porsche. Dean was not able to stop his car in time. His car went into the Ford. Dean's car went into the pavement on the highway. Dean had many fatal injuries from this accident. Turnupseed had only minor injuries.

Dean was buried in Fairmount, Indiana.

### Broadway

- _See the Jaguar_ (1952)
- _The Immoralist_ (1954) – based on the book by André Gide

### Off-Broadway

- _The Metamorphosis_ (1952) – based on the short story by Franz Kafka
- _The Scarecrow_ (1954)
- _Women of Trachis_ (1954) – translation by Ezra Pound

### Movies

|scope="col"|Year|scope="col"|Title|scope="col"|Role|scope="col"|Director|scope="col" class="unsortable"|Notes|scope="col" class="unsortable"|Ref.|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1951||||||||||||
|Doggie|Samuel Fuller|rowspan="5"|Uncredited|align="center"||||||||
|rowspan="3"|1952|||||||||||
|Boxing Trainer|Hal Walker|align="center"||||||||||
|Copyboy|Richard Brooks|align="center"||||||||||
|Youth at Soda Fountain|Douglas Sirk|align="center"||||||||||
|1953||||||||||||
|Football Spectator|Michael Curtiz|align="center"||||||||||
|rowspan="2"|1955|||||||||||
|Cal Trask|Elia Kazan|Lead film debut|align="center"|||||||||
|Jim Stark|Nicholas Ray|Released posthumously|align="center"|||||||||
|1956||||||||||||
|Jett Rink|George Stevens|Filmed in 1955; released posthumously. Final role.|align="center"|||||||||

### Television

|scope="col"|Year|scope="col"|Title|scope="col"|Role|scope="col" class="unsortable"|Notes|scope="col" class="unsortable"|Ref.|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="3"|1951|_Family Theater_|John the Apostle|Episode: "Hill Number One: A Story of Faith and Inspiration"|rowspan="23" align="center"|||||
|_The Bigelow Theatre_|Hank|Episode: "T.K.O."||||||||
|_The Stu Erwin Show_|Randy|Episode: "Jackie Knows All"||||||||
|rowspan="3"|1952|_CBS Television Workshop_|G.I.|Episode: "Into the Valley"||||||
|_Hallmark Hall of Fame_|Bradford|Episode: "Forgotten Children"||||||||
|_The Web_|Himself|Episode: "Sleeping Dogs"||||||||
|1952–1953|_Kraft Television Theatre_|Various Characters|Episodes: "Prologue to Glory", "Keep Our Honor Bright" and "A Long Time Till Dawn"|||||||
|1952–1955|_Lux Video Theatre_|Various Characters|Episodes: "The Foggy, Foggy Dew" and "The Life of Emile Zola"|||||||
|rowspan="10"|1953|_The Kate Smith Hour_|The Messenger|Episode: "The Hound of Heaven"||||||
|_You Are There_|Robert Ford|Episode: "The Capture of Jesse James"||||||||
|_Treasury Men in Action_|Various Characters|Episodes: "The Case of the Watchful Dog" and "The Case of the Sawed-Off Shotgun"||||||||
|_Tales of Tomorrow_|Ralph|Episode: "The Evil Within"||||||||
|_Westinghouse Studio One_|Various Characters|Episodes: "Ten Thousand Horses Singing", "Abraham Lincoln" and "Sentence of Death"||||||||
|_The Big Story_|Rex Newman|Episode: "Rex Newman, Reporter for the Globe and News"||||||||
|_Omnibus_|Bronco Evans|Episode: "Glory in the Flower". Crazy Man Crazy was on soundtrack.||||||||
|_Campbell Summer Soundstage_|Various Characters|Episodes: "Something for an Empty Briefcase" and "Life Sentence"||||||||
|_Armstrong Circle Theatre_|Joey Frasier|Episode: "The Bells of Cockaigne"||||||||
|_Robert Montgomery Presents_|Paul Zalinka|Episode: "Harvest"||||||||
|1953–1954|_Danger_|Various Characters|Episodes: "No Room", "Death Is My Neighbor", "The Little Woman" and "Padlocks"|||||||
|rowspan="2"|1954|_The Philco Television Playhouse_|Rob|Episode: "Run Like a Thief"||||||
|_General Electric Theater_|Various Characters|Episodes: "I'm a Fool" and "The Dark, Dark Hours"||||||||
|rowspan="2"|1955|_The United States Steel Hour_|Fernand Lagarde|Episode: "The Thief"||||||
|_Schlitz Playhouse of Stars_|Jeffrey Latham|Episode: "The Unlighted Road"||||||||

## Awards and nominations

|scope="col"|Year|scope="col"|Award|scope="col"|Category|scope="col"|Nominated work|scope="col"|Result|scope="col"|Note|scope="col" class="unsortable"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="4"||Academy Awards|Best Actor|rowspan="4"|||align="center"|||||||
|British Academy Film Awards|Best Foreign Actor|||align="center"||||||||||
|Golden Globe Awards|Special Achievement Award for Best Dramatic Actor|||align="center"||||||||||
|Jussi Awards|Best Foreign Actor|||align="center"||||||||||
|rowspan="4"||Academy Awards|Best Actor||||align="center"|||||||
|Bravo Otto|Best Actor||||align="center"|||||||||
|British Academy Film Awards|Best Foreign Actor||||align="center"|||||||||
|Golden Globe Awards|World Film Favorite - Male||||align="center"|||||||||

## Further reading

- Alexander, Paul: _Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Life, Times, and Legend of James Dean _. Viking, 1994.
- Bast, William: _James Dean: A Biography_. Ballantine Books, 1956.
- Beath, Warren: _Death of James Dean_. Grove Press, 1986.
- Beath, Warren, with Wheeldon, Paula; James Dean in Death: A Popular Encyclopedia of a Celebrity Phenomenon, McFarland & Co., Inc., 2005.
- Colavito, Jason: _Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean_. Rowman & Littlefield, 2024.
- Dalton, David: _James Dean-The Mutant King: A Biography_. Chicago Review Press, 2001.
- Frascella, Lawrence and Weisel, Al: _Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause_. Touchstone, 2005.
- Gilmore, John : _Live Fast-Die Young: Remembering the Short Life of James Dean_. Thunder's Mouth Press, 1998.
- Gilmore, John: _The Real James Dean_. Pyramid Books, 1975.
- Heinrichs, Steve; Marinello, Marco; Perrin, Jim; Raskin, Lee; Stoddard, Charles A; Zigg, Donald; Porsche Speedster TYP540: Quintessential Sports Car, 2004, Big Lake Media, Inc.
- Holley, Val: _James Dean: The Biography_. St. Martin's Griffin, 1996.
- Hopper, Hedda and Brough, James: "James Dean Was a Rebel With a Cause" in _The Whole Truth and Nothing But_. Doubleday. 1963.

- Howell, John: _James Dean: A Biography_. Plexus Publishing, 1997. Second Revised Edition.
- Hyams, Joe; Hyams, Jay: _James Dean: Little Boy Lost_. Time Warner Publishing, 1992.
- Martinetti, Ronald: _The James Dean Story_, Pinnacle Books, 1975.
- Perry, George: _James Dean_. DK Publishing, 2005.
- Raskin, Lee: _James Dean: At Speed_. David Bull Publishing, 2005.
- Reeves, Derek: _The Legend of James Dean: Demonic Heroes Have Villainous Virtues _. Archway Publishing, 2024.
- Riese, Randall: _The Unabridged James Dean: His Life from A to Z_. Contemporary Books, 1991.
- Sheridan, Liz: _Dizzy & Jimmy: My Life With James Dean: A Love Story_. HarperCollins Canada / Harper Trade, 2000.
- Spoto, Donald: _Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean_. HarperCollins, 1996.
- Turiello, James: The James Dean Collection, 1993. Biography on fifty trading cards with photographs from The James Dean Gallery in Fairmount, Indiana.
- Turiello, James: _James Dean The Quest for an Oscar_. Amazon Digital Services LLC, 2018.

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: James Dean
- **image**: James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.jpg
- **alt**: A black-and-white photo of Dean wearing a bomber jacket and Lee jeans
- **caption**: Dean in a publicity still for _Rebel Without a Cause_ (1955)
- **birth name**: James Byron Dean
- **birth place**: Marion, Indiana, U.S.
- **death place**: near Cholame, California, U.S.
- **death cause**: Death of James Dean, Car crash
- **resting place**: Park Cemetery, Fairmount, Indiana, U.S.
- **occupation**: Actor
- **years active**: 1950–1955
- **signature**: Firma de James Dean.svg