His career will be remembered as one of the shortest and most spectacular in the history of Hollywood. Millions of women sighed after him, and he was "satisfied" with becoming a symbol of the restless and dissatisfied generations of American youth of the late 1950s.
Even today, more than 65 years after his death, his character represents a kind of cultural icon, an outsider and a loner - James Dean, a "rebel with a reason".
On this day in 1955, in a car accident at the age of 24, the American actor James Dean died, a symbol of an upset and rebellious youth who found a "valve" in him after the Second World War and a kind of anti-hero.
Although he made only three films - "East of Paradise", "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant", he became a cult figure of the youth of that time. James Byron Dean is an American film actor who will be remembered for one of the shortest and most spectacular film careers in the history of Hollywood.
A young man who wanted to be an actor more than anything
James Dean was only six years old when he first said he would become an actor. However, in his early childhood, his mother passed away, so the whole family had more serious topics to think about than the little boy's dreams.
But Dean never gave up on the idea! After graduating from high school, he moved to California where he first enrolled in law school at Santa Monica College, but soon switched to drama studies. At the same time, he attended the acting workshop of actor James Whitemore, trying to achieve some significant success as an actor.
It is said that James Dean worked in the parking lot in front of the CBS television studio in order to support himself and to be noticed by someone. His first professional engagement was in an advertisement for a Pepsi Cola.
He soon got his first theatrical role on Broadway in the play "See the Jaguar" and became a member of the prestigious acting school Actors Studio, which at that time was attended by Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, Arthur Kennedy and other famous actors.
After that, Dean made smaller films, and he had several roles in the theater. However, only the role in the film "Rebel for no reason" led to the handsome young man from Indiana becoming a world star. The character of troubled teenager Jimmy Stark alongside Natalie Wood and Sall Mine was a dream come true for James Dean.
The career is over even before it started:
At the beginning of his career, James Dean, a passionate car racing fan, bought his first sports car - a Porsche 356 Speedster and started racing. He was second in Palm Springs in March 1955, third in Bakersfield in May of that year, and had to give up in Santa Monica due to a car breakdown.
During the filming of “Rebel Without a Cause,” Din buys a Porsche 550 Spyders, a model that was produced in only 90 copies that year. He called him a "little bastard."
Sometime around that time James was dating Ursula Andersen, a famous beauty and first Bond girl. The media literally haunted them, and everyone was speculating whether the young bachelor and the famous beauty might soon step on a crazy stone. Soon, however, none of that mattered. A month after buying the "little bastard", James Dean was dead.
It was that car that cost him his life. Dean was racing in Salinas when he was killed in a car accident.
He has not experienced the premieres of his films “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant” and is the only actor in Hollywood history to have been twice posthumously nominated for an Oscar.
James Dean was buried in the "Park Cemetery" in Ferimont, and in 1977 a monument to him was erected near the place where he died in Sholam.
Along with Che Guevara, his character adorned millions of teenage posters, symbolizing youth rebellion and resistance to the authority of older generations. After his death, he became the subject of countless analytical texts, books, documentaries and feature films that tried to explain the legend built around his name.
Like any other myth, this one hides a large number of ambiguities and exaggerations. Much of James ’life is shrouded in a veil of secrecy, from the women he hung out with, to rumors of homosexuality and psychological problems to suicidal fascination with speed. Only his talent and the fact that he achieved exceptional acting in all three films are indisputable.
"If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live on after he's dead, then maybe he was a great man."
James Dean (1931-1955)
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