James Dean

IMDB profile

Add to favorites

Edit page

Search at Amazon

Stats

Birth Name: James Byron Dean

Born: 8 February 1931 Died: 30 September 1955

Country of origin: United States

Height: 5' 7"

Relationship Status: Single

Lists

585 votes

What Did They Look Like? (152 items)
list by Danie

Published 17 years, 2 months ago

95 comments

316 votes

This is not porn (Rare pictures of famous people) (32 items)
list by Agata

Published 1 month ago

40 comments

299 votes

Famous people + cats (186 items)
list by Raquel

Published 16 years, 4 months ago

40 comments

205 votes

Premature Deaths (Actors and Actresses) (133 items)
list by xolmis

Published 11 years, 4 months ago

31 comments

195 votes

Actors who died before seeing their final movie (20 items)
list by Lexie

Published 15 years, 9 months ago

24 comments

View all James Dean lists

James Dean Videos

Movie Legends - James Dean

228 Views

Added 12 years ago

Pepsi commercial (1950)-first James Dean tv appearance

178 Views

Added 8 years ago

Rare Deleted Scene with James Dean (East of Eden)

139 Views

Added 10 years ago

View all James Dean videos

Photos

41 votes

30 votes

29 votes

27 votes

25 votes

View all James Dean pictures

Description: (born Feb. 8, 1931, Marion, Indiana, U.S.—died Sept. 30, 1955, near Paso Robles, California) strikingly handsome American motion picture actor enshrined as a symbol of the confused, restless, and idealistic youth of the 1950s. Dean's family moved from Indiana to California when he was five. Following the death of his mother four years later, Dean returned to Indiana where he was reared on a farm by an aunt and uncle. He moved back to California after high school to study theatre for two years at the University of California at Los Angeles. His first professional acting assignment was for a soft drink commercial, which led t (born Feb. 8, 1931, Marion, Indiana, U.S.—died Sept. 30, 1955, near Paso Robles, California) strikingly handsome American motion picture actor enshrined as a symbol of the confused, restless, and idealistic youth of the 1950s.

Dean's family moved from Indiana to California when he was five. Following the death of his mother four years later, Dean returned to Indiana where he was reared on a farm by an aunt and uncle. He moved back to California after high school to study theatre for two years at the University of California at Los Angeles. His first professional acting assignment was for a soft drink commercial, which led to a speaking role as John the Baptist in the television Easter special Hill Number One (1951). He played bit parts in three Hollywood films— Sailor Beware (1951), Fixed Bayonets (1951), and Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952)—before moving to New York City on the advice of actor James Whitmore, with whom he had briefly studied. After a series of short-term jobs, including a brief period as a “stunt tester” for the CBS game show Beat the Clock, he was cast in a key role in the Broadway flop See the Jaguar (1953). More successful was his sly, insinuating performance as a blackmailing homosexual houseboy in another Broadway production, The Immoralist (1954), a stage adaptation of André Gide's book.

The Immoralist brought Dean to the attention of film director Elia Kazan, who cast the 23-year-old actor in the leading role of troubled teenager Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955), the screen adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel. On the set, Dean perpetuated his reputation for constantly changing his character interpretation and line readings and for deliberately baiting and challenging his fellow actors. When East of Eden premiered, however, Dean was seen as a movie star of the first magnitude and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Dean's second starring film appearance, as sensitive high-school misfit Jim Stark in director Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause (1955), made him into the embodiment of his generation. His character defiantly rejects the values of his elders while desperately aching to “belong” and attempting to find a purpose in life. Dean's performance spoke eloquently on behalf of disenchanted, disenfranchised teenagers and gave them a hero they could respect and admire.

Shortly after completing work on his third starring feature, producer-director George Stevens's Giant (1956), the restless Dean drove off in his silver Porsche to compete in a sports car rally in Salinas, California. Speeding down the highway, he crashed headlong into a Ford sedan and was killed instantly. Almost immediately, an intensely loyal cult was established and within days of his death he became a film icon. The James Dean mystique continued to flourish into the 21st century. ... (more)