James Dean
James
Dean was born February 8 1931 to Winton and Mildred
Dean in
the small Midwestern town of Marion Indiana. Winton, his father and
dental technician, moved the family to Los Angeles when Jimmy was only
five after round tripping, to Indiana and back, and living with his
extended family he would attend Santa Monica Junior College and UCLA
with aspiration to becoming an actor.
James Dean began acting with occasional television commercials,
and played several roles in films and on stage. In just more than
a year,
and in only three films, Dean became a widely admired screen personality,
a classic characterization of the American youth of the mid-50's,
and a quintessence of the title of one of his film "Rebel Without
A Cause." James Dean had one of the most spectacularly brief
careers of any screen star.
In the winter
of 1951, he moved to New York to pursue a serious acting career.
He appeared
in seven television shows, before earning
a small part in the play entitled See the Jaguar. James continued
at the Actors Studio, played short stints in television dramas, and
returned to Broadway in "The Immoralist" (1954).
After winning the role of Jim Stark in "Rebel Without A Cause," he
moved to Hollywood began shooting "Rebel Without A Cause" that
same month just as his previous movie “East of Eden” opened
nationwide in April. James Dean was nominated for two Academy Awards,
for his performances in "East of Eden" and "Giant." Joe
Hyams, in the James Dean biography "Little Boy Lost," is
directly correlated with his career: En route to compete in an auto
race in Salinas, James Dean was tragically killed in a highway accident
on September 30, 1955.
It is said, "..There is no simple explanation for why he has
come to mean so much to so many people today. Perhaps it is because,
in his acting, he had the intuitive talent for expressing the hopes
and fears that are a part of all young people... In some movie magic
way, he managed to dramatize brilliantly the questions every young
person in every generation must resolve." The brilliance of
James Dean will never be forgotten.
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