Crossword Dictionary

james dean

James Byron Dean (1931-1955) was an American film actor who was enshrined as a symbol of the confused, restless, and idealistic youth of the 1950s.

Dean's first professional acting assignment was for a soft drink commercial. His performance as a blackmailing homosexual houseboy in The Immoralist (1954) brought him to the attention of film director Elia Kazan, who cast him in the leading role of troubled teenager Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955) where he perpetuated his reputation for constantly changing his character interpretation and line readings and for deliberately baiting and challenging his fellow actors, including Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, and Burl Ives.

His second starring film appearance, as sensitive high-school misfit Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), made him into the embodiment of his generation. Dean’s performance spoke eloquently on behalf of disenchanted, disenfranchised teenagers and gave them a hero they could respect and admire.

Shortly after completing the film 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. Both Rebel Without a Cause and Giant were released posthumously, and he received an Oscar nomination for the latter film.