James Dean

James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor with a career that lasted five years until his death.

His roles typified teenage disillusionment and social estrangement of his time.

Dean was born on February 8, 1931, in Marion, Indiana, the only child of Mildred Marie Wilson and Winton Dean.

He claimed that his mother was partly Native American, and that his father belonged to a "line of original settlers that could be traced back to the Mayflower".

Six years after his father had left farming to become a dental technician, Dean moved with his family to Santa Monica, California.

He was enrolled at Brentwood Public School in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, but transferred soon afterward to the McKinley Elementary School.

The family spent several years there, and by all accounts, Dean was very close to his mother.

According to Michael DeAngelis, she was "the only person capable of understanding him".

In 1938, Dean's mother was suddenly struck with acute stomach pain and quickly began to lose weight.

She died of uterine cancer when Dean was nine years old.

Unable to care for his son, Dean's father sent him to live with his aunt and uncle, Ortense and Marcus Winslow, on their farm in Fairmount, Indiana, where he was raised in their Quaker household.

Dean's father served in World War II and later remarried.

In his adolescence, Dean sought the counsel and friendship of a local Methodist pastor, the Rev. James DeWeerd, who seems to have had a formative influence upon Dean, especially upon his future interests in bullfighting, car racing, and theater.

According to Billy J. Harbin, Dean had "an intimate relationship with his pastor, which began in his senior year of high school and endured for many years".

After graduating from Fairmount High School in May 1949, he moved back to California with his dog, Max, to live with his father and stepmother.

Dean enrolled in Santa Monica College and majored in pre-law.

He transferred to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for one semester and changed his major to drama, which resulted in estrangement from his father.

He pledged the Sigma Nu fraternity but was never initiated.

While at UCLA, Dean was picked from a group of 350 actors to portray Malcolm in Macbeth.

At that time, he also began acting in James Whitmore's workshop.

Dean's film roles, fashion, and manners became celebrated in popular culture and influenced the development of rock and roll in the 1950s and 1960s.

He had uncredited gigs from 1951 to 1953 before starring as a rebellious son attempting to win his father's approval in East of Eden (1955).

In January 1951, he dropped out of UCLA to pursue a full-time career as an actor.

Dean's debut television appearance was in a Pepsi commercial.

He quit college to act full-time and was cast in his first speaking part, as John the Apostle in Hill Number One, an Easter television special dramatizing the Resurrection of Jesus.

Dean worked at the widely filmed Iverson Movie Ranch in the Chatsworth area of Los Angeles during production of the program, for which a replica of the tomb of Jesus was built on location at the ranch.

Dean subsequently obtained three walk-on roles in movies: as a soldier in Fixed Bayonets! (1951), a boxing cornerman in Sailor Beware (1952), and a youth in Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952).

While struggling to gain roles in Hollywood, Dean also worked as a parking lot attendant at CBS Studios, during which time he met Rogers Brackett, a radio director for an advertising agency, who offered him professional help and guidance in his chosen career, as well as a place to stay.

Brackett opened doors for Dean and helped him land his first starring role on Broadway in See the Jaguar.

In July 1951, Dean appeared on Alias Jane Doe, which was produced by Brackett.

In Rebel Without a Cause (1955), he portrayed a teenager frustrated with his family and social life.

Dean died in a car crash in 1955.

He became the only actor to receive two posthumous Academy Award acting nominations, being nominated in the Best Actor category for East of Eden and Giant.

His last lead role was a Texan rancher who discovered oil and became rich, in Giant (1956).

An alleged sexual relationship was suggested in Paul Alexander's 1994 book Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Life, Times, and Legend of James Dean.

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him the 18th best male movie star of Golden Age Hollywood in the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list.

In 2011, it was reported that Dean once confided in Elizabeth Taylor that he was sexually abused by a minister approximately two years after his mother's death.

Other reports on Dean's life also suggest that he was sexually abused by DeWeerd either as a child or as a late teenager.

Dean's overall performance in school was exceptional and he was a popular student.

He played on the baseball and varsity basketball teams, studied drama, and competed in public speaking through the Indiana High School Forensic Association.