James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) was an American
film actor. Dean's status as a cultural icon is best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause, in which he starred as troubled high school rebel Jim Stark. The other
two roles that defined his star power were as the awkward loner Cal Trask in East of
Eden, and as the surly, racist farmer Jett Rink in Giant. His enduring
fame and popularity rests on only three films, his entire starring output. As with Buddy
Holly, Bruce Lee, and Marilyn Monroe his death
at a young age helped guarantee a legendary status. He was the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and remains the only person to have two such nominations posthumously.
Early life
James Dean was born to Winton and Mildred Wilson Dean at the "Seven Gables" apartment house, at the intersection of 4th and
McClure Streets in Marion, Indiana. Six years after his father had left farming to
become a dental technician, James and his family moved to Santa Monica,
California. The family spent some years there, and by all accounts young Jimmy was very close to his mother. According to
Michael DeAngelis, she was "the only person capable of understanding him."[1] He was enrolled in Brentwood Public
School until his mother died of cancer in 1940. Dean's "moodiness
and antisocial behavior are consistently attributed to her loss," and even in later years he still attempted to regain his
mother's "sense of understanding in all of his relationships with women during his acting career."[2]
Unable to care for his nine year old son, Winton Dean sent young Dean to live with Winton's sister Ortense and her husband
Marcus Winslow on a farm in Fairmount, Indiana, where he entered high school and was brought up with a Quaker
background. Here Dean sought the counsel of, and formed an enduring friendship with a Methodist pastor, Rev. James DeWeerd. DeWeerd seemed to have had a formative influence upon the
teenager, especially upon his future interests in bull fighting, motor racing and the 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.'
"[3]
In high school, Dean's overall performance was mediocre, but he successfully played on the baseball and basketball team and studied forensics and drama. After graduating from Fairmount High School on May
16, 1949, Dean moved back to California with his beagle, Maxx, to live with his father and
stepmother.
He enrolled in Santa Monica College (SMCC), pledged to the Sigma Nu fraternity and majored in pre-law. Dean transferred to UCLA and changed his
major to drama, which resulted in estrangement from his father. While at UCLA, he beat out 350 actors to land the role of Malcolm
in Macbeth. At that time, he also began acting with James Whitmore's acting workshop. In January 1951, he dropped out of
college to pursue a career as an actor.
Acting career
Dean initially had little success in Hollywood. He began his professional acting career with a Pepsi
Cola television commercial[4]. He quit college to focus on his budding career, and was cast as John the Beloved Disciple in "Hill
Number One", an Easter television special, and three walk- on roles in movies, Fixed Bayonets, Sailor Beware, and
Has Anybody Seen My Gal. The only movie in which he was given a line to speak was Sailor Beware, a Paramount comedy starring
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis; Dean played a
boxing trainer. While struggling to get jobs in Hollywood, Dean helped to pay his bills by also working as a parking lot attendant at
CBS Studios, during which time he met Rogers Brackett, a radio director for an advertising agency,
who offered Dean professional help and guidance in his chosen career, as well as a place to stay.[5][6]
In October of 1951, following actor James Whitmore's and his mentor Rogers Brackett's advice, Dean moved to New York City to better pursue his career by acting in theater and television. In New York he worked as a
stunt tester for the Beat the Clock game show.
He also appeared in episodes of several CBS television series, The Web,
Studio One, and Lux Video
Theater, before gaining admission to the legendary Actor's Studio to study
Method acting under Lee Strasberg. Proud of this accomplishment, Dean referred to the
Studio in a 1952 letter to his family as "The greatest school of the theater. It houses great people like Marlon Brando,
Julie Harris, Arthur Kennedy,
Mildred Dunnock. ... Very few get into it ... It is the best thing that can happen to an
actor. I am one of the youngest to belong."[7] His career
picked up and he performed in further episodes of such early 1950s television shows as
Kraft Television Theater, Robert Montgomery Presents, Danger and
General Electric Theater. One early role, for the CBS series,
Omnibus, (Glory in the Flower) saw Dean portraying the same type of
disaffected youth he would later immortalize in Rebel Without a Cause (this
summer, 1953 program was also notable for featuring the song "Crazy Man, Crazy", one of
the first dramatic TV programs to feature rock and roll music). Positive reviews for his
1954 theatrical role as "Bachir", a pandering North African houseboy, in an adaptation of André
Gide's book The Immoralist, led to calls from Hollywood and paved the way
to film success[8].
East of Eden
-
In 1953, director Elia Kazan was looking for an actor to play the role of "Cal Trask" in
screenwriter Paul Osborn's adaptation of John Steinbeck's 1952 novel East of Eden. The book dealt with the story of the Trask and Hamilton families over the course
of three generations, focusing especially on the lives of the latter two generations in Salinas
Valley, California in the mid-1800s through the 1910s. However, the film chose to deal predominantly with the character of
Cal Trask, who is essentially the rebel son of a pious, and constantly disapproving, father (played by Raymond Massey), and estranged mother, whom Cal discovers is a successful, brothel-keeping madam
(Jo Van Fleet). Elia Kazan said of Cal before casting "I wanted a Brando for the role."
Osborn suggested to Kazan that he consider Dean for the part. After introducing Dean to Steinbeck, and gaining his enthusiastic
approval, Kazan set about putting the wheels in motion to cast the relatively unknown young actor in the role. On
March 8, 1954, Dean left New York City and headed for
Los Angeles to begin shooting. Dean's performance in the film foreshadowed his
role as Jim Stark in Rebel Without A Cause. Both characters are rebel loners and misunderstood outcasts, desperately
craving parental guidance from a father figure.
Much of Dean's performance in the film is completely unscripted, such as his dance in the bean field and his curling up and
pulling his arms inside of his shirt on top of the train during his ride home from meeting his mother. The most famous
improvisation during the film was when Cal's father rejects his gift of $5,000 (which was in reparation for his father's business
loss). Instead of running away from his father as the script called for, Dean instinctively ran to Massey and desperately
embraced him. This cut and Massey's surprised reaction were kept in the film by Kazan.
He received a posthumous Best Actor in a Leading Role Academy Award nomination for this role, the first posthumous acting
nomination in Academy Awards history.
Rebel Without a Cause
-
Dean quickly followed up his role in Eden with a starring role in Rebel Without a Cause, a film that would prove
to be hugely popular among teenagers. The film is widely cited as an accurate representation of teenage
angst. It co-starred Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo,
and was directed by Nicholas Ray.
Giant
-
Giant, which was posthumously released in 1956, saw Dean play a supporting role
to Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson. This was due
to his desire to avoid being typecast as Jim Stark and Cal Trask. In the film, he
plays Jett, a surly, racist Texan with a strong prejudice against Mexicans. His role was notable in that, in order to portray an
older version of his character in one scene, Dean dyed his hair gray and shaved some of it off to give himself a receding
hairline.
Giant would be Dean’s last film. At the end of the film, Dean is supposed to make a drunken speech at a banquet; this
is nicknamed the "Last Supper" because it was the last scene before his sudden and horrible death. Dean mumbled so much that the
scene had to later be re-recorded by his co-stars because Dean had died before the film was edited.
Coincidentally, the #1 pop song in the US at the time of Dean's death, "The Yellow Rose Of Texas" by Mitch Miller, was also
featured in "Giant" in a scene following the actor's last appearance in the film described above.
Dean received his second Academy Award nomination after Giant.
Racing career and "Little Bastard"
When Dean got the part in East of Eden, he bought himself a red race-prepared MG TD and
shortly afterwards, a white Ford Country Squire Woodie station wagon. Dean upgraded his MG to a Porsche 356 Speedster (Chassis number: 82621), which he raced. Dean came in second in the Palm Springs Road Races in March 1955 after a driver was disqualified; he came in third in May
1955 at Bakersfield and was running fourth at the Santa Monica Road Races later that month, until he retired with an engine failure.
During filming of Rebel Without a Cause, Dean traded the 356 Speedster in for one of only 90 Porsche 550 Spyders. He was contractually barred from racing during the filming of Giant, but with
that out of the way, he was free to compete again. The Porsche was in fact a stopgap for Dean, as delivery of a superior Lotus
Mk. X was delayed and he needed a car to compete at the races in Salinas,
California.
Dean's 550 was customized by the young George Barris, (who would go
on to the design of the Batmobile). Dean's Porsche was numbered 130 at the front, side and
back. The car had a tartan on the seating and two red stripes at the rear of its wheelwell. The
car was given the nickname "Little Bastard" by Bill Hickman, his language coach on
Giant. When Dean introduced himself to Alec Guinness outside a restaurant, he asked
him to take a look at the Spyder. Guinness thought the car appeared "sinister" and told Dean: "If you get in that car you will be
found dead in it by this time next week." This encounter took place on September 23, 1955.[9]
Death
On September 30, 1955, Dean and his mechanic Rolf
Wütherich set off from Competition Motors, where they had prepared his Porsche 550 Spyder
that morning for a sports car race at Salinas, California. Dean originally intended to trailer the Porsche to the meeting point
at Salinas, behind his new Ford Country Squire station wagon, crewed by Hickman and photographer Stanford Roth, who was planning
a photo story of Dean at the races. At the last minute, Dean drove the Spyder, having decided he needed more time to familiarize
himself with the car. At 3:30PM, Dean was ticketed in Kern County for doing 65
in a 55 mph zone. The driver of the Ford was ticketed for doing 20 mph over the limit, as the speed limit for all vehicles towing
a trailer was 45 mph. Later, having left the Ford far behind, they stopped at Blackwell's Corner for fuel and met up with fellow
racer Lance Reventlow.
Dean was driving west on U.S. Highway 466 (later California State Route 46) near Cholame, California when a
1950 Ford Tudor, driven from the opposite direction by 23-year-old Cal Poly student Donald Turnupseed,
attempted to take the fork onto California State Route 41 and crossed into
Dean's lane without seeing him. The two cars hit almost head on. According to a story in the October
1, 2005 edition of the Los Angeles Times,[10] California Highway
Patrol officer Ron Nelson and his partner had been finishing a coffee break in Paso Robles when they were called to the scene of the accident, where they saw a
heavily-breathing Dean being placed into an ambulance. Wütherich had been thrown from the car, but survived with a broken jaw and
other injuries. Dean was taken to Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 5:59PM. His last
known words, uttered right before impact, were said to have been "That guy's gotta stop... He'll see us."[11]
Junction of highways 46 and 41
Contrary to reports of Dean's speeding, which persisted decades after his death, Nelson said "the wreckage and the position of
Dean's body indicated his speed was more like 55 mph (88 km/h)." Turnupseed received a gashed forehead and bruised nose and was
not cited by police for the accident. He died of lung cancer in 1995. Rolf Wütherich would die in a road accident in Germany in 1981.
While completing Giant, and to promote Rebel Without a Cause, Dean had recently filmed a short interview with
actor Gig Young for an episode of "Warner Bros.
Presents"[12] wherein he ad-libbed the popular
phrase "The life you save may be your own" instead into "The life you save may be mine."[13] Dean's sudden death prompted the studio to re-film the section, and the piece
was never aired - though in the past several sources have referred to the footage, mistakenly identifying it as a
public service announcement. (The segment can, however, be viewed on both
the 2001 VHS and 2005 DVD editions of Rebel Without a Cause). BMW once made a commercial with the
footage of the infamous clip and reconstruction of the crash, which cuts into a scene indicating that Dean would be alive if he
had driven one of their models, the commercial was never shown due to poor taste but is aired in programs such as
Tarrant on TV.
Memorial
James Dean Memorial in Cholame. Dean died about 900 yards east of this tree.
James Dean is buried in Park Cemetery in Fairmount, Indiana. In 1977, a Dean memorial was built
in Cholame, California. The stylized sculpture is composed of concrete and stainless steel around a tree of heaven growing in front of
the Cholame post office. The sculpture was made in Japan and transported to Cholame, accompanied
by the project's benefactor, Seita Ohnishi. Ohnishi chose the site after examining the location of the accident, now little more
than a few road signs and flashing yellow signals. In September, 2005, the intersection of Highways
41 and 46 in Cholame (San Luis Obispo county) was dedicated as the James Dean Memorial Highway as part of the commemoration of
the 50th anniversary of his death. (Maps of the intersection 35°44′5″N, 120°17′4″W)
The dates and hours of Dean's birth and death are etched into the sculpture, along with a handwritten description by Dean's
close friend, William Bast, of one of Dean's favorite lines from Antoine de
Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince - "What is essential is invisible to
the eye."
Dean's iconic appeal
Dean's appeal lay in that he portrayed the teens of America at the time. They identified with Dean and the roles he played,
especially in 'Rebel Without A Cause': the typical teenager, caught where no one, mostly not even his (or her) peers can
understand them. Joe Hyams says that Dean was "one of the rare stars, like Rock Hudson and
Montgomery Clift, who both men and women find sexy." However, according to Marjorie
Garber, this quality is not rare, "it is the undefinable extra something that makes a star."[14] Dean's iconic appeal has been attributed to the public's need for someone to
stand up for the disenfranchised young of the era[15],
and to the air of androgyny[16] that he projected
onscreen. Dean's "loving tenderness towards the besotted Sal Mineo in Rebel Without a Cause continues to touch and excite gay audiences by its honesty. The
Gay Times Readers' Awards cited him as the male gay icon of all time."[17]
Dean's personal relationships and sexual orientation
Today, Dean is often considered an icon because of his "experimental" take on life, which included his ambivalent
sexuality.[18]
There have been several accounts of Dean's sexual relationships with both men and women, although Dean's "true" sexual
orientation remains unknown. William Bast was one of Dean's closest friends, a fact
acknowledged by Dean's family.[19] Dean's first
biographer (1956),[20] Bast was his roommate at
UCLA and later in New York, and knew Dean throughout the last five
years of his life. Bast has recently published a revealing update of his first book, in which, after years of successfully
dodging the question as to whether he and Dean were sexually involved,[21][22] he has finally admitted
that they were.[23] In this second book Bast describes
the difficult circumstances of their involvement and also deals frankly with some of Dean's other homosexual relationships, notably the actor's friendship with Rogers Brackett, the influential producer of
radio dramas who encouraged Dean in his career and provided him with useful professional contacts.[24]
Journalist Joe Hyams suggests that any homosexual acts Dean might have involved himself in appear to have been strictly "for
trade," as a means of advancing his career. Val Holley notes that, according to Hollywood biographer Lawrence J. Quirk, gay Hollywood columnist Mike Connolly "would
put the make on the most prominent young actors, including Robert Francis,
Guy Madison, Anthony Perkins, Nick Adams and James Dean."[25]
However, the "trade only" notion is debated by Bast[26]
and other Dean biographers.[27] Indeed, aside from Bast's
account of his own relationship with Dean, Dean's fellow biker and "Night Watch" member John
Gilmore claims he and Dean "experimented" with homosexual acts on one occasion in New York, and it is difficult to see how
Dean, then already in his twenties, would have viewed this as a "trade" means of advancing his career.[28]
In his Natalie Wood biography, Gavin Lambert,
himself homosexual and part of the Hollywood gay circles of the 50s and 60s, describes Dean as
being bisexual. Rebel director Nicholas Ray has also gone on record to say that Dean
was bisexual.[29]
Consequently, Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon's book Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History: From World War II
to the Present Day (2001) includes an entry on James Dean.
As for Dean's relationships with women, after Dean signed his contract with Warner
Brothers the studio's public relations department began generating stories about
Dean's liaisons with a variety of young actresses who were mostly drawn from the clientele of Dean's Hollywood agent, Dick
Clayton. Studio press releases also grouped "Dean together with two other actors, Rock
Hudson and Tab Hunter, identifying each of the men as an 'eligible bachelor' who has
not yet found the time to commit to a single woman: 'They say their film rehearsals are in conflict with their marriage
rehearsals.'"[30] Dean is best remembered for his
relationship with a young Italian actress Pier Angeli, whom he met while Angeli was shooting
The Silver Chalice on an adjoining Warner lot, and with whom he exchanged
items of jewelry as love tokens.[31] Angeli's mother was
reported to have disapproved of the relationship because Dean was not a Catholic. In his
autobiography, East of Eden director Elia Kazan, while dismissing the notion that Dean
could possibly have had any success with women, paradoxically alluded to Dean and Angeli's "romance," claiming that he had heard
them loudly making love in Dean's dressing room. For a very short time the story of a Dean-Angeli love affair was even promoted
by Dean himself, who fed it to various gossip columnists and to his co-star, Julie Harris,
who in interviews has reported that Dean told her about being madly in love with Angeli. However, in early October 1954, Angeli
unexpectedly announced her engagement to Italian singer Vic Damone, to Dean's expressed irritation.[32] Angeli married Damone the following month, and gossip columnists reported that
Dean, or someone dressed like him, watched the wedding from across the road on a motorcycle. However, Dean denied that he,
personally, would have done anything so "dumb", when his friend William Bast questioned him about the reports later.[33]
Actress Liz Sheridan claims that she and Dean had a short affair in New York. In her
memoir detailing this, she also states that Dean was having a sexual involvement with Rogers Brackett, and describes her negative
response to this situation.[34]
Gavin Lambert wrote in his Natalie Wood biography
that, contrary to popular notions, Wood's casting in Rebel Without a Cause did not lead to a romance with Dean: "Like many
people, she was fascinated by his charm. He had this magnetic quality on the screen and in life... They got on very well, they
liked each other a lot," but there was no affair and no sexual relationship.[35]
Dean avoided the draft by registering as a homosexual, then classified by the US government as a mental disorder. When
questioned about his orientation, he is reported to have said, "Well, I'm certainly not going through life with one hand tied
behind my back."[36]
Dean in popular culture
James Dean was the first — and is one of five — to have been posthumously nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award and the
only one so nominated twice. His estate still earns about $5,000,000 per year, according to Forbes
Magazine.[37]
Along with Blackboard Jungle, Dean's Rebel Without a Cause is frequently cited as having symbolized the growing post-war rebellion
of 1950s teenagers as well as playing a part in the emergence of rock and roll as a
lasting cultural phenomenon.
His charismatic screen presence and very brief career combined with the publicity surrounding his death at a young age
transformed Dean into a cult figure. His name is mentioned in countless songs, movies,
and is a pop icon of apparently timeless fascination. Some examples of this:
- Jonhnny 'Guitar' Watson mentions James Dean in the beginning of his song "Gangster of
Love."
- The Killers mentions James Dean in their song "Under the Gun": "Stupid on the
streets of London (which refers to The Beatles),
James Dean in the rain."
- Phil Ochs wrote a biographical song about James Dean called "Jim Dean of Indiana" and
released it on what would be his final album.
- James Dean was noted by writer/director George Lucas and actor Hayden Christensen as a direct inspiration for the latter's portrayal of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode
II: Attack of the Clones. [38]
- Hilary Duff released a song on her 2004 self-titled album called "Mr. James Dean", in
which she refers to the actor and also mentions his greatest movie Rebel Without A
Cause: "You still will never be/ A rebel without a cause / A rebel to the first degree / Why don't you stop trying so
hard? / 'Cause there's no men, man enough to be / Another James Dean" and also "Even when the world stops turning / There will
never be another James Dean".
- Dean is mentioned in Billy Joel's song "We
Didn't Start the Fire."
- Dean is referred to as "just a careless driver" in British indie band Half Man Half
Biscuit's song "99% Of Gargoyles Look Like Bob Todd."
- Don McLean mentions Dean in "American Pie"; the
line goes "When the jester sang for the king and queen, in a coat he borrowed from James Dean..." an allusion to the young
Bob Dylan's fascination with the 50's idol.
- Dean is mentioned in the song "Movie Star" recorded by Harpo.
- Dean is mentioned in Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild
Side."
- Dean is mentioned in American rock group Bon Jovi's song "These Days": "I guess she's
tryin' to be James Dean."
- James Dean is a title song on Bonnie Tyler's album Silhouette In Red.
- Rapper Jay-Z's song "Allure" from The Black
Album mentions "Even James Dean couldn't escape the allure/ Dying young, leaving a good looking corpse."
- Dean is mentioned in the monologue at the beginning of Placebo's song
"This Picture" and in their song "2468:" "He kicked me out of the house and he
burnt all my pictures of sweet Jimmy Dean."
- Dean is the subject of the John Prine song "Picture Show".
- The Eagles recorded a song called "James Dean" on
their album On The Border. The lyrics note that Dean was "too fast to live, too
young to die."
- Hard Emo band Senses Fail mentions James Dean in their
song "Choke On This". "You can be my James Dean, I'll be your sweet queen."
- Alternative rock moralists Anberlin reference Dean in their song "Dance, Dance
Christa Päffgen," from their second album Never
Take Friendship Personal: "So mysterious, shadows meet James Dean; She's intoxicating... soon your favorite
drink."
- Dean is mentioned by British indie band Space in their song "A Little Biddy Help from Elvis:" "Buddy Holly and Jimmy Dean could come to our wedding in the sky."
- Deana Carter mentions Dean in her song "One Day At A Time:" "And Thelma and Louise, you
got nothing on me, and you can tell ol' James Dean to get in line."
- Dean is mentioned in David Essex's hit single "Rock On", in the line "See her shake on
the movie screen, Jimmy Dean... James Dean."
- Dean is one of the stars referenced in Madonna's song "Vogue."
- The Goo Goo Dolls has a song entitled "James Dean", from the album "Jed", wherein
the subject dreams of being just like Dean, until 'And then you go and you tell me/that you found out Dean was gay...'
- In Brian K. Vaughan's comic series Runaways, the titular characters meet up twice at the James Dean memorial at Griffith
Observatory. The comic contains several other references to Dean and Rebel Without A Cause.
- The Frank and Walters' song "This is not a song" contains the line "This song
is not about old James Dean 'cause he's mentioned in too many songs already."
- Dean has also been referenced in several country music songs, including
Shenandoah's "I Wanna Be Loved Like That" with the opening lyric "Natalie
Wood gave her heart to James Dean," and Sawyer Brown's "Some Girls Do" with the lyric "You
was laughing at me, I was doing James Dean."
- Elvis Presley was a noted admirer of James Dean. According to David Burner, "Both Dean
and Elvis Presley conveyed a smoldering sexuality at the same time both threatening and androgynous."[39]
- Rock band REM mentions Dean in their song "Electrolite": "Hollywood is under me/I'm Martin
Sheen/I'm Steve McQueen/I'm Jimmy Dean."
- Creator Matt Groening revealed in the Futurama Vol. 1 DVD Commentary that the character Fry was
specifically drawn dressed like Dean, in the iconic red jacket, white t-shirt and blue jeans.
- Morrissey is an admirer of James Dean, in the Music Video for Suedehead, he is seen sadly
looking at James Dean's grave.
- Lesław, vocalist and guitarist of Polish rockabilly band Komety is a James Dean fan. His first band had a song called
"Chcialbym Umrzec Jak James Dean" ("I Want to Die Like James Dean").
- James Dean Bradfield, lead singer and guitarist of Welsh band Manic Street Preachers, is named after Dean. His father was a fan of the actor.
- Joan Jett and the Blackhearts released a song called "Ridin' with James Dean" on their
1988 album, Up Your Alley.
- James Dean Strother, Bassist for Seattle based band "bicycle" Capricorn Records was conceived
in the back seat of a 49' Mercury and named after his parents' teen idol. [citation needed]
- Daniel Bedingfield, British pop artist, has a song called "James Dean (I Wanna Know)" on his album "Gotta Get Thru
This".
- James Dean is referenced by the English band Bloc Party in their songs, "Helicopter" and "Rhododendron," (which was a bonus track off the album A Weekend In The City. "Helicopter" says "Stop being so American/So James Dean/So blue jeans,"
while in "Rhododendron," he's noted as a movie star along with John Wayne and Brando.
- Digging James Dean, a mystery novel by Robert Eversz, is about the desecration of his grave.
- The subject, "Where were you when James Dean died?" is the topic of an interesting round-table male discussion at the end of
Chapter 14 of the novel White Noise, written by Don
DeLillo (1985).
- Duo Evan and Jaron have a song on their album "We've Never Heard of You Either" called "Could've Been James Dean."
- On the Nickelback album "All the Right Reasons," the song titled "Rockstar" references
James Dean. The line is "I want a new tour bus full of old guitars/My own star on Hollywood Boulevard/Somewhere between Cher
and/James Dean is fine for me".
- The song 'Ting-a-Ling' (2008) by Dutch band a balladeer is an ode to James Dean.
- The Bay's radio commercial makes a reference to James Dean.
- Spyder 75 a young band from Atlanta got their name from an old picture of James Dean sitting
in a Porshe Spyder numbered senenty-five.
- The song "Feed Me" from the musical Little Shop of Horrors references
James Dean when the main character Seymour sings "Gee, I'd like a Harley machine/Toolin' around like I was James Dean."
The "curse" of "Little Bastard"
Since Dean's death, his Porsche 550 Spyder became infamous for being the vehicle that killed not only him, but for injuring
and killing several others in the years following his death. In view of this, many have come to believe that the actor's vehicle
and all of its parts were cursed. Legendary Hot Rodder George Barris bought the wreck for $2,500, only to have it slip off its trailer and
break a mechanic's leg. Soon afterwards, Barris sold the engine and drive-train, respectively, to physicians Troy McHenry and William Eschrid.
While racing against each other, the former would be killed instantly when his vehicle spun out of control and crashed into a
tree, while the latter would be seriously injured when his vehicle rolled over while going into a curve. Barris later sold two
tires, which malfunctioned as well. The tires, which were unharmed in Dean's
accident, blew up simultaneously causing the buyer's automobile to go off the road. Subsequently, two young would-be
thieves were injured while attempting to steal parts from the car. When one tried to steal the
steering wheel from the Porsche, his arm was ripped open on a piece of jagged metal. Later, another man was injured while trying
to steal the bloodstained front seat. This would be the final straw for Barris, who decided to store "Little Bastard" away, but
was quickly persuaded by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to loan the
wrecked car to a highway safety exhibit.
The first exhibit from the CHP featuring the car ended unsuccessfully, as the garage storing the Spyder went up in flames,
destroying everything except the car itself, which suffered almost no damage whatsoever from the fire. The second display, at a
Sacramento High School, ended when the car
fell, breaking a student's hip. "Little Bastard" caused problems while being transported several times. On the way to
Salinas, the truck containing the vehicle lost control, causing the driver to fall
out, only to be crushed by the Porsche after it fell off the back. On two separate occasions, once on a freeway and again in Oregon, the car came off other trucks, although
no injuries were reported, another vehicle's windshield was shattered in Oregon. Its last use
in a CHP exhibit was in 1959. In 1960, when being returned to George Barris in Los
Angeles, California, the car mysteriously vanished. It has not been seen since.[40][41]
Filmography
