Fashion Influential #67: James Dean
Actor James Dean of Rebel Without A Cause became an American icon after only a few movie roles. Image via Photobucket.
JAMES DEAN
Born: February 8, 1931 in Marion, Indiana
Died: September 30, 1955 in Cholame, California
Films:
East of Eden, Rebel Without A Cause, Giant
Famous admirers:
James Franco, Hayden Christensen, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Russell Crowe, Colin Farrell Beginnings.
Born: February 8, 1931 in Marion, Indiana
Died: September 30, 1955 in Cholame, California
Films:
East of Eden, Rebel Without A Cause, Giant
Famous admirers:
James Franco, Hayden Christensen, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Russell Crowe, Colin Farrell Beginnings.
Career Highs.
After East of Eden, Dean quickly landed his next starring (and soon-to-be iconic) role in Rebel Without A Cause. He played Jim Stark, a 17-year-old student with a difficult home life who gets into trouble with the police. Dean was praised for the role, which was seen as a personification of teenage angst. His ambiguous sexuality (he experimented with both men and women) fed into this image of Dean as a misunderstood rebel who would not be defined, and who was a magnet for both sexes. Also, it didn't hurt that he was mysteriously sexy and irreverent in his unkempt ensemble of dirty leather jackets and worn jeans. He won two Golden Globe awards and was nominated posthumously for two Academy Awards, for East of Eden and Giant.
He was a heap of twisted legs and denim rags, looking resentful for no particular reason. I didn't like the expression on his face, so I kept him waiting. It seemed that I'd outtoughed him, because when I called him in he'd dropped the belligerent pose. We tried to talk, but conversation was not his gift, so we sat looking at each other. When I got back to the office I called Paul and told him this kid actually was Cal Trask.
- Elia Kazan, director of East of Eden
James Dean in his signature leather jacket.Career Lows.
James Dean died prematurely in a car accident when he was only 24 years old. Although he gained enough popularity from his three starring roles to immortalize him, audiences felt like they had only seen the tip of the iceberg of what Dean had to offer in his acting. On the set, his costars and directors described him as arrogant and uncooperative, unshaven and messy, but once the cameras were rolling, he was completely magnetic.
Legacy.
Besides promoting his general moodiness and misunderstood angst, James Dean showed the youth of America how to dress the part of the rebel. Since Dean, this unkempt but mischievously sexiness has been recreated in countless Hollywood movies, and personified again by legendary actors like Marlon Brando and Paul Newman. What James Dean did was invent an image, an American icon, that represented the previously ignored youth and would be recycled in fictional accounts over the next several decades. These stars are the fragile bad boys, the ones you know you shouldn't be with but you can't get enough of.
Dean wearing a vest in Giant.Get the Look.
James Dean was effortlessly cool in his rustic leather jacket, old (but perfectly fitting) white T-shirt, and boots. He popularized the vest by wearing it before it was cool, and a cowboy hat preserved that down-home Indiana country boy part of him that resisted big city glamour.
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