A day with James Dean in 1955

 


By 1955 the most exciting actor to hit Hollywood since Marlon Brando was the moody, 24-year-old recluse above, James Dean of Fairmount, Ind. His performance in Elia Kazan's East of Eden, reminiscent of Brando but distinctively his own, won him a starring role in another big picture, Giant. His militantly independent offstage behavior and his scorn for movie convention had studio executives at Wraner Bros. apprehensive. In Eden his skillful portrayal of the elder son of a California rancher stems partly from elements in his own farmbred early life.

Though shy of publicity which he felt might show him in a false light, Dean permitted a friend, Dennis Stock, to go back home with him to make photographs for LIFE Magazine (U.S. edition).




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images and info provided by the LIFE Magazine / LIFE Magazine International / LIFE Magazine Atlantic ARCHIVE from the Zetu Harrys Collection