James Dean

(Paperback)

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James Dean died in 1955 at the age of 24. Six decades later, he is still revered as a distant myth, puzzled overby a generation that hardly knows him. His film career lasted only sixteen months, but it produced three cinematicgreats: East Of Eden, Rebel Without A Cause and Giant. The titles alone evoke epic visions, and allthree films live up to their promise, constituting a three-part heroic poem on atomic age youth, its beautiesand its frustrations.

Dean's public image was carefully constructed and maintained by the Warner Brothers studio throughmuch publicised dates with Hollywood actresses. Recently however, revelations about Dean's sex life thathe was a promiscuous homosexual who slept with many other actors and casting directors have flown inthe face of his traditional image, and revealed a side of Dean that was shocking to many who saw him as aclean-cut, if rebellious, American hero. The opening of the Warner Brothers archive containing letters andother documents surrounding Dean's original casting and the making of his films have also provided aninsight into his behaviour and revealed the real opinions of those who worked with him.John Howlett has interviewed many actors, lovers and girlfriends who knew Dean in New York andHollywood and has incorporated significant new material. In this biography he brings to light graphic detailsof James Dean's private life, reassessing the legacy of one of the greatest icons of the twentieth century.

Author Bio

John Howlett attended Tonbridge School and went on to read History at Oxford. With David Sherwin he co-wrote the script for Crusaders which later became Lindsay Anderson's If... (1968). He was also written eight novels, including Railway Joe, Murder of a Moderate Man, Credible Maximum Accident and Tango November. He is a screenwriter and has written for television, including his dramatization of Len Deighton's novel Game, Set and Match. John Howlett lives in East Sussex, England.