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James Byron Dean was very much the average American kid. He was born in Marion, Indiana and grew up in a home where his father was initially a farmer but then quit to become a dental technician. Eventually the family moved to Santa Monica, California and then to the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles where his mother died of cancer when Dean was just nine years old.

James Dean’s father sent his then nine-year-old son to live with his sister on a farm in Fairmount, Indiana where he was raised in a Quaker faith household. It was while he lived with his aunt that he developed a friendship with Billy J. Harbin, a Methodist pastor with whom he became fast friends.

After graduating from high school Dean moved back to California to live with his father and stepmother and enrolled in college where he planned on taking drama. It turns out, however, that he didn’t need to study acting at all, the boy was a natural.

After a brief stint in New York where he worked in a number of television series and shows, Dean moved back to California when he was contacted to play the lead in ‘East of Eden’. For all the work he had done in television, he didn’t land his first staring movie role until 1953 when director Elia Kazan, who was looking for an actor of substance to play ‘Cal Trask’ for screenwriter Paul Osborn’s adaptation of the Steinbeck novel ‘East of Eden’ grudgingly, gave Dean the role. She had originally wanted Marlon Brando for the part, but settled for Dean at the recommendation of Osborn. The rest, as they say, is history.

In just two short years James Dean went on to produce some of the best-loved American classic movies of all time and it is from this era in Hollywood that the best James Dean prints can be found. James Dean prints portraying the bad boy in his role as Cal Trask from ‘East of Eden’ are classic. Even more popular are the James Dean prints portraying Dean as Jim Stark in ‘Rebel Without a Cause;’ the movie where his portrayal of an angsty teenager was right on the money and went over very big with teenage Americans.

There is no end to the speculation as to just how far Dean could have gone with his acting career if he hadn’t died at the tender age of 24 in a car crash that rocked Hollywood and turned James Dean from a promising young actor into an American legend. The first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor (as well as the only actor to have received two posthumous acting nominations) James Dean’s acting career may have been brief, but it was definitely not taken for granted.

James Dean’s Film Career
James Dean remains to be one actor that everybody misses on the silver screen. The actor was himself an epitome of teenage years and this fact was quite pronounced in his films as well. He also received two academy award nominations posthumously. His acting career started with a Pepsi television commercial after which he was cast in the television special on Easter called Hill Number One, where he played the John the Beloved Disciple. From there he started appearing in films but his roles were more or less insignificant. The three films that he appeared during this tome were Sailor Beware, Fixed Bayonets and Has Anybody Seen My Gal? He only spoke once in Sailor Beware where he was playing a boxing coach. It was only after doing a few small roles and moving to New York City that Hollywood took heed of his talent.

The first film that he did in the year 1954 was East of Eden. In this movie James played Cal Trask role, a character that develops through the whole film into something completely different from his origins. The production team wanted an unknown face to do this role and they chose Dean for it. Most of his role in the film was not scripted at all. The entire performance for the film was more of improvisation than a bound script. He received a Best Actor nomination in the following year for this role posthumously. This is one character that paved the way for the Jim Stark role in his most famous film, Rebel Without A Cause.

The second movie became a rage amongst teenagers and Dean was an overnight star. The role was about a teenager who was desperately craving the attention of a superior male figure and was obviously misunderstood most of the times. The teenagers could relate to this role and the film went on to become a success.

His last film Giant was released in 1956 after his death. He played a supporting role where he had to portray a young and an older version of the same character. This film again earned him a nomination for the best actor in 1956. However, after shooting for this film, Dean died in a car crash. The last scene of the movie that he shot was named the ‘Last Supper’ for this reason. Though he met an untimely death and stayed in the film industry for only a short while, there is no doubt that he had the potential to become a Hollywood great.