James Dean, the famous American actor, was not very tall - less
than medium height - and had thick fair hair, and intense blue eyes. He
was short-sighted - he couldn't really see anything without his glasses.
James came to Hollywood when he was eighteen, hoping to get into
films. At first he was not at all successful and for a time he had to live
on very little money. There were days when he only ate cereals, which
he sometimes mixed with marmalade. Then he went to New York, the
centre of live theatre in the United States. He got a part in a play and
was seen by the great director, Elia Kazan. Kazan was planning the film
East of Eden and realised Dean would be perfect for one of the main
parts.
Dean was difficult to work with. He was also an eccentric person.
He always wore the same overcoat and jeans, rarely shaved and had
only one or two friends. He sometimes didn't talk to anybody for days.
When he went to parties, he often brought his bongo drums with him.
Then he sat in a corner, took off his glasses because he didn't want to
see anybody, and played the drums all night without saying a word.
He went back to Hollywood to make East of Eden and then made
two more films, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant. His co-star in the
last film, Rock Hudson, later said "I didn't like Dean particularly. I
didn't, like working with him, either. He was hard to be with. He was always
angry and he never smiled."
Although he had poor eyesight, he loved riding on fast motorbikes and
driving even faster sports cars. A few days after he finished Giant, on 25
September 1955, Dean went for a drive in his new Porsche. The sun was
going down so the light was poor. And unfortunately, Dean was not wearing
his glasses. Suddenly, he saw a car in front of him. It was slowing down to
turn into a side road. Dean tried to slow down, too, but it was too late. He hit
the car at high speed and was killed immediately.
Two German girls killed themselves when they heard the news because
they believed it was impossible to live without him. A few years later, a New
York shopgirl wrote a book called Jimmy Dean Returns, in which she wrote
that she was communicating with Dean from the other world. Half a million
copies of the book were sold. It was only the beginning of a strange legend
that goes on, even today
