WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.960 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. Today we are jumping 00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:04.400 into the life of an artist whose whole story 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:07.860 is just, well, it's a paradox. A really heartbreaking 00:00:07.860 --> 00:00:10.580 one, actually. It is. Our mission today is to 00:00:10.580 --> 00:00:14.210 unpack the, uh... The extraordinary and tragically 00:00:14.210 --> 00:00:17.649 short career of James Keen. Right. We really 00:00:17.649 --> 00:00:20.070 need to understand how an actor who is only 24 00:00:20.070 --> 00:00:22.710 years old and starred in just three major films 00:00:22.710 --> 00:00:26.269 became this lasting symbol of youthful defiance. 00:00:26.429 --> 00:00:28.829 And not just a symbol, but one of the most significant 00:00:28.829 --> 00:00:32.189 cultural figures of the whole 20th century. It's 00:00:32.189 --> 00:00:36.250 a deep study in just compressed impact. And when 00:00:36.250 --> 00:00:37.969 you look at the numbers, the actual metrics, 00:00:38.090 --> 00:00:39.909 they just don't seem to add up. They don't reconcile 00:00:39.909 --> 00:00:42.719 with the legacy. Not at all. He was born in 1931, 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:46.500 died in 1955. He was 24. His whole active career, 00:00:46.600 --> 00:00:48.119 I mean, the time he was really working in big 00:00:48.119 --> 00:00:51.560 roles, was maybe five years tops. And those three 00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:53.820 films, you know, the bedrock of the entire myth, 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:56.820 they came out in the staggered 18 month period 00:00:56.820 --> 00:00:58.960 and mostly after he died. Right. East of Eden 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:01.479 was March 1955. That's the only one he actually 00:01:01.479 --> 00:01:03.939 saw released. And then Rebel Without a Cause 00:01:03.939 --> 00:01:07.579 came out in October of 55 posthumously. And Giant 00:01:07.579 --> 00:01:11.760 wasn't until 1956. I mean, it's genuinely unprecedented 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:15.319 to build a legacy that huge on so little finished 00:01:15.319 --> 00:01:18.280 work. That brevity. It actually set some major 00:01:18.280 --> 00:01:21.200 records that still stand. The very first actor 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:24.319 in history to get a posthumous Academy Award 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:26.980 nomination for Best Actor. That was for East 00:01:26.980 --> 00:01:29.540 of Eden. And then, unbelievably, he gets another 00:01:29.540 --> 00:01:32.900 one for Giant. To this day, he is the only actor 00:01:32.900 --> 00:01:34.939 to have received two posthumous acting nominations 00:01:34.939 --> 00:01:38.099 in that category. That's just it's a remarkable 00:01:38.099 --> 00:01:40.379 validation, isn't it? From his peers, from the 00:01:40.379 --> 00:01:42.780 industry, even after he was gone. It is. And 00:01:42.780 --> 00:01:45.079 it goes beyond the academy, the Library of Congress, 00:01:45.219 --> 00:01:47.239 you know, the institution that preserves culturally 00:01:47.239 --> 00:01:49.579 significant works. They've preserved all three 00:01:49.579 --> 00:01:51.420 of those films in the National Film Registry. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:53.700 And even today. On a totally different level, 00:01:53.859 --> 00:01:56.219 Time magazine listed him as one of the all -time 00:01:56.219 --> 00:01:59.260 most influential fashion icons. So you have this 00:01:59.260 --> 00:02:01.680 person who barely had time to finish his work, 00:02:01.739 --> 00:02:04.079 but he ends up defining cultural movements for 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:07.540 decades. Let's get into how he built those three 00:02:07.540 --> 00:02:10.659 pillars of fame so incredibly fast. Okay, let's 00:02:10.659 --> 00:02:12.419 start with the groundwork. Because it wasn't 00:02:12.419 --> 00:02:15.580 instant. His arrival was, it was a real hustle, 00:02:15.699 --> 00:02:19.060 that classic actor story, but with this frantic 00:02:19.060 --> 00:02:21.900 intensity. Well, he drops out of the UCLA drama 00:02:21.900 --> 00:02:24.240 program in 51. He's determined to do it full 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:28.479 time. And the early gigs are pretty humble. Right, 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:30.500 like a Pepsi commercial. A Pepsi commercial in 00:02:30.500 --> 00:02:33.539 1950, yeah, his TV debut. Then he gets his first 00:02:33.539 --> 00:02:35.879 speaking role as John the Apostle in an Easter 00:02:35.879 --> 00:02:38.879 special called Hill No. 1. So, you know, soft 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:41.599 drinks to scripture. Quite a range. But the real 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:43.819 struggle was the Hollywood grind. The classic 00:02:43.819 --> 00:02:46.280 story. He was working as a parking lot attendant 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:49.180 at CBS Studios. Can you imagine? Parking the 00:02:49.180 --> 00:02:51.719 cars of the stars he wanted to become? But it 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:54.180 wasn't just about the money. That struggle led 00:02:54.180 --> 00:02:56.759 him to Rogers Brackett, a radio director who 00:02:56.759 --> 00:02:58.919 became this really important mentor. He gave 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:01.199 him guidance, a place to stay, opened some doors 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:03.840 for him. And that guidance eventually led him 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:06.960 to the place that really forged his craft. New 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:10.430 York City. He gets there and, you know, he needs 00:03:10.430 --> 00:03:13.370 to survive. He lands a job that just perfectly 00:03:13.370 --> 00:03:15.930 sums him up. The game show. Yeah, stunt tester 00:03:15.930 --> 00:03:18.710 for Beat the Clock. And the story there is fantastic. 00:03:18.789 --> 00:03:21.509 He gets fired. Why? Because he was performing 00:03:21.509 --> 00:03:24.409 the tasks too quickly. He was literally too fast 00:03:24.409 --> 00:03:27.129 for the clock. It's the small detail, but it 00:03:27.129 --> 00:03:29.849 captures that manic, urgent energy that just 00:03:29.849 --> 00:03:32.789 defined his entire short life. But New York was 00:03:32.789 --> 00:03:34.879 about more than stunts. It was about the craft. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:36.840 And this is where it gets really interesting, 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:39.199 right? This is the moment that defined his entire 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:42.199 screen persona. He gains admission to the legendary 00:03:42.199 --> 00:03:44.979 actor studio to study method acting under Lee 00:03:44.979 --> 00:03:47.379 Strasberg. OK, so method acting is the key here 00:03:47.379 --> 00:03:50.580 to get Dean. You have to get what the method 00:03:50.580 --> 00:03:52.860 was demanding of him. Absolutely. It wasn't just 00:03:52.860 --> 00:03:54.599 about learning your lines. It was about digging 00:03:54.599 --> 00:03:57.060 into the deepest, most difficult parts of your 00:03:57.060 --> 00:04:00.500 own emotional history to bring this. this raw, 00:04:00.740 --> 00:04:03.699 visceral reality to a performance. Strasberg's 00:04:03.699 --> 00:04:06.419 technique, it emphasized emotional recall, right? 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:09.240 So the actor has to find a real memory of sadness 00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:12.219 or joy or rage and just channel that genuine 00:04:12.219 --> 00:04:14.000 feeling. Exactly. And for someone like Dean, 00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:16.240 who was carrying so much unaddressed personal 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:18.120 trauma, this wasn't just a school. It was like 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:21.800 an explosive therapeutic outlet. Strasberg saw 00:04:21.800 --> 00:04:24.360 that volatility in him and knew how to channel 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:27.480 it. And we know how much this meant to him. He 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:30.920 wrote home to his family in 52, just filled with 00:04:30.920 --> 00:04:33.480 pride. He called the actor's studio the greatest 00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:36.100 school of the theater. He mentions it houses 00:04:36.100 --> 00:04:39.439 legends like Marlon Brando, Julie Harris. Being 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:41.959 accepted, especially as one of the youngest members, 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:44.060 it just cemented his belief that this internal 00:04:44.060 --> 00:04:46.899 emotional approach was his path. And that training 00:04:46.899 --> 00:04:49.329 paid off fast. The role that launched him back 00:04:49.329 --> 00:04:52.209 to Hollywood was a Broadway play in 1954, The 00:04:52.209 --> 00:04:54.670 Immoralist. He played Bachir, who's described 00:04:54.670 --> 00:04:57.750 as a pandering homosexual North African houseboy. 00:04:57.910 --> 00:05:00.470 I mean, a deeply complex, really risky role for 00:05:00.470 --> 00:05:02.949 that time. It shaped his range, for sure, but 00:05:02.949 --> 00:05:05.529 also his willingness to inhabit these characters 00:05:05.529 --> 00:05:07.910 on the margins. You know, characters defined 00:05:07.910 --> 00:05:10.689 by ambiguous or dangerous identities. It's a 00:05:10.689 --> 00:05:13.269 theme that would just dominate his career. The 00:05:13.269 --> 00:05:16.350 performance got great reviews, and critically, 00:05:16.610 --> 00:05:18.939 it led to... directly to those calls from Hollywood. 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:21.480 And it wasn't just critics. He had this famously 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:24.360 intense affair with his co -star, Geraldine Page, 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:27.540 another Method powerhouse. Her daughter later 00:05:27.540 --> 00:05:30.060 said Page never really got over him. She kept 00:05:30.060 --> 00:05:33.100 his pictures on her mirror for years. She called 00:05:33.100 --> 00:05:35.759 them artistic soulmates, that blend of emotional 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:38.279 intensity on stage and personal entanglement 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:41.540 offstage. That was the Dean trademark. Which 00:05:41.540 --> 00:05:44.040 sets the stage perfectly for his Hollywood breakthrough, 00:05:44.259 --> 00:05:47.649 the first pillar of his fame, East of Eden. East 00:05:47.649 --> 00:05:50.329 of Eden, 1955. This was his emotional breakthrough. 00:05:50.529 --> 00:05:52.730 This is what turned him from a stage actor into 00:05:52.730 --> 00:05:55.829 a screen legend. The director, Elia Kazan, was 00:05:55.829 --> 00:05:58.129 a huge part of the method movement, and he was 00:05:58.129 --> 00:06:00.269 looking for someone very specific to play the 00:06:00.269 --> 00:06:02.610 character Cal Trask. He wanted a Brando type. 00:06:02.730 --> 00:06:05.470 Exactly, a Brando type. And the screenwriter, 00:06:05.569 --> 00:06:07.910 Paul Osborne, suggested this relatively unknown 00:06:07.910 --> 00:06:10.769 James Dean. What's really telling is the novelist's 00:06:10.769 --> 00:06:14.209 reaction. John Steinbeck meets Dean, and he personally 00:06:14.209 --> 00:06:16.660 dislikes him. He thinks he's moody, difficult. 00:06:16.899 --> 00:06:19.360 But he still said Dean was perfect for the part. 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:22.040 That's the ultimate endorsement of his authenticity, 00:06:22.259 --> 00:06:24.180 isn't it? He didn't have to charm the creator. 00:06:24.339 --> 00:06:26.360 He just had to embody the character's difficult 00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:29.579 truth. Right. And because Kazan embraced the 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:32.399 method, he gave Dean this massive amount of freedom 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:35.439 to improvise. And those moments, they fundamentally 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:38.439 changed cinematic acting. Okay, let's unpack 00:06:38.439 --> 00:06:41.129 that unscripted genius. Because this is the moment 00:06:41.129 --> 00:06:43.730 American cinema really shifts away from that 00:06:43.730 --> 00:06:46.449 formal classical style. You know, the style of 00:06:46.449 --> 00:06:48.490 actors like Raymond Massey, who played his father. 00:06:48.670 --> 00:06:50.730 Okay, so the sources point to three incredible 00:06:50.730 --> 00:06:53.910 examples. First, there's his spontaneous dance 00:06:53.910 --> 00:06:56.410 in the bean field. It's just Cal's restless, 00:06:56.550 --> 00:06:59.110 pent -up energy bursting out in this moment of 00:06:59.110 --> 00:07:01.529 pure, unbridled movement. And then there's the 00:07:01.529 --> 00:07:04.009 train scene. After he finds his mother, he's 00:07:04.009 --> 00:07:06.769 on top of a boxcar and he just retreats into 00:07:06.769 --> 00:07:10.370 this deeply vulnerable, almost fetal -like posture. 00:07:10.629 --> 00:07:12.649 These weren't just random additions. They were 00:07:12.649 --> 00:07:14.930 physical expressions of a character who just 00:07:14.930 --> 00:07:17.509 couldn't contain his inner turmoil. It gave you 00:07:17.509 --> 00:07:20.470 a window into his psyche that words just couldn't. 00:07:20.509 --> 00:07:22.290 But the most famous, one of the most dramatic 00:07:22.290 --> 00:07:25.089 example, is the scene where his father, Adam 00:07:25.089 --> 00:07:29.329 Trask, rejects his gift of $5 ,000. Right. The 00:07:29.329 --> 00:07:32.000 script, the traditional script. Called for Cal 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:34.819 to just be sad, to turn and run away from his 00:07:34.819 --> 00:07:37.040 father and defeat. But Dean didn't do that. No. 00:07:37.300 --> 00:07:39.620 Tapping into that method core, he didn't run. 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:43.199 He lunged forward. He grabs Raymond Massey in 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:45.980 this full, desperate, gut -wrenching embrace. 00:07:46.750 --> 00:07:49.269 burying his face in his chest and just crying 00:07:49.269 --> 00:07:51.370 out. And Massey was a classical actor. He was 00:07:51.370 --> 00:07:53.670 not prepared for that. Not at all. The sources 00:07:53.670 --> 00:07:56.529 confirm he was genuinely shocked by this unscripted 00:07:56.529 --> 00:07:59.269 physical attack of emotion. And Kazan, he kept 00:07:59.269 --> 00:08:01.470 the whole raw exchange in the film. It's the 00:08:01.470 --> 00:08:04.430 vulnerability, but it's combined with the sort 00:08:04.430 --> 00:08:06.689 of the physical violence of that need. It makes 00:08:06.689 --> 00:08:09.509 the scene electric. And that character, Kaltrask, 00:08:09.689 --> 00:08:11.829 the misunderstood outcast who's desperate for 00:08:11.829 --> 00:08:14.990 his father's approval, it just hit an immediate 00:08:14.990 --> 00:08:18.069 chord. The excitement was huge even before the 00:08:18.069 --> 00:08:21.110 film was released. Hedda Hopper, the gossip columnist, 00:08:21.189 --> 00:08:24.430 wrote, I can't remember when any screen newcomer 00:08:24.430 --> 00:08:27.189 generated as much excitement as did James Dean 00:08:27.189 --> 00:08:29.550 in his first picture. It was instant legend building. 00:08:29.750 --> 00:08:31.769 And we have to stress this again. East of Eden 00:08:31.769 --> 00:08:34.549 was the only film starring Dean that was released 00:08:34.549 --> 00:08:36.669 while he was still alive. The rest of the myth 00:08:36.669 --> 00:08:38.830 was built after he was gone. Which brings us 00:08:38.830 --> 00:08:41.070 to the second pillar, rubble without a cause. 00:08:41.269 --> 00:08:44.210 Right. If East of Eden showed his internal genius, 00:08:44.870 --> 00:08:47.809 Rebel created the external image, the iconography 00:08:47.809 --> 00:08:50.629 that defined a generation. He played Jim Stark, 00:08:50.870 --> 00:08:53.809 the quintessential disillusioned teenager. And 00:08:53.809 --> 00:08:56.909 what's so fascinating is the immediate sociocultural 00:08:56.909 --> 00:08:59.590 resonance. The film was instantly seen as this 00:08:59.590 --> 00:09:02.570 accurate representation of teenage angst. It 00:09:02.570 --> 00:09:05.409 hit so hard with mid -50s youth who felt completely 00:09:05.409 --> 00:09:07.610 misunderstood by their parents, by their peers, 00:09:07.750 --> 00:09:09.710 by everyone. This film didn't just entertain 00:09:09.710 --> 00:09:12.289 people, it gave them a cultural template for 00:09:12.289 --> 00:09:14.970 what it meant to be young. That mix of vulnerability, 00:09:15.269 --> 00:09:17.929 confusion, and raw defiance. The red jacket, 00:09:18.029 --> 00:09:20.570 the t -shirt. It became cinematic shorthand for 00:09:20.570 --> 00:09:23.159 being a teenager. But Dean himself was very aware 00:09:23.159 --> 00:09:25.620 of the danger of being typecast after two roles 00:09:25.620 --> 00:09:27.240 like that. He didn't want to be the tortured 00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:30.100 teenager forever. No! Which is why he took on 00:09:30.100 --> 00:09:33.139 the third and final role, Jet Rink in Giant. 00:09:33.379 --> 00:09:36.639 A sprawling, epic role. A huge artistic challenge. 00:09:36.940 --> 00:09:39.620 He had to play this Texan ranch hand who finds 00:09:39.620 --> 00:09:43.019 oil and gets rich over decades. It forced him 00:09:43.019 --> 00:09:46.360 to portray growth, decay, transformation. It 00:09:46.360 --> 00:09:49.500 demanded a complexity that was miles away from 00:09:49.500 --> 00:09:52.669 the rage of Jim St - dark. It really shows his 00:09:52.669 --> 00:09:55.269 commitment to the craft, not just to being a 00:09:55.269 --> 00:09:58.009 star. And he committed physically, too. To play 00:09:58.009 --> 00:10:00.750 the older Jet Rink, he dyed his hair gray and 00:10:00.750 --> 00:10:02.870 shaved some of it to create a receding hairline. 00:10:02.929 --> 00:10:05.169 He was pushing himself to prove he was an actor, 00:10:05.289 --> 00:10:08.409 not just a mood. And this film gave us his tragically 00:10:08.409 --> 00:10:11.169 perfect yet incomplete final moment on screen. 00:10:11.389 --> 00:10:13.570 The last supper scene. Yeah, a drunken banquet 00:10:13.570 --> 00:10:16.370 speech by an older jet rink. And Dean, driven 00:10:16.370 --> 00:10:18.309 by his method dedication, wanted to be actually 00:10:18.309 --> 00:10:21.450 drunk for the scene to capture that genuine slurring 00:10:21.450 --> 00:10:23.769 deterioration. But it kind of backfired, didn't 00:10:23.769 --> 00:10:26.029 it? He ended up mumbling so much the audio was 00:10:26.029 --> 00:10:29.590 unusable. Exactly. The director, George Stevens, 00:10:29.809 --> 00:10:32.149 realized the whole scene had to be overdubbed. 00:10:32.389 --> 00:10:36.399 And the irony is just, it's haunting. The voice 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:38.440 of this eternal rebel in his final performance 00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:40.820 had to be replaced by another actor, Nick Adams, 00:10:41.019 --> 00:10:42.919 because Dean died before they could fix it in 00:10:42.919 --> 00:10:45.139 post -production. So the commitment was there, 00:10:45.220 --> 00:10:47.559 but the final product was unfinished. It's just 00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:49.940 a perfect, tragic encapsulation of his entire 00:10:49.940 --> 00:10:52.679 career. Brilliance, total commitment, and then 00:10:52.679 --> 00:10:55.779 sudden, unfinished silence. Okay, so before we 00:10:55.779 --> 00:10:57.580 get to the end of the story, we have to look 00:10:57.580 --> 00:10:59.940 at the short... tumultuous life that supplied 00:10:59.940 --> 00:11:02.519 all that emotional intensity for his performances. 00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:05.659 Right. If the three films were the pillars of 00:11:05.659 --> 00:11:08.600 his fame, then his personal life, steeped in 00:11:08.600 --> 00:11:11.500 trauma and conflicting identities, was the explosive 00:11:11.500 --> 00:11:14.840 foundation. It explains so much about that energy 00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:17.299 he had on screen. He was born and married in 00:11:17.299 --> 00:11:19.970 Indiana, only child. His family moved to Santa 00:11:19.970 --> 00:11:22.190 Monica, California when he was young, and he 00:11:22.190 --> 00:11:24.009 had this incredibly close bond with his mother, 00:11:24.090 --> 00:11:26.690 Mildred. Biographers later described her as the 00:11:26.690 --> 00:11:29.389 only person capable of understanding him. And 00:11:29.389 --> 00:11:32.649 that foundational relationship was just brutally 00:11:32.649 --> 00:11:36.009 cut short. When he was nine, his mother died 00:11:36.009 --> 00:11:38.980 suddenly of uterine cancer. devastating, life 00:11:38.980 --> 00:11:41.879 -altering trauma. And his father, who seems to 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:44.940 have been unable to cope, sent Dean back to Indiana 00:11:44.940 --> 00:11:47.440 to live with his Quaker aunt and uncle on their 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:49.879 farm. That transition alone must have been traumatic. 00:11:50.440 --> 00:11:52.399 From sunny California and this close maternal 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:56.840 bond to a strict rural Quaker upbringing in the 00:11:56.840 --> 00:11:59.259 Midwest right after losing his mother. It's that 00:11:59.259 --> 00:12:01.820 sudden displacement, that emotional void, that 00:12:01.820 --> 00:12:04.779 yearning for a lost connection. That is precisely 00:12:04.779 --> 00:12:07.100 what you see him channeling into Caltrask in 00:12:07.100 --> 00:12:09.340 East of Eden. And yet, despite that loss, he 00:12:09.340 --> 00:12:11.500 did really well in Fairmount. He was a popular 00:12:11.500 --> 00:12:14.559 student, great at sports, drama. Public speaking. 00:12:14.700 --> 00:12:17.059 But during this formative time, a very influential 00:12:17.059 --> 00:12:20.279 and controversial figure entered his life. The 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:22.179 local Methodist pastor, Reverend James DeWeerd. 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:25.019 Yes. Dean sought him out for friendship and guidance, 00:12:25.220 --> 00:12:27.399 and DeWeerd became this major mentor figure, 00:12:27.580 --> 00:12:29.500 steering his interest toward bullfighting, car 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:32.500 racing, and significantly theater. But the sources 00:12:32.500 --> 00:12:34.600 here, they get into much darker, more complex 00:12:34.600 --> 00:12:37.679 territory. They do. There are reports of an intimate 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:39.740 relationship between Dean and the pastor that 00:12:39.740 --> 00:12:41.840 lasted for years, starting when Dean was a late 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:44.460 teenager. And even more seriously, there are 00:12:44.460 --> 00:12:46.700 reports and biographies that raise allegations 00:12:46.700 --> 00:12:50.539 of sexual abuse. Some sources say Dean confided 00:12:50.539 --> 00:12:52.860 in Elizabeth Taylor that he'd been abused by 00:12:52.860 --> 00:12:55.059 a minister about two years after his mother's 00:12:55.059 --> 00:12:57.519 death. Other reports suggest the abuse was by 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:00.039 DeWood himself, either when Dean was a child 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:02.980 or a late teen. And it's impossible to look at 00:13:02.980 --> 00:13:05.379 his adult behavior without the context of these 00:13:05.379 --> 00:13:07.700 alleged traumas. They really helped shape the 00:13:07.700 --> 00:13:10.299 complexity and the ambiguity of his adult identity. 00:13:11.019 --> 00:13:13.440 That constant tension between his private reality 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:16.480 and his public persona, it was largely driven 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:19.539 by his complicated sexuality and the insane pressure 00:13:19.539 --> 00:13:22.299 of the 1950s studio system. Let's look at the 00:13:22.299 --> 00:13:24.399 close relationships that really tested those 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:26.659 boundaries. Screenwriter William Bast was his 00:13:26.659 --> 00:13:28.360 college roommate, and they later lived together 00:13:28.360 --> 00:13:30.899 in New York. The Dean family always said Bast 00:13:30.899 --> 00:13:32.980 was his closest friend for the last five years 00:13:32.980 --> 00:13:35.360 of his life. For decades, the nature of their 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:38.559 relationship was really obscured. But Bast, in 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:42.490 his 2006 biography, finally clarified it. He 00:13:42.490 --> 00:13:44.610 confirmed that he and Dean had been lovers one 00:13:44.610 --> 00:13:47.149 night. And that revelation confirmed Dean was 00:13:47.149 --> 00:13:49.990 exploring his identity far outside the strict 00:13:49.990 --> 00:13:52.190 heterosexual norms that Hollywood was demanding. 00:13:52.509 --> 00:13:54.269 And we know exactly why that was suppressed. 00:13:54.669 --> 00:13:57.149 Warner Brothers was heavily invested in protecting 00:13:57.149 --> 00:13:59.789 the image of its young male stars. They framed 00:13:59.789 --> 00:14:02.690 Dean as an eligible bachelor, often grouping 00:14:02.690 --> 00:14:04.769 him with guys like Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter. 00:14:05.210 --> 00:14:08.370 A very carefully curated heterosexual image for 00:14:08.370 --> 00:14:11.169 the masses. They actively discouraged any relationship 00:14:11.169 --> 00:14:13.269 that didn't fit that marketing template. But 00:14:13.269 --> 00:14:15.970 that studio narrative just collided head on with 00:14:15.970 --> 00:14:18.190 his most famous romance, the one with the Italian 00:14:18.190 --> 00:14:21.070 actress Pier Angeli. Their connection was immediate 00:14:21.070 --> 00:14:24.049 and incredibly intense. She later described their 00:14:24.049 --> 00:14:26.269 secret meetings on the California coast as feeling 00:14:26.269 --> 00:14:29.289 like Romeo and Juliet. He was clearly deeply 00:14:29.289 --> 00:14:32.289 invested. He said everything about Pier is beautiful, 00:14:32.490 --> 00:14:35.039 especially her soul. But despite that connection, 00:14:35.340 --> 00:14:37.639 there were these huge forces working against 00:14:37.639 --> 00:14:41.220 them. Angeli's Catholic mother hated that Dean 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:43.840 wasn't Catholic and that he dressed so casually. 00:14:44.139 --> 00:14:46.700 And Warner Bros. was strongly discouraging marriage 00:14:46.700 --> 00:14:49.700 for their rising star. And perhaps most critically, 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:52.539 Dean himself told Angeli he didn't want to get 00:14:52.539 --> 00:14:55.039 married, which probably reflects his own deep 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:57.940 emotional conflicts and commitment issues. That 00:14:57.940 --> 00:15:00.220 emotional block led directly to the breakup. 00:15:01.160 --> 00:15:03.720 Anjali shocked everyone by suddenly announcing 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:06.039 her engagement to the singer Vic Damone. The 00:15:06.039 --> 00:15:08.940 fallout became Hollywood legend. Columnists reported 00:15:08.940 --> 00:15:10.840 that Dean watched her wedding from across the 00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:13.340 road on his motorcycle, even gunning the engine 00:15:13.340 --> 00:15:15.679 during the ceremony. A claim he denied, by the 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:18.620 way. He called it dumb. But the image stuck. 00:15:18.759 --> 00:15:21.000 It just fueled that narrative of the heartbroken 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:24.279 rebel. But the internal truth is stark. After 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:26.860 he died, among his personal effects, they found 00:15:26.860 --> 00:15:29.279 a little marriage pamphlet with Pierre penciled 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:31.100 in where the bride's name should be. And the 00:15:31.100 --> 00:15:32.740 tragedy of that relationship just continued. 00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:35.860 Angeli later said Dean was the true love of her 00:15:35.860 --> 00:15:38.679 life. She died from a barbiturate overdose at 00:15:38.679 --> 00:15:41.759 age 39. It just became another profound layer 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:44.899 of the myth. So you connect the dots from Bass 00:15:44.899 --> 00:15:47.799 to Angeli, filter it all through the studio system, 00:15:47.980 --> 00:15:51.019 and you arrive at this core ambiguity about his 00:15:51.019 --> 00:15:54.190 sexuality. He didn't fit into any neat box. And 00:15:54.190 --> 00:15:56.649 the most famous quote attributed to him sums 00:15:56.649 --> 00:16:00.230 it up perfectly. No, I am not a homosexual, but 00:16:00.230 --> 00:16:02.389 I'm also not going to go through life with one 00:16:02.389 --> 00:16:04.909 hand tied behind my back. That statement just 00:16:04.909 --> 00:16:08.029 encapsulates his exploratory spirit. But biographers 00:16:08.029 --> 00:16:10.610 and friends have spent decades trying to interpret 00:16:10.610 --> 00:16:12.429 it, which has resulted in all these conflicting 00:16:12.429 --> 00:16:14.429 theories. So let's go through some of the theories 00:16:14.429 --> 00:16:16.809 from the sources, just reporting them impartially. 00:16:16.990 --> 00:16:19.090 First, you have the for trade theory. Right. 00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:22.259 The journalist Joe Haim suggested Dean was pragmatic, 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:25.240 that he would have sex with men if it advanced 00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:28.059 his career, particularly regarding his mentor, 00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:30.720 Rogers Brackett. Brackett himself called their 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:33.720 bond somewhat incestuous. On the other hand, 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:36.820 a friend, John Gilmore, claimed he and Dean experimented 00:16:36.820 --> 00:16:39.240 with gay sex in New York, and he later concluded 00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:42.440 that Dean was more gay than bisexual. But the 00:16:42.440 --> 00:16:44.759 most definitive statement, which still seems 00:16:44.759 --> 00:16:47.059 to get ignored, came from his director on Rebel, 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:50.200 Nicholas Wray. Ray stated it on the record. He 00:16:50.200 --> 00:16:53.519 said James Dean was not street. He was not gay. 00:16:53.740 --> 00:16:56.700 He was bisexual. That seems to confuse people 00:16:56.700 --> 00:16:59.240 or they just ignore the facts. But given the 00:16:59.240 --> 00:17:01.720 intense stigma of the 1950s, how much can we 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:03.759 really trust any of these public statements? 00:17:04.180 --> 00:17:06.640 That's the essential question. The atmosphere 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:11.009 demanded secrecy. You have Martin Landau, a close 00:17:11.009 --> 00:17:12.730 friend from the actor's studio, who completely 00:17:12.730 --> 00:17:15.569 contradicted that narrative. He said they only 00:17:15.569 --> 00:17:18.150 talked about girls. So maybe Dean just carefully 00:17:18.150 --> 00:17:20.549 compartmentalized his life. It seems like it. 00:17:20.589 --> 00:17:22.710 And then you have Elizabeth Taylor, his co -star 00:17:22.710 --> 00:17:25.130 in Giant. She once referred to him as gay, but 00:17:25.130 --> 00:17:27.490 then she clarified it later. She said, he hadn't 00:17:27.490 --> 00:17:30.230 made up his mind. He and I, we twinkled. What's 00:17:30.230 --> 00:17:32.650 so fascinating is how his refusal to be contained 00:17:32.650 --> 00:17:35.769 by a label resulted in a legacy where even those 00:17:35.769 --> 00:17:39.029 closest to him held conflicting views. He was 00:17:39.029 --> 00:17:41.490 an emotional chameleon on and off screen. The 00:17:41.490 --> 00:17:43.990 ultimate method performance in a way. The vulnerability 00:17:43.990 --> 00:17:46.809 was real, but the identity was fluid, complex, 00:17:46.869 --> 00:17:49.630 and fiercely private. And that incredibly fast 00:17:49.630 --> 00:17:52.690 -paced personal life was matched by an equally 00:17:52.690 --> 00:17:56.250 fast -paced, all -consuming hobby. Auto racing. 00:17:57.769 --> 00:18:00.509 A passion that ultimately filled his legend and 00:18:00.509 --> 00:18:02.690 his fate. Let's transition to that final chapter 00:18:02.690 --> 00:18:05.670 too fast. His racing passion started almost right 00:18:05.670 --> 00:18:08.329 after he finished filming East of Eden. And he 00:18:08.329 --> 00:18:10.250 didn't just dabble, he went into it professionally 00:18:10.250 --> 00:18:12.750 with that same obsessive intensity he had for 00:18:12.750 --> 00:18:16.470 acting. He had serious machines. A Triumph Tiger 00:18:16.470 --> 00:18:19.750 motorcycle and a Porsche 356 Super Speedster. 00:18:20.329 --> 00:18:22.630 And he was good at it. He was very good. In March 00:18:22.630 --> 00:18:25.869 1955 at the Palm Springs Road Races, he finished 00:18:25.869 --> 00:18:28.069 first in the novice class and second in the main 00:18:28.069 --> 00:18:30.630 event. A month later at Bakersfield, he finished 00:18:30.630 --> 00:18:32.490 first in his class again. But the studio put 00:18:32.490 --> 00:18:34.779 a stop to it. Warner Brothers barred him from 00:18:34.779 --> 00:18:36.680 racing during the production of Giant. They were 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:38.940 terrified of losing their new star. That ban 00:18:38.940 --> 00:18:40.980 lasted until he wrapped his final scenes. And 00:18:40.980 --> 00:18:43.160 as soon as he was done, he immediately traded 00:18:43.160 --> 00:18:45.539 in his speedster for a brand new cutting edge 00:18:45.539 --> 00:18:49.119 machine, a 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder. This was 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:52.119 a dangerous, sophisticated racing car. And he 00:18:52.119 --> 00:18:55.099 gave it that now infamous nickname, Little Bastard. 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:57.559 He was scheduled to race in Salinas on October 00:18:57.559 --> 00:19:01.000 1st. On September 30th, the day before, he decided 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:03.579 to drive the car all the way from L .A. to Salinas 00:19:03.579 --> 00:19:05.799 himself to break in the engine. And he wasn't 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:08.440 alone. His juror and mechanic, Rolf Wutherich, 00:19:08.579 --> 00:19:11.240 was in the passenger seat. Following behind in 00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:13.400 a station wagon were a stunt coordinator and 00:19:13.400 --> 00:19:15.519 photographer. The day was already marked by speed. 00:19:15.779 --> 00:19:18.460 At 3 .30 that afternoon, Dean got a speeding 00:19:18.460 --> 00:19:21.720 ticket. The fatal crash happened around 5 .45 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:25.480 p .m. near a small town called Cholom. Dean was 00:19:25.480 --> 00:19:29.500 driving westbound on US Route 466. And a 1950 00:19:29.500 --> 00:19:32.619 Ford Tudor, driven by a 23 -year -old student 00:19:32.619 --> 00:19:35.720 named Donald Turnipseed, was traveling east and 00:19:35.720 --> 00:19:38.250 made a critical mistake. He tried to make a left 00:19:38.250 --> 00:19:40.289 turn directly in front of the oncoming Porsche. 00:19:40.549 --> 00:19:42.769 And Dean was going way too fast to react. He 00:19:42.769 --> 00:19:44.789 slammed directly into the passenger side of the 00:19:44.789 --> 00:19:47.289 Ford. The impact was catastrophic for the little 00:19:47.289 --> 00:19:49.829 spider. Mutherich, the mechanic, was thrown clear 00:19:49.829 --> 00:19:52.009 and survived with serious injuries. But Dean 00:19:52.009 --> 00:19:54.309 was trapped in the wreckage. He sustained numerous 00:19:54.309 --> 00:19:57.049 fatal injuries, including a broken neck. He was 00:19:57.049 --> 00:19:59.069 pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital at 00:19:59.069 --> 00:20:02.069 6 .20 p .m. The news spread like wildfire. It 00:20:02.069 --> 00:20:04.730 was a massive international event. His funeral 00:20:04.730 --> 00:20:08.490 in Indiana drew 600 mourners. inside and 2 ,400 00:20:08.490 --> 00:20:11.730 hysterical fans outside. The coffin had to remain 00:20:11.730 --> 00:20:14.289 closed. And what's really important to this story 00:20:14.289 --> 00:20:17.049 is that the inquest placed the fault for the 00:20:17.049 --> 00:20:21.289 accident entirely on Dean, citing excessive speed. 00:20:21.430 --> 00:20:24.630 It just cemented the narrative. He lived fast. 00:20:25.079 --> 00:20:27.579 And he died fast. So the man was gone. But the 00:20:27.579 --> 00:20:29.880 legend was instantly born, fueled by those two 00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:32.640 films waiting for release. It was Humphrey Bogart 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:35.599 who famously said, Dean died at just the right 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:37.940 time. He left behind a legend. If he had lived, 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:40.000 he'd never have been able to live up to his publicity. 00:20:40.259 --> 00:20:42.579 That is exceptionally harsh. But it speaks right 00:20:42.579 --> 00:20:44.960 to the paradox we started with. His appeal comes 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:47.039 from this perfect storm, right? The public's 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:49.599 need for a champion for the disenfranchised young, 00:20:49.740 --> 00:20:52.160 plus that intense androgynous air he projected. 00:20:52.670 --> 00:20:54.630 Joe Hyams called him one of the rare stars of 00:20:54.630 --> 00:20:56.849 that era, like Rock Hudson or Montgomery Clift, 00:20:56.849 --> 00:20:59.250 whom both men and women find sexy. That universal 00:20:59.250 --> 00:21:01.109 appeal and the sense of unfulfilled potential 00:21:01.109 --> 00:21:03.470 just cemented him as this mythological figure. 00:21:03.690 --> 00:21:06.589 And the power of that myth is still huge. His 00:21:06.589 --> 00:21:09.630 state still earns about $5 million a year. But 00:21:09.630 --> 00:21:12.849 any attempt to exploit or revive that image has 00:21:12.849 --> 00:21:15.470 met with this swift, furious backlash. Yeah, 00:21:15.549 --> 00:21:18.000 that announcement a few years ago about... creating 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:20.380 a cgi version of him for a film called finding 00:21:20.380 --> 00:21:23.440 jack it was met with widespread condemnation 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:26.400 and was eventually shelved it proves the legend 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:29.480 is untouchable preserved in amber by his early 00:21:29.480 --> 00:21:32.039 death beyond the money his influence on actors 00:21:32.039 --> 00:21:35.579 is staggering Martin Sheen said Dean transcended 00:21:35.579 --> 00:21:37.500 cinema acting. It was no longer acting. It was 00:21:37.500 --> 00:21:39.660 human behavior. Johnny Depp and Nicolas Cage 00:21:39.660 --> 00:21:42.720 both explicitly cited Dean as the reason they 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:45.380 wanted to become actors. Cage said nothing affected 00:21:45.380 --> 00:21:47.619 him. No rock song, no classical music the way 00:21:47.619 --> 00:21:49.859 Dean did in East of Eden. Leonardo DiCaprio's 00:21:49.859 --> 00:21:51.940 reflection is really telling. He said he was 00:21:51.940 --> 00:21:54.880 incredibly moved by Jimmy Dean. His vulnerability, 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:58.000 his confusion about his entire history, his identity, 00:21:58.119 --> 00:22:00.700 his desperation to be loved. That performance 00:22:00.700 --> 00:22:03.700 just broke my heart. It's that raw, emotionally 00:22:03.700 --> 00:22:06.000 exposed core. That's exactly what the method 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.240 delivered. Let's turn to the other major part 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:11.400 of his legacy, his style, and his just singular 00:22:11.400 --> 00:22:14.119 influence on music and youth culture. We mentioned 00:22:14.119 --> 00:22:17.000 the fashion accolades, but the why is so important. 00:22:17.180 --> 00:22:19.660 His signature look jeans, a white t -shirt, a 00:22:19.660 --> 00:22:22.619 red windbreaker, or a motorcycle jacket, it became 00:22:22.619 --> 00:22:25.240 the panoply of adolescence. In the super conservative 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:28.440 1950s, this wasn't just casual clothing. It was 00:22:28.440 --> 00:22:31.099 a statement. a powerful expression of resistance 00:22:31.099 --> 00:22:34.480 against adult conventions, against suits and 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:37.140 ties. It transformed working class clothes into 00:22:37.140 --> 00:22:40.140 a uniform of defiance, and it became a universal 00:22:40.140 --> 00:22:42.960 wardrobe staple. But the influence goes deeper. 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:45.740 It served as the visual and emotional template 00:22:45.740 --> 00:22:48.420 for the biggest cultural shift of the 20th century, 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:51.019 the birth of rock and roll. Commentators have 00:22:51.019 --> 00:22:53.640 called him the first rock star, a harbinger of 00:22:53.640 --> 00:22:56.019 youth identity politics. His persona, especially 00:22:56.019 --> 00:22:59.250 Jim Stark in Rebel. was the perfect brooding 00:22:59.250 --> 00:23:01.250 template for the music revolution that was just 00:23:01.250 --> 00:23:03.390 starting to bubble up. It influenced guys like 00:23:03.390 --> 00:23:05.990 Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran, Gene Benson. Elvis 00:23:05.990 --> 00:23:09.190 himself intensely studied Dean and Brando. He 00:23:09.190 --> 00:23:12.250 said in an interview, We're sullen, we're brooding, 00:23:12.410 --> 00:23:14.170 we're something of a menace. I know you can't 00:23:14.170 --> 00:23:16.450 be sexy if you smile. You can't be a rebel if 00:23:16.450 --> 00:23:19.450 you grin. He distilled Dean's entire attitude 00:23:19.450 --> 00:23:22.549 into the essential rock star persona. Rock historian 00:23:22.549 --> 00:23:25.210 Grail Marcus called Dean and Presley twin symbols 00:23:25.210 --> 00:23:28.500 of tribal teenage identity. They created this 00:23:28.500 --> 00:23:30.839 whole visual and emotional language for young 00:23:30.839 --> 00:23:34.220 people. Absolutely. Bob Dylan cited Dean as a 00:23:34.220 --> 00:23:37.440 key influence. He consciously copied Dean's look 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:39.880 on album covers like The Freewheeling Bob Dylan. 00:23:40.019 --> 00:23:42.619 His biographer called him James Dean with a guitar. 00:23:42.839 --> 00:23:45.460 David Bowie, too. And his image just keeps popping 00:23:45.460 --> 00:23:47.500 up. The Beach Boys, the Eagles, all the way to 00:23:47.500 --> 00:23:49.480 contemporary artists like Lana Del Rey and Taylor 00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:52.599 Swift. The look is eternal shorthand for high 00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:55.240 stakes, troubled romance and effortless cool. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:58.319 He provided the blueprint for cool that never 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:01.279 needed an update. The defiant attitude, the inner 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:03.200 turmoil, the style, it was all wrapped up in 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:05.180 this package that, because he died so young, 00:24:05.299 --> 00:24:08.220 never had a chance to fade or age or disappoint. 00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:10.880 He's perpetually young, perpetually misunderstood, 00:24:11.259 --> 00:24:13.940 and perpetually relevant. And that brings us 00:24:13.940 --> 00:24:17.119 right back to the core paradox. A life defined 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:20.640 by extreme brevity, 24 years and minimal output, 00:24:20.779 --> 00:24:23.599 three major films, resulted in a cultural shift 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:26.720 so seismic it was irreversible. He's cemented 00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:29.599 not just as a star, but as a myth. A myth whose 00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:32.059 unfulfilled potential just fuels his eternal 00:24:32.059 --> 00:24:35.019 relevance. The ultimate method actor. He died 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:38.200 as he lived, intensely, too fast, leaving behind 00:24:38.200 --> 00:24:41.460 an unfinished masterpiece. Bogart suggested Dean 00:24:41.460 --> 00:24:43.920 died at just the right time to preserve his legend. 00:24:44.279 --> 00:24:47.039 So given the instant visceral controversy around 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:49.579 the attempt to use his CGI likeness 60 years 00:24:49.579 --> 00:24:52.819 later, the protective outrage it inspired, does 00:24:52.819 --> 00:24:54.740 this intense frustration with exploiting his 00:24:54.740 --> 00:24:58.019 image maybe prove Bogart was right? Was the legend 00:24:58.019 --> 00:24:59.819 only safe because the man never had the chance 00:24:59.819 --> 00:25:01.759 to live up to it and thus never had the chance 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:03.660 to disappoint us? That's something for you to 00:25:03.660 --> 00:25:05.440 mull over. Thank you for joining us on the Deep 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:05.839 Dive.