By Lubna Abdel-Aziz It seems like only yesterday that an intensely passionate, sensitive, tormented youth, burst on the big screen and captured the hearts of intensely passionate, sensitive, tormented youth around the world. A year later he was dead. His name was James Dean, killed on 30 September 1955 when his brand new race-car, a silver Porsche 550 Spyder, collided with a 1950 Ford near Cholame, California. He was only 24. The world still remembers, idolises and mourns one gentle, iconic youth with all his ardent zeal, his fragile heart, and his reckless spirit. What is the secret of this timeless fascination? James Dean may have been killed on that California highway 50 years ago, but the youth of the world would not let him die. His beauty and youthfulness "frozen in time", made him the first icon of youth culture of his era, and every era thereafter. He reflects the isolation and despair, the angst and rage of this lost generation. The epitome of "cool", he is the daring risk-taker, the angry outsider, the eternal rebel. On his death, only one of his three major films was released to the public, East of Eden (1955), and yet the world mourned the passing of a hero. Last Friday, the faithful gathered by his gravesite in Fairmount, Indiana to commemorate their tragic loss. They came from far and wide, over 6,000 of them, from Argentina, Australia and Japan. A candle-light vigil started at the time of his death, 5.45am, at the Quaker Back Creek Friends Church, followed by a procession to his cemetery, and a presentation of Warner Bros documentary -- James Dean, Forever Young. On the highway in California, at the junction where he died, more fans gathered for a festival of his life, as they officially renamed that section of the highway in his honour, on this, the 50th anniversary of his death. "His early demise, means he will forever be seen as a rising star." On him, the sun will never set. "He came from almost nothing, and many people relate to that." James Byron Dean was born to Winton and Mildred Dean on a farm in Marion, Indiana on 8 February 1931. The family moved to Santa Monica, California, where Winton worked as a dental technician; Jimmy was enrolled at Brentwood Public School. When he was eight, his mother died of cancer, and his father sent him back to Indiana to live with a Quaker aunt and uncle on their farm. The young boy excelled in sports and drama in Fairmount High School, but the pain of not being loved enough by his father left a large hole in his heart throughout his young life. After graduating in 1949 he returned to California, and entered UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) as a drama major. He joined James Whitmore's Acting Workshop, which resulted in numerous television commercials and minor roles on stage and screen. Veteran actor Whitmore, had such admiration for his young student, he advised him to pursue a serious acting career in New York. Dean packed his bags, and in the winter of 1951 hitchhiked his way to the Big Apple. He took odd jobs in the theatre district and auditioned for every play on and off Broadway. His biggest competitors were Paul Newman and Steve McQueen who auditioned for the same parts. When Dean was accepted in the Actor's Studio, the greatest school of the theatre, he wrote to his father: "I am the youngest to belong, and if I can keep this up and nothing interferes with my progress, one of these days I may be able to contribute something to this world." That he did, and in a big way. In less than five years he appeared in 40 TV shows, three off-Broadway plays, two Broadway plays, and bit parts in four films before he landed three leading roles in succession. He achieved superstardom as the prototype of the disaffected, sensitive, post-war youth, making the three films among the most memorable in film history. Director Elia Kazan was looking for a young actor to cast as the rebellious twin, Cal Trask, in his film version of John Steinbeck's classic East of Eden. He saw Dean on Broadway and had him flown to Hollywood to test for the part. Reports of his powerful performance had him cast immediately in two other pictures before filming had even ended; Jim Stark in Rebel without a Cause (directed by Nicholas Ray), and Jett Rink in Edna Ferber's Texas epic Giant (directed by George Stevens). East of Eden was the only film released before his death, yet his success was staggering. His second film Rebel without a Cause, a whimsical account of the rebellious, misunderstood teenager made the young actor a lasting cultural phenomenon. During the filming of Giant, Warner Bros signed the young star to a 10-film contract. As car racing was his demon, to celebrate, he bought himself a new race car. He ran into Grace Kelly, Louis Jourdan and Sir Alec Guinness outside a restaurant in Los Angeles, and bragged about his new wheels and how they could go "150 miles an hour" (240 kilometres). Guinness was alarmed and warned the young man never to get in it: "If you did, you would be dead in a week." Six days later they found the lifeless body of the young actor under the twisted wreckage of his new Porsche on a lonely stretch of highway near Paso Robles in California. He was on his way to compete in the race course in Salinas. Two hours before he died he was stopped by a policeman who had given him a speed ticket. The site has become part of American iconography, the highway is now the James Dean Highway. Every year, for 50 years, on the anniversary of his death pilgrims from every corner of the globe, gather to retrace his last drive and to remember the young man who died, only to be reborn as a legend. Idolised by innumerable actors and musicians: Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, he himself idolised two actors: Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando. He identified closely with Clift's "fractured personality, his dislocated quality. Brando was too obvious, Monty has more class." Dean obtained Monty's unlisted phone number and called him repeatedly. He also phoned Brando, and is known to have signed his name as James (Brando/Clift) Dean on a few letters. His bi-sexuality was the source of endless rumours, but his good friends Martin Landau and Dennis Hopper completely deny that he was gay. He was surrounded by women who adored him, as did his co-star in Rebel, Natalie Wood. Upon hearing of his death, Elizabeth Taylor, was devastated, almost catatonic with grief. She ran a fever and lost her voice, and was admitted to the UCLA Medical Center before returning to the set of Giant, 10 days later. Though a little more than a boy when he died, his celebrity lasted 16 months, but in death he became an even greater star. He was nominated for Best Actor twice posthumously, a first in Academy history, for East of Eden and Giant. Dean's handsome broody face, adorns posters, T-shirts, calendars, post-cards, ashtrays, and mugs, generating over $5 million annually, second only to that other legend Marilyn Monroe. The subject of numerous articles, biographies and documentaries, defining, analysing, describing the essence of Dean, Brando summed it best: "He was only a lost boy trying to find himself." This "lost boy" in some movie magic way, "managed to dramatise brilliantly the questions every young person in every generation, must resolve!" His ever-growing legion of fans revere him today as much as they did yesterday. "As long as there are young people, James Dean will live and his legend will endure." Grieve not that I die young. Is it not well To pass away ere life hath lost its brightness? Swan Song, Lady Flora Hastings (1806-1839)
