"Live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse." - James Dean
Living life in the fast lane, may not be always good, young actor James Dean had to learn this the hard way. Born in Indiana and raised by his uncle and aunt, he always loved theater and acting, and starting to study in the University of California after moving to Los Angeles. Before getting the immortal part of Cal Trask in East of Eden, he did some minor characters in two movies, a commercial, and a big Broadway play.
In East of Eden, he did a really good work playing a melancholic, passionate and introverted young man. It seems director Elia Kazan chose him because for the similarities between James and Cal. It was with this movie that he got his first nomination in the Academy Awards, for Best Actor in a leading Role. Shortly after finishing it, he starting filming Rebel without a cause and later Giant, and once again he was nominated for Best Actor.
And when everything was going perfectly, his worst addiction made him a bad turn. James always liked to race too, since his early years at Hollywood, he was on the routes racing. Even though he won just once, he was still competing. But, sometimes being ticketed is not the worst part of driving off limits. He was driving his Porsche Spyder, when a 23 year old, driving a 1950 Ford in the opposite direction, hit him in the front part. Luckily for the Ford driver he was just unconscious, but Dean's fate wasn't as good, when both cars crashed his neck broke provoking an instant death.
James Dean may have not acted in a lot of movies, but being a teenager and after his role in Rebel without a cause, most of the American young men and women were devastated. Speculation may lead us to think that he could have been one of the greatest actors of his era, but we will never know for sure. We can only remember him for his great acting and good-looking corpse.
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