JAMES DEAN: A Life in Pictures —
A Look at the Men Whose Images Birthed a Legend
Legendary actor James Dean was born on February 8, 1931… which would have made today his 85th birthday, had his life not been cut tragically short at the age of 24 in a horrific car crash. Many people remember Dean from the three starring roles he committed to celluloid in 1955, before he died — Cal Trask in East of Eden, Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause, and Jett Rink in Giant — and, make no mistake, those roles were what led him to be one of the most influential actors of all time.
However, there’s another facet to Dean’s career that caused him to be one of the most recognizable faces in the world: during his one year of stardom, he collaborated with several photographers, who took thousands of photographs, which have since been reproduced ad infinitum. James Dean is many things to many people — youth, tragically lost; a noble embodiment of inchoate teenage angst; a representation of post-WWII America in general; an exciting new form of masculinity that isn’t afraid of femininity; a queer (or queer-friendly) role model; and a proponent of a revolutionary, rebellious new form of acting. In addition to his film roles, it was these images, by these photographers, that made him so exciting, and made his metaphorical meaning so infinitely malleable. Many were not published until after his death — as fans hungered for more appearances by an actor who would never film another movie, fan magazines around the country bought up and published any and all images ever taken of Dean.
So, on what would have been Jimmy’s 85th birthday, here’s a look back at some of the most famous — and some more obscure — photos that make up the Dean mythos.
ROY SCHATT (1954)
The first of Dean’s three major photographer-collaborators was Roy Schatt. The two met while Dean was a student at the prestigious Actor’s Studio in New York City; Schatt was the official photographer of the school, and the two soon struck up a friendship. Jimmy had an interest in photography, as he did with most art forms and professions — friends and confidantes all described him as a consummate dabbler who believed knowledge of anything and everything would help him become a better actor. So, Roy became a friend and mentor of sorts, photographing Jimmy frequently, as well as helping Jimmy with his own photography. Remember, these photos were taken in 1954, before East of Eden, before anyone had any idea what kind of iconography would soon be associated with Dean’s visage.
Roy Schatt took this photo, which is one of my favorites of Jimmy. He often said he hoped to be a director someday; while he died too young to realize that dream, seeing photographs of James Dean filming is the closest we’ll come to seeing a James Dean film.
Roy Schatt was also responsible for one of the most famous Dean photoshoots, known as the Torn Sweater Series. These pictures were taken for a LIFE Magazine spread that never ran. They have been imitated countless times, printed on countless college dorm posters around the world. Looking at them now, I’m awed by how they anticipate various aspects of Dean’s star image — the moodiness, the softness, the erotic energy. In some, he seems on the verge of tears, or of rage. There’s frustration and restlessness, amusement and anger. This is James Dean at his most elemental: a face upon which to project all of your own emotions… a mirror for a generation yearning to be understood. (Images: JamesDean.com)
DENNIS STOCK (1955)
Roy Schatt’s LIFE Magazine spread wasn’t ultimately picked up. However, several months after the Torn Sweater photoshoot, James Dean embarked upon a country-wide photo-taking journey with another photographer/collaborator/friend — Dennis Stock. (This journey is the subject of a new film from Anton Corbijn called, appropriately, LIFE. I haven’t seen it yet; I’m waiting to buy the BluRay next month).
One of the core tenets of the James Dean mythos, known by every Dean fan, are the basic details of his biography. Specifically, how much of his life was informed by where he grew up — the tiny town of Fairmount, Indiana. Fairmount is so central to Dean fandom that thousands upon thousands of people gather there every year for a festival celebrating his life and legacy, occurring in September every year on the anniversary of his death. I went last year. It was awesome.
In early 1955, Dennis Stock anticipated that Dean’s fame would soon explode, and that fans would be interested in learning where the star came from. He pitched a story to LIFE to coincide with the release of East of Eden, Dean’s first starring role. To craft the photo essay, Dennis and Dean would travel to the three locations where the actor spent most of his life, photographing Jimmy in each of the three worlds in which he moved — the picturesque small-town farm in Fairmount where he grew up, the New York City theatre district, and the studio back-lots of Hollywood. What resulted is a series of environmental portraits that invite us to look beyond the famous face to the personality behind it, to “see the star in his natural habitat.”
In a recent retrospective, LIFE reflected, “[These photos] offer us a chance to experience the jolt that must have raced through countless readers in the late winter of 1955, as they gazed at Stock’s portraits of this beautiful, thrilling young star, all the while knowing, knowing, that he would be with them, starring in movies, for years to come.”
(Images: Magnum)
1. Fairmount: The Winslow Farm
2. Fairmount: Cousin Markie
Dennis Stock captured some fantastic photos of Jimmy playing with his little cousin, Markie. They’re some of my favorites, and they’re not quite as frequently-published, so I thought I’d include a few here.
3. Fairmount High School
While in town, Jimmy returned to his high school, having graduated eight years earlier, to attend a high school dance. He’d been on TV, and the town had been closely following his career, so he found himself beset by requests for autographs. Stock writes, “For Jimmy it was going home… But it was also the realization that the meteoric rise to fame that had already begun…had cut him off forever from his small-town Midwestern origins, and that he could never really go home again.”
4. Fairmount — Funeral Home
While walking around Fairmount, Jimmy led Dennis into the furniture store, which also sold coffins. To Dennis’s chagrin, Dean hopped into a coffin and posed playfully. At first, Stock found the affair morbid, but then he took pictures of Dean clowning around… and finally, he snapped a shot of Dean sitting up, looking pensive, perhaps pondering his own mortality.
He would return to this funeral home seven months later, in a coffin of his own.
5. Jimmy’s Apartment on W. 68th St., NYC.
After Fairmount, they moved on to New York. Dennis captured Jimmy in his W. 68th Street apartment, with a characteristic photographer’s eye for detail. He makes sure to include essential items from around the room in each portrait, giving us clues, we sense, to solving the James Dean puzzle. We sense Jimmy’s love of bullfighting, for example, and we find ourselves looking over his bookshelf, trying to get a sense of who the man was from what he read. (In the book that collects these photos, Stock writes, “Jimmy had a need to be surrounded by books, but I’m not sure he was a real reader.”) I love the salaciousness of Jimmy inviting LIFE Magazine readers into his bedroom. What, we are asked by the bemused expression on his face to imagine, goes on in this movie star’s bed?
6. The Streets of New York City
During the days they spent in New York, they took walks, Dennis photographing Jimmy anywhere and everywhere. Jimmy spent a few years in New York, on stage and on the small screen; once more, Dennis was capturing the actor in an environment that formed who he was and what he did. Here are a few of my favorites.
7. Times Square
Dennis Stock is responsible for one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century: James Dean, alone in the rain, in the middle of Times Square. It’s the photo that Dean is perhaps most remembered for; more than any other photo of him, it represents an entire era, and has been reproduced so many times on so many trinkets and posters and in so many books that it’d be impossible to track them all. First, some outtakes, and then the shot that ran in the eventual LIFE spread.
8. Hollywood: The making of a star
After they finished in New York City, they caught a flight back to Los Angeles, because Dean was due to start shooting Rebel Without a Cause. Unwilling to let the collaboration and friendship come to an end, Dean got Stock a pass to be on set during the filming of the movie, so that he could be the film’s official set photographer.
Here at last, having visited the place where he grew up and the place where he learned how to hone his skills as an actor, the photographer/friends were returning to the place where he was soon to become a legend.
So, first, some behind-the-scenes photos of Jimmy in Hollywood, and then, some of Stock’s set photos from Rebel.
Sanford “Sandy” Roth
The final photographer with whom Jimmy Dean formed a friendship and collaboration with was named Sanford Roth. He was the official set photographer on the set of Giant, Dean’s third and final starring role. Sandy is responsible for some fantastic photos of Dean goofing around on set between takes, both alone…
…and with his co-stars, such as these great photos with Liz Taylor. How I wish there was video of this…
Sandy also took these great photos of Jimmy washing his Porsche Speedster in short-shorts. Can’t complain. Wish there was video of this too, in fact.
After Giant, Jimmy finally got a break from his strenuous shooting schedule. In September 1955, Jimmy bought a shiny new Porsche Spyder 550, signed up for a car race in Salinas, California, and invited Sanford Roth to come along and photograph him at the races. He photographed them at Competition Motors, where Jimmy had the car inspected before the trip, and he kept snapping pictures on the road.
And then, trailing along behind the Porsche, Sandy came upon this scene.
And, the final photograph taken of James Dean:
James Dean left behind three film roles, two of which garnered him the first-ever posthumous Oscar nominations. He left behind a number of television appearances, too, which also have their own intriguing contributions to the James Dean persona. But in my opinion, his enduring relevance is also thanks in part to the thousands upon thousands of photos taken of him during 1954–1955, when he partnered with a few photographers who could sense something special on the other side of their lens.
Today, there are dedicated fan tumblrs that post nothing but James Dean photographs. There are twitter accounts that share images of his face day in and day out. There are numerous facebook groups where fans keep his memory alive by sharing photos of the star, keeping his image circulating, 85 years after he was born, 60 years after he died. Every day, there are a few pictures on those pages that I’ve never seen before. The James Dean photographs are like new performances to pore over, new expressions to interpret and circumstances to invent stories around. They’re a testament to his enduring power as a symbol of life fully lived, even as he reminds us of his untimely death.
Happy Birthday, Jimmy.
To close, perhaps my favorite photo of James Dean, taken by Dennis Stock in NYC in 1955. What might he be thinking?
