From a very young age he had a great love for the theater. He participated in all the plays that were performed at his school and, when he was older, when he enrolled in the University of California he joined the theater group of the same. At the same time, he played a small role in both film and television, also filming a Pepsi-Cola commercial that was very famous in the United States.
After finishing his studies in California, he went to New York and entered the Actor’s Studios, knowing very clearly that he wanted to study interpretation.
He continued to intervene in small roles until his opportunity to star in a feature film arrived. This came from the hand of the prestigious Elia kazan and the movie was “East of Eden”, in which he played a sullen young man, angry with the world, a role that was very much in keeping with his character. The film was a success and, despite being the first he starred in, it established him as an actor.
His second film, which he played alongside Natalie Wood, It was “Rebel without a cause”, where he starred as a lonely and misfit character, very similar to that of his previous film.
Later he shot what was to be his last film, “Giant”, next to Rock hudson Y Elizabeth taylor. During the filming he struck up a great friendship with said actress. Here the character he played was somewhat different but he also had many traits from his previous protagonists and even himself.
The fondness that the young man felt towards cars and speed. He was sanctioned several times for exceeding the permitted speed limits. He even went so far that to shoot his last two films they included a clause in the contract in which he promised not to run for the duration of the shooting.
After a couple of days of filming an advertisement advising young people to drive at a moderate speed, James Dean was involved in an accident, colliding with another car at an intersection, causing his death. It was in the town of Cholame, in California. It is said that the young man was not really running that day and that the other car was to blame.
But whoever was to blame, the truth is that on September 30, 1955, at that fatal crossroads, James Dean left his life at only 24 years old, also putting an end to a promising film career. However, at this same junction, the legend was born that day.
Indeed, despite having interpreted only 3 films and although his life was so short, James Dean became the idol of the youth of his time. And with his premature death he became a myth, a legend that will last forever in the history of cinema.