This is the book that restarted the James Dean cult by celebrating him as the cool, defiant visionary of pop culture who made adolescence seem heroic instead of awkward and who defined the style of rock ’n’ roll’s politics of delinquency. The only book to fully show how deliberately and carefully Dean crafted his own image and performances, and the product of still unequalled research, vivid writing, intimate photographs, and profound meditation, James Dean: The Mutant King has become almost as legendary as its subject.
This is the book that restarted the James Dean cult by celebrating him as the cool, defiant visionary of pop culture who made adolescence seem heroic instead of awkward and who defined the style of rock 'n' roll's politics of delinquency. The only book to fully show how deliberately and carefully Dean crafted his own image and performances, and the product of still unequalled research, vivid writing, intimate photographs, and profound meditation, James Dean: The Mutant King has become almost as legendary as its subject.
This authoritative biography of film icon James Dean offers a clear-eyed look at the actor who crossed America's cinematic landscape with the brilliance and brevity of a meteor.
"What's important about Jimmy is that in spite of his short life, he had really lived-and with his beauty, he acted in ways that other actors only dream about." - Terese Hayden, producer, Camino Real Killed in a car crash at only 24, James Dean has become a tragic legend. Compared to a Marlon Brando, Dean rose to fame in the film East of Eden, based on the novel by John Steinbeck. American teenagers particularly related to Dean through his role in Rebel Without a Cause, where he portrayed an emotionally confused teen. This is the most comprehensive biography of James Dean ever written, based upon over one hundred interviews with people who have never before spoken on record. Val Holley delves into Dean's early life and training on stage and in television using research that is astounding in its detail and frequently lets his sources speak in their own voices. Praise for James Dean: The Biography: "Val Holley allows James Dean to be as wily, controlling, beautiful, seductive, sexually ambivalent, and actory as he apparently was. It's like suddenly having the gift of a fourth, posthumous movie to slip on the shelf." - Brad Gooch, author of City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O'Hara "I was drawn in by its legwork and detail, surprising interviews, sweet reasoning, and vivid characterization. This immortal of the screen stacks up as an American enigma." - Patrick McGilligan, author of George Cukor: A Double Life, "Val Holley's James Dean is obviously a labor of love, and very thorough." - Washington Post Book World "The most definitive biography yet written ... quite interesting without being sensational." - Booklist "Holley has produced a meticulously documented work that dissects Dean's personality as never before." - Publishers Weekly "Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, this is a worthy addition to the growing body of literature surrounding an actor whose life achieved mythic proportions as a result of his untimely death." - Library Journal "The freshest, most revealing, and probably the most truthful account of [Dean] I have ever read." - Alexander Walker, author of Vivien: The Life of Vivien Leigh Val Holley has written numerous articles on James Dean and H. L. Mencken. He lives in Washington, D.C. James Dean was his first full biography.
In the decades following his death, many of those who knew James Dean best––actors, directors, friends, lovers (both men and women), photographers, and Hollywood columnists––shared stories of their first-person experiences with him in interviews and in the articles and autobiographies they wrote. Their recollections of Dean became lost in fragile back issues of movie magazines and newspapers and in out-of-print books that are extremely hard to find. Until now. The Real James Dean is the first book of its kind: a rich collection spanning six decades of writing in which many of the people whose lives were touched by Dean recall their indelible experiences with him in their own words. Here are the memorable personal accounts of Dean from his high school and college drama teachers; the girl he almost married; costars like Rock Hudson, Natalie Wood, Jim Backus, and Raymond Massey; directors Elia Kazan, Nicholas Ray, and George Stevens; entertainer Eartha Kitt; gossip queen Hedda Hopper; the passenger who accompanied Dean on his final, fatal road trip; and a host of his other friends and colleagues.
James Dean died in 1955. The star of three movies, he was aged just 24. Six decades later, the charismatic screen idol has lost none of his power to captivate. Revered by fresh generations of fans born years after his untimely death, the glamor of his limited but incandescent legacy of cinematic classics - East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant - will never fade. Drawn from extensive research and original interviews, James Dean: Rebel Life strips back the hype to reveal the man behind the myth. Filled with the testimonies of the actors, directors and ex-lovers who knew Dean best, and lavishly illustrated with candid photos (from boyhood up to Dean's untimely death) and sumptuous film stills, the book provides a uniquely personal insight into the life and times of Hollywood's tragic leading man - essential reading for fans of every generation.
A portrait of the legendary movie star who tragically died at age twenty-four features interviews with those who knew him best, details about his boyhood, and the truth about his bisexuality. Reprint.
This is the book that restarted the James Dean cult by celebrating him as the cool, defiant visionary of pop culture who made adolescence seem heroic instead of awkward and who defined the style of rock 'n' roll's politics of delinquency. The only book to fully show how deliberately and carefully Dean crafted his own image and performances, and the product of still unequalled research, vivid writing, intimate photographs, and profound meditation, James Dean: The Mutant King has become almost as legendary as its subject.
THAT'S HOW STRONG MY LOVE IS: From Rock-n-Roll to James Dean is an engaging love story that begins in the early 1960s and explores the decades of my life through 2015.It's a Rock-n-Roll love story, but it's also a story of courage and survival; when two, gay, young men move from New York City to a small Indiana town, intent on opening a James Dean museum with the opposition and ordeals that they endured along the way.THAT'S HOW STRONG MY LOVE IS details my first-hand rock-n-roll encounters, including personal accounts of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and many others. It chronicles the British invasion, my friendship with Andy Warhol, the gay rights movement, my hippie years, the glam rock scene, and the punk rock years in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. Discovering James Dean, sparks an uncontrollable obsession that ultimately culminates in leaving New York to open The James Dean Gallery in Dean's hometown of Fairmount, Indiana.THAT'S HOW STRONG MY LOVE IS: From Rock-n-Roll to James Dean is a journey of passion offering an insider's perspective with 88 pages of full-color photos and memorabilia of rock-n-roll history, James Dean, fashion, pop culture, and the counterculture of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
James DeanJames Dean is known as the first rebel. He was a '50s-styled, leather-clad biker rebuking authority. With his black turtleneck and a penchant for bongo drums and poetry, he could also easily be a kind of forerunner to the beatniks. And with his unkempt, wild hair and far-reaching philosophies, he is often cited as a kind of early hippie as well. But whatever category you put him in, James Dean was the embodiment of cool. He had a cool look, cool clothes, cool attitude, and a cool backstory that most know nothing about. James Dean began life in Indiana as the descendant of a long line of farmers. After the tragic passing of his mother at a young age and the virtual abandonment of his father, he was left to be raised by his sister and her husband on a farm in Fairmount, Indiana. Inside you will read about...- Losing His Family - A Troubled Childhood - Dean's First Big Breaks - Friends and Lovers - Dean's Acting and Car Racing Career - The Final Ride And much more! So just how did this Indiana farm boy become a Hollywood legend and kickstart a counterculture rebellion that would last throughout the '50s, '60s, and beyond? Who was James Dean? Come along as we find out more about the man, the legend, and the eternal rebel without a cause: James Dean.
