James Dean

He also worked as a "stunt tester" on the game show "Beat the Clock" (1950), testing the safety of the stunts that some of the studio audience members would later perform. However he proved so agile at completing the stunts that his results couldn't be used to set time limits for contestants to complete them. So he was reluctantly let go.

While a struggling actor in the 1950s, he once lived at 19 West 68th Street, off Manhattan's Central Park West.

Aping Marlon Brando, he also bought a Triumph motorcycle. Instead of Brando's 650cc 6T Thunderbird model, which he used in the film, The Wild One (1953), he bought the smaller 500cc TR5 Trophy model. This Triumph featured in a famous series of photographs by Phil Stern, the motorcycle itself being recovered, restored and currently displayed at the "James Dean Museum" in Fairmount, Indiana.

Was the first actor to receive an Academy Award nomination posthumously, for his role in East of Eden (1955). However, he did not win.

East of Eden (1955) was the only one of the three movies in which he had major roles to be released while he was alive.

Elia Kazan, in his 1988 autobiography "A Life", says that during the production of East of Eden (1955), he had to have Dean move into a bungalow near his on the Warner Bros. lot to keep an eye on him, so wild was his nightlife.

Had a fondness for auto racing and had purchased the 1955 Porsche Spyder sports car, one of only 90 made of that year model, planning to participate in the upcoming races in Salinas, CA on Oct 1, 1955.

Received posthumous Oscar nominations for his his first and last ever screen performances: East of Eden (1955) and Giant (1956).

His final screen test for East of Eden (1955) was shot with Paul Newman, who also was in the final running for one of the roles. Originally, director Elia Kazan had considered casting Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift in the roles of the two brothers, but they were too old to play teenagers as they were both in the their 30s in 1954. Newman's age, 29, also put him at a disadvantage. Dean, 23 years old and Richard Davalos, aged 19, were cast as the fraternal twins.

According to Marlon Brando, Dean would often call him, leaving messages with Brando's answering service. Brando would sometimes listen, silently, as Dean instructed the service to have Brando call back. Brando, disturbed that Dean was copying his life-style (motorcyle, bongo drums) and acting techniques, did not return his calls. The two met at least three times: on the set of East of Eden (1955); on the set of Desirée (1954) and at a party, where Brando took Dean aside and told him he had emotional problems that required psychiatric attention.

His performance as Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) is ranked #43 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Was originally considered for the leading role in Oklahoma! (1955).

At the time of his death, he was signed to play in "The Battler" on the "Playwrights '56" (1955) television series. The role went instead to Paul Newman.

Ironically, he filmed a highway safety commercial with actor Gig Young on the set of Giant (1956) in July 1955. Dean told Young, "I used to fly around quite a bit, took a lot of unnecessary chances on the highway....Now when I drive on the highway, I'm extra cautious."

During the filming of Giant (1956), he and Rock Hudson did not get along. This tension heightened their on-screen clashes. However, according to Hudson's ex-wife Phyllis Gates, he cried after hearing the news of Dean's death. Gates wrote, "Rock couldn't be reached. He was overcome by guilt and shame, almost as though he himself had killed James Dean."

At the time of his death, Dean was signed to appear in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) at MGM and The Left Handed Gun (1958) at Warner Bros. Both parts subsequently were taken by Paul Newman and helped make him a star. Newman's career may very well have been retarded if Dean had lived as, while still alive, they competed for the same roles (East of Eden (1955)).

Just before his death, his agent, Jane Deacy, negotiated a 9-picture deal over 6 years with Warner Bros. worth $900,000. Dean's next project was to be a television version for NBC of Emlyn Williams' play "The Corn is Green", in which he was to star with Judith Anderson. His next film was to be Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), a biopic of boxer Rocky Graziano, for which Warners were loaning him to MGM and in which he was replaced by Paul Newman. Newman also replaced him in the role of Billy the Kid in The Left Handed Gun (1958). Three other roles with which he was being linked were the leads in Gun for a Coward (1957), This Angry Age (1958) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958).

While filming The Swan (1956) in Hollywood, Alec Guinness he met James Dean, just days before the young actor's death. Sir Alec later recalled predicting that Dean would die in a car crash: when Dean showed Guinness his newly-bought Porsche, Guinness advised him to "Get rid of that car, or you'll be dead in a week!" Guinness unfortunately proved right.

Immortalized in 1974 by the song "Rock On" sung by David Essex.

According to "The Mutant King", David Dalton's 1974 biography of James Dean, the rumor that Dean was a masochist who liked to have cigarettes stubbed out on his naked body can be traced to a pencil sketch of his called "The Human Ash Tray". The sketch featured a human body, in the guise of an ash tray, with many cigarette stubs in it. Dalton speculates that the sketch has nothing to do with Dean's sexual proclivities but much to do with the fact that he was a heavy smoker.

'Rolf Weütherich', the German auto mechanic who was riding with Dean in the passenger seat during his fatal auto crash, was thrown from the car by the impact and received multiple injuries. After Dean's death, he fell into a depression from the trauma of the incident and made several suicide attempts. He died in Germany in 1981 in an auto accident similar to the one that James Dean died in.

He is one of several famous and tragic figures from history to be featured on the front and back sleeves of rock band Marillion's "Clutching at Straws" album, released in 1987.

One of the many personalities mentioned in Billy Joel's song "We Didn't Start the Fire" (1989).

Marlon Brando, in his 1994 autobiography "Songs My Mother Taught Me", says that Dean, who idolized him, based his acting on him and his lifestyle on what he thought Brando's lifestyle was.

. Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#42). [1995]

Donald Turnupseed, the driver of the other car involved in Dean's accident, died of cancer in 1995. Turnupseed couldn't swerve out of the way of Dean's Porsche Spyder, but he successfully swerved journalists who frequently pestered him for interviews about the accident.

Pictured on a 32¢ US commemorative postage stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series, originally issued on Monday, June 24th, 1996.

. Ranked #33 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

Hilary Duff's 2005 "Most Wanted" album includes the song "Mr. James Dean", which is all about him.