James Dean

Dying young was one reason why James Dean became a legendary figure within American culture, but being a talented actor also  had a lot to do with it. HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano discuss this actor's short life and his long afterlife as a screen legend in this podcast episode. Dean only appeared in three movies: "East of Eden" (1955), "Rebel without a Cause" (1955) and "Giant" (1956). The angry young men he played in these films closely mirrored this Method actor's own rebellious personality. That's why the emerging teen culture of the 1950s identified so closely with him, and why his death in a car crash at age 24 immediately turned his mortality into screen immortality.