Life and Career
While a lively little toddler called Norma Jeane Baker was cruising through her year at Hawthorne Community Sunday School in Los Angeles, California, the birth of another soon-to-be legend was being celebrated all the way in the Northeast. James Byron Dean was brought into the world on February 8, 1931 in Marion, Indiana, to father Winton and mother Mildred (Wilson) Dean. Jimmy would spend the first years of his life in both Marion with his parents and at his Uncle Marcus and Aunt Ortense Winslow’s farm in Fairmount. In 1935, when Jimmy was around four years old, Winton’s job transferred him to Santa Monica.
James Dean with his parents.
Jimmy shared a special bond with his mother. When he was a child, they would often set up miniature stages and perform plays using dolls Jimmy’s world came crashing down when he was nine and his beloved mother died from breast cancer at only twenty-nine. He became angry at the universe for her sudden abandonment, and at times began crying while at school. One of his elementary teachers recalls him silently sobbing at his desk in class and when asked what was wrong, he said in a small voice, “I miss my mom.”
“The only person I could believe was really close to him as a person was his mother. He never really had anybody, because at that point I think Jimmy lost everybody. It was such an irrevocable loss that it could never be filled.” -Barbara Glenn, Jimmy’s girlfriend and confidante
Winton, in-debt with Mildred’s hospital bills, decided it would be best if Jimmy be sent back to Fairmount to live in Marcus and Ortense Winslow’s home for a more stable and providing environment. He spent his days helping out around the farm, doing chores, and playing with Tuck, the family dog, and their small pig. He was a reserved kid and didn’t like to open up about his private life or about his family, but he was very imaginative and loved to perform.
It was during high school that Jimmy got his first taste of performing on stage. Here, he met his first drama coach, Adeline Nall, who cared about and encouraged him to continue theater. Jimmy was, by all accounts, a natural. Throughout his high school years he participated in several plays, sports teams such as basketball and track, and even entered in dramatic competitions.
James Dean in high school
After graduating with the class of 1949 at Fairmount High School, Jimmy longed to pursue acting further. He moved back in with his father in Los Angeles, who had by then remarried to a woman named Ethel. Him and his father were not very close, and had difficulty communicating. Winton had been physically absent for much of Jimmy’s childhood, and didn’t quite understand his aspirations. After enrolling as a theater major at UCLA, he realized, with the help of others as well, that he had too much talent to be subjected to dead end jobs and minor roles in school productions; he left for New York in 1951 and tried out for the Actors Studio. Of the one hundred and fifty students who auditioned for the prestigious school, Jimmy and his scene partner were the only two who were accepted. Although overjoyed at having succeeded, Jimmy’s time at the Actors Studio is best remembered as a young actor who sat and listened, didn’t participate, and hardly showed up.
James Dean in East of Eden
After two Broadway shows, director Elia Kazan picked Jimmy up and whisked him away to Hollywood after signing him for his next big film East Of Eden. This was the film that would start getting Jimmy noticed in Hollywood. After this, he would go on to complete two more successful films, Rebel Without A Cause with Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo, and Giant with Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. However, he had taken up dangerous hobbies, such as car racing. His life as a big star was to be short-lived, for it was tragically ended in a violent car crash off Highway 46 en route to a race in Salinas. He was just twenty-four years old.
Marilyn Connections
Family Life
Some elements of Marilyn’s and Jimmy’s childhoods are similar. Both were traumatized by their mothers’ abandonment, but in different ways. Jimmy’s mother passed away when he was very young, and although they loved each other, Jimmy did not have a very close relationship with his father. Marilyn’s mother was only really around until Marilyn was eight, although she became more and more distant due to her case of schizophrenia, which required her to live in mental institutions for most of her life. Marilyn’s father was simply not around, denying any responsibility to the child. Although both had unique familial situations, Jimmy had a much more stable upbringing with a constant family. Marilyn was transferred to several foster homes and spent her life wondering why no one wanted her or loved her. While Marilyn would search for father figures in her adult life, Jimmy was searching for mother figures.
Missed Connections
Jimmy enrolled at UCLA in 1950, where he attended classes before leaving California late in 1951 to move to New York. Marilyn began attending classes at UCLA beginning in the fall of 1952. In their careers, both were students of the Method, an acting technique coached by renowned teacher Lee Strasberg. Jimmy studied with Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York beginning in 1951. Marilyn didn’t start attending classes there until she began obtaining her own creative freedom as an actress in 1955.It’s also important to note that although Marilyn was present at the New York premiere of East of Eden, Jimmy did not attend due to nervousness.
Personal Connections
Between the two of them, Marilyn and Jimmy have a few brief mutual connections as well. Notable examples include:
Louis Schurr – A talent agent who Jimmy was referred to in New York, and who was not impressed with him. Schurr also wasn’t impressed with Marilyn, instead referring her to producer Lester Cowan in 1949.
Elia Kazan – A director who Marilyn was close friends with (and formerly dated). He brought Jimmy back from New York as an official movie actor after signing him on for East of Eden.
Nicholas Ray – A director who Jimmy was good friends with after he directed Rebel Without A Cause. Ray also dated Marilyn on and off for two years prior to her courtship with DiMaggio.
Jimmy also met Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, who he was constantly being compared to in the movie reviews, and both had been close friends of Marilyn’s. Jimmy would even hang around at Schwab’s in Los Angeles on occasion, where Sidney Skolsky, one of Marilyn’s best friends, observed the crowd often migrating towards the new star’s table. Photographer Frank Worth was friends with both Marilyn and Jimmy at around the same time.
Perhaps the biggest connection comes from the 1989 memoir of Shelley Winters, where she recalls attending a screening of Kazan’s On The Waterfront in which both Marilyn and Jimmy were present. Afterwards, she states that they all went to a get-together at Nicholas Ray’s bungalow at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood. Winters recalls that on the way to the hotel,
“Jimmy came roaring down the mountain [on his motorcycle]. He started the deadly game of circling us. I kept honking at him, and he kept putting his brakes on right in front of me. He was laughing and enjoying the game. When I got to the Chateau Marmont, I quickly drove to the underground garage. Jimmy followed. Marilyn was rigid with fear, and I was ready to punch his lights out.”
The more evidence that is uncovered from this night, the more likely it seems that Marilyn and Jimmy were in fact in the same place at the same time. Some elements are questionable, such as the motorcycle story, since it would seem that would be something Jimmy would have done if he had a personal grudge against someone. One example of him causing such trouble would be from 1954: Jimmy gunned his motor outside of his ex-girlfriend Pier Angeli’s wedding. But it would make sense if that occurred and was the reason that Marilyn, according to Winters, stayed on opposite sides of the room from Jimmy at the party. Finally, one piece of paper exists which includes more than likely authentic signatures from Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Nicholas Ray, which were likely signed on the same night.
A famous photo of James Dean in New york, 1955. Photo by Dennis Stock.
Did the two meet, or is this all just claims and hopefulness from adoring fans? Until the day we are able to conclude for certain, we’ll have to leave it open for debate.
For the most part, their personalities and lifestyles differ tremendously from each other. Marilyn had Louella Parsons, Jimmy had Hedda Hopper. Marilyn frequented Schwab’s in Los Angeles, Jimmy was at home in Cromwell’s in New York. Jimmy loved to act out and Marilyn was shy. What is for certain is that Marilyn Monroe and James Dean will forever live on as two of the greatest actors of their times. They’ve both achieved iconic status in pop culture and in the hearts of millions. Their influence has shaped a nation of sex symbols and teenage rebels. But behind the icons are two immensely talented but lonely human beings with childlike curiosity and the same love for reading profound books and poetry. Both worked tirelessly at improving their craft and both made a legendary name for themselves.
-Ky Monroe for Immortal Marilyn
