As Lois Smith and Julie Harris have said, James Dean was a sweet and sensitive actor, beautifully handled by Elia Kazan and his friends. It was all happening far too quickly.
USA. New York City. 1955. Jimmy DEAN with a withdrawn timid look, “East of Eden” had just opened in New York at the Astor Theater after a celebrity studded preview. Jimmy neither attended the previews or the opening, “I can’t handle that scene” so he boarded a plane to Los Angeles.USA. Fairmount, Indiana. 1955. In 1955 James DEAN visited the town where he had spent his youth, it was just after he had made “East of Eden” but the film was not yet released. He stayed on the farm of his uncle Marcus Winslow with his relatives.USA. New York City. 1955. James DEAN.
And he was my first love, my first crush. A symbol of what was to come in a love for bad boys: the unavailable, those meant to die young in a flurry of dreams and fast cars. You know, the kind you play the sad songs for. The ones who break your heart.
Writers Ink—Writing and Stuff 