James Dean

<table><tr><td>In 1953, director [[Elia Kazan]] was looking for an actor to play the role of "Cal Trask" in screenwriter Paul Osborn's adaptation of [[John Steinbeck]]'s 1952 novel ''[[East of Eden (1955 film)|East of Eden]]''.  The book dealt with the story of the Trask and Hamilton families over the course of three generations, focusing especially on the lives of the latter two generations in [[Salinas Valley]], California in the mid-1800s through the 1910s. However, the film chose to deal predominantly with the character of Cal Trask, who is essentially the rebel son of a pious and constantly disapproving father (played by [[Raymond Massey]]), and estranged mother, whom Cal discovers is a brothel-keeping madam ([[Jo Van Fleet]]). Elia Kazan said of Cal before casting, "I wanted a Brando for the role." Osborn suggested to Kazan that he consider Dean for the part. After introducing Dean to Steinbeck, and gaining his enthusiastic approval, Kazan set about putting the wheels in motion to cast the relatively unknown young actor in the role. On [[March 8]], [[1954]], Dean left New York City and headed for [[Los Angeles]] to begin shooting. Dean's performance in the film foreshadowed his role as Jim Stark in ''Rebel Without A Cause''. Both characters are rebel loners and misunderstood outcasts, desperately craving parental guidance from a father figure.</td><td>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/James_Dean_in_East_of_Eden_trailer_2.jpg<br>Dean as Cal Trask in ''East of Eden''.</td></tr></table>