James Dean

Today, Dean is often considered an icon because of his "experimental" take on life, which included his ambivalent sexuality.(Wotherspoon & Aldrich) There have been several accounts of Dean's sexual relationships with both men and women. William Bast was one of Dean's closest friends, a fact acknowledged by Dean's family.(Perry, George, ''James Dean'', London, New York: DK Publishing, 2005, p. 68 ("Authorized by the James Dean Estate")) Dean's first biographer (1956),(William Bast, ''James Dean: a Biography'', New York: Ballantine Books, 1956) Bast was his roommate at UCLA and later in New York, and knew Dean throughout the last five years of his life. Bast has recently published a revealing update of his first book, in which, after years of successfully dodging the question as to whether he and Dean were sexually involved,(Riese, Randall, ''The Unabridged James Dean: His Life from A to Z'', Chicago: Comtemporary Books, 1991, pp. 41, 238 ), (Alexander, Paul, ''Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Life, Times, and Legend of James Dean'', New York: Viking, 1994, p. 87) he has finally admitted  that they were.(Bast, William: ''Surviving James Dean'' (Barricade Books, 2006), pp. 133, 183-232.) In this second  book Bast describes the difficult circumstances of their involvement and also deals frankly with some of Dean's other homosexual relationships, notably the actor's friendship with Rogers Brackett, the influential producer of radio dramas who encouraged Dean in his career and provided him with useful professional contacts.(Bast, ''Surviving James Dean'', pp. 133, 150, 183.)

Journalist Joe Hyams suggests that any homosexual acts Dean might have involved himself in appear to have been strictly "for trade," as a means of advancing his career. Val Holley notes that, according to Hollywood biographer Lawrence J. Quirk, gay Hollywood columnist Mike Connolly "would put the make on the most prominent young actors, including Robert Francis, Guy Madison, Anthony Perkins, Nick Adams and James Dean."(Val Holley, ''Mike Connolly and the Manly Art of Hollywood Gossip'' (2003), p.22.) However, the "trade only" notion is debated by Bast and other Dean biographers.(Donald Spoto, ''Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean'' (HarperCollins, 1996), pp.150-151. See also Val Holley, ''James Dean: The Biography'', pp.6, 7, 8, 78, 80, 85, 94, 153.) Indeed, aside from Bast's account of his own relationship with Dean, Dean's fellow biker and "Night Watch" member John Gilmore claims he and Dean "experimented" with homosexual acts on one occasion in New York, and it is difficult to see how Dean, then already in his twenties, would have viewed this as a "trade" means of advancing his career.(John Gilmore, ''Live Fast - Die Young: Remembering the Short Life of James Dean'' (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1998).) In his Natalie Wood biography, Gavin Lambert, himself homosexual and part of the Hollywood gay circles of the 50s and 60s, describes Dean as being homosexual. ''Rebel'' director Nicholas Ray has also gone on record to say that Dean was homosexual.(See Lawrence Frascella and Al Weisel, ''Live Fast, Die Young – The Wild Ride of Making ''Rebel Without a Cause''.) Additionally, William Bast and biographer Paul Alexander conclude that Dean was homosexual.(William Bast, ''Surviving James Dean'' (Barricade Books, 2006), Alexander, Paul, ''Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Life, Times, and Legend of James Dean'', New York: Viking, 1994) George Perry's biography reduces Dean's sexuality to "experimentation".(George Perry, ''James Dean'', DK Publishing 2005) Still, Joe Hyams and Paul Alexander also claim that Dean's relationship with pastor De Weerd had a sexual aspect, too.(Boulevard; Joe Hyams, ''James Dean - Little Boy Lost'', Warner Books 1992) Bast also shows that Dean had knowledge of gay bars and customs.(William Bast, ''Surviving James Dean'', Barricade 2006, p. 53-54, p. 135) Consequently, Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon's book ''Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History: From World War II to the Present Day'' (2001) includes an entry on James Dean. Dean avoided the draft by registering as a homosexual, then classified by the US government as a mental disorder. When questioned about his orientation, he is reported to have said, "Well, I'm certainly not going through life with one hand tied behind my back."(Riese, Randall, ''The Unabridged James Dean: His Life and Legacy from A to Z'', p. 239, Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., 1991.)

As for Dean's relationships with women, after Dean signed his contract with Warner Brothers the studio's public relations department began generating stories about Dean's liaisons with a variety of young actresses who were mostly drawn from the clientele of Dean's Hollywood agent, Dick Clayton. Studio press releases also grouped "Dean together with two other actors, [[Rock Hudson]] and [[Tab Hunter]], identifying each of the men as an 'eligible bachelor' who has not yet found the time to commit to a single woman: 'They say their film rehearsals are in conflict with their marriage rehearsals.'"(Michael DeAngelis, ''Gay Fandom and Crossover Stardom: James Dean, Mel Gibson and Keanu Reeves'', p.98.) Dean's best remembered relationship is that undertaken with a young Italian actress Pier Angeli, whom he met while Angeli was shooting ''The Silver Chalice'' on an adjoining Warner lot, and with whom he exchanged items of jewelry as love tokens.(In his 1992 biography, ''James Dean: Little Boy Lost'', journalist Joe Hyams, who claims to have known Dean personally, devotes an entire chapter to Dean's relationship with Angeli.) Angeli's mother was reported to have disapproved of the relationship because Dean was not Roman Catholic. In his autobiography, ''East of Eden'' director Elia Kazan, while dismissing the notion that Dean could possibly have had any success with women, paradoxically alluded to Dean and Angeli's "romance," claiming that he had heard them loudly making love in Dean's dressing room. For a very short time the story of a Dean-Angeli love affair was even promoted by Dean himself, who fed it to various gossip columnists and to his co-star, Julie Harris, who in interviews has reported that Dean told her about being madly in love with Angeli. However, in early October 1954, Angeli unexpectedly announced her engagement to Italian-American singer Vic Damone, to Dean's expressed irritation.(Bast, William, ''Surviving James Dean'', p. 196, New Jersey: Barricade Books, 2006) Angeli married Damone the following month, and gossip columnists reported that Dean, or someone dressed like him, watched the wedding from across the road on a motorcycle. However, Dean denied that he, personally, would have done anything so "dumb," when his friend William Bast questioned him about the reports later, and Bast, like Paul Alexander, believes the relationship was a mere publicity stunt.(Boulevard; William Bast, ''Surviving James Dean'', p. 197, (2006))Pier Angeli only talked once about the relationship in her later life in an interview, giving vivid descriptions of romantic meetings at the beach that read like wishful fantasies,(John Howlett, ''James Dean: A Biography'', Plexus 1997) as also William Bast claims them to be.(William Bast, ''Surviving James Dean'')

Actress Liz Sheridan claims that she and Dean had a short affair in New York. In her memoir detailing this, she also states that Dean was having a sexual involvement with Rogers Brackett, and describes her negative response to this situation.(Liz Sheridan, ''Dizzy & Jimmy'' (ReganBooks HarperCollins, 2000), pp. 144-151.) However, again William Bast is sceptical whether this was a true love affair and claims Dean and Sheridan didn't spend much time together.(SurvivingJD) Gavin Lambert wrote in his Natalie Wood biography that, contrary to popular notions, Wood's casting in ''Rebel Without a Cause'' did not lead to a romance with Dean: "Like many people, she was fascinated by his charm. He had this magnetic quality on the screen and in life... They got on very well, they liked each other a lot," but there was no affair and no sexual relationship.(Gavin Lambert, ''Natalie Wood: A Life'' (Faber and Faber, 2004))