James Dean
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==Early life== | ==Early life== | ||
| − | James Dean was born to Winton Dean and Mildred Wilson Dean at the "Seven Gables" apartment house, at the intersection of 4th and McClure Streets in Marion, Grant County, [[Indiana]]. Six years after his father had left farming to become a dental technician, James and his family moved to Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, [[California]]. The family spent some years there, and by all accounts young Jimmy was very close to his mother. According to Michael DeAngelis, she was "the only person capable of understanding him".(Michael DeAngelis, ''Gay Fandom and Crossover Stardom: James Dean, Mel Gibson and Keanu Reeves'' (Duke University Press, 2001), p.97 | + | James Dean was born to Winton Dean and Mildred Wilson Dean at the "Seven Gables" apartment house, at the intersection of 4th and McClure Streets in Marion, Grant County, [[Indiana]]. Six years after his father had left farming to become a dental technician, James and his family moved to Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, [[California]]. The family spent some years there, and by all accounts young Jimmy was very close to his mother. According to Michael DeAngelis, she was "the only person capable of understanding him".(Michael DeAngelis, ''Gay Fandom and Crossover Stardom: James Dean, Mel Gibson and Keanu Reeves'' (Duke University Press, 2001), p.97) He was enrolled in Brentwood Public School in [[Los Angeles County, California]] until his mother died of cancer in 1940. |
| − | Unable to care for his nine-year-old son, Winton Dean sent the young James to live with Winton's sister Ortense and her husband Marcus Winslow on a farm in Fairmount, [[Indiana]], where he entered high school and was brought up with a Quaker background. Here Dean sought the counsel of, and formed an enduring friendship with, Methodist pastor | + | Unable to care for his nine-year-old son, Winton Dean sent the young James to live with Winton's sister Ortense and her husband Marcus Winslow on a farm in Fairmount, Grant County, [[Indiana]], where he entered high school and was brought up with a Quaker background. Here Dean sought the counsel of, and formed an enduring friendship with, Methodist pastor Reverand James DeWeerd. DeWeerd seemed to have had a formative influence upon the teenager, especially upon his future interests in bullfighting, car racing, and the theater. According to Billy J. Harbin, "Dean had an intimate relationship with his pastor... which began in his senior year of high school and endured for many years." |
For more details concerning this homosexual relationship, see Billy J. Harbin, Kim Marra and Robert A. Schanke, eds., ''The Gay And Lesbian Theatrical Legacy: A Biographical Dictionary Of Major Figures In American Stage History in the Pre-Stonewall Era'' (University of Michigan Press, 2005), 133. See also Joe and Jay Hyams, ''James Dean: Little Boy Lost'' (1992), p.20, who present an account alleging Dean's molestation as a teenager by his early mentor DeWeerd and describe it as Dean's first homosexual encounter (although DeWeerd himself portrayed his relationship with Dean as a completely conventional one). | For more details concerning this homosexual relationship, see Billy J. Harbin, Kim Marra and Robert A. Schanke, eds., ''The Gay And Lesbian Theatrical Legacy: A Biographical Dictionary Of Major Figures In American Stage History in the Pre-Stonewall Era'' (University of Michigan Press, 2005), 133. See also Joe and Jay Hyams, ''James Dean: Little Boy Lost'' (1992), p.20, who present an account alleging Dean's molestation as a teenager by his early mentor DeWeerd and describe it as Dean's first homosexual encounter (although DeWeerd himself portrayed his relationship with Dean as a completely conventional one). | ||
