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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1977)
ad lib thursday, October 6, 1977 page 4 ! " .t I Dean, 'you're too fast to live and too young to die' By Jim Williams You have to be at least 22 to have lived when James Dean did. If you were a teenager when he was alive, fascinated by his portrayals of sullen adolescence; you're at least 35 now. . But even if you don't remember him, you probably know who James Dean was. For what other" early-fifties movie stars can tou say the same? James Dean was a pre-rock-era artifact, a punk matinee idol even before Presley. James Byron Dean was born Feb. 8, 1931, in Marion, Indiana. His father, Winton Dean, was a dental mechanic for the U.S. Government. His mother, Mildred Wilson Dean, was determined that her son should grow up cultured and intelligent. She amused him, played theatre with him and gave him violin lessons as soon as he was old enough to hold a violin. When "Deanie," as they called him, was 6, his father profile was transfered to Santa Monica, Cal. Dean, new in school, had trouble making friends other children ridiculed his violin and dancing lessons, and his brightness in class. , Mother died Dean lost the only person he was really close to when his mother died of breast cancer in 1940. Her medical expenses depleted the family funds so Winton Dean sent his son back to Indiana to live on a farm with Winton's sister and brother-in-laws. Ortense and Marcus Winslow. Dean was nine then. When Dean was 12, although near-sighted, he rode his Whizzer motorbike like crazy. He broke two front teeth in a fall from a home trapeze and wore a bridge for the rest of his life. Part of this; was due to a Wesleyan minister, the Rev. James De Weerd. De Weerd was a hero to the local boys, a wounded and decorated World War II veteran fascinated with risky sports. He showed boys his films of bullfight ing and took them to auto races, providing Dean with two of his life's major interests. . His third Interest was theatre. He was president of Fairmount High's Thespian Society and won the state foensic league contest his senior year with a nad, ranting reading of a Dickens piece. He also was a champion pole vaulter and livestock raiser, a straight A student, a vacant lot motorcycle racer, a hurdler and a basketball guard. Dean wanted to study theatre, but his father, more interested in his son having a steady Income, persuaded him to study pre-law and physical education at Santa Monica City College. It didn't work out, and Dean transfered to UCLA at the next fall semester. Athletic instructor During the summer of 1 950 he had used his physical education training to get a job as athletic instructor at a local military academy. He said later he liked it and was disappointed that his bad eyesight excluded him from the draft. Also at the academy he met a member of UCLA's athletically-oriented Sigma Nu fraternity and joined it. r 'J ( ' ' V . I -A .' It also was that summer that he was fascinated by Marlon Brando's performance in the movie The Men. Dean got a major part in UCLA's Macbeth. It brought him notice from theatrical agent Isabel Draesmer, who agreed to represenChim in his search for movie work. It also brought him ridicule from his fraternity brothers, who thought anybody who studied acting was a pansy. He aecked 2 of them and was expelled from Sigma Nu. Dean's acting career took sudden ups and downs. He got his first professional job in a Pepsi commerical; studied acting in a group with movie star James Whitmore N and quit school for lack of money. Dean took to hanging around Hollywood bars and casting offices, or even with . the street-corner hustlers who hoped to get movie work through sex. Finally Dean left California for New York. He worked bit parts in live television while sharing an apartment with dance student Elizabeth Sheridan. He was accepted into the prestigious 'Actors' Studio, but walked out after a harsh critique session. Yacht crew member Dean then worked odd jobs, getting drunk or stoned or -buzzed on speed and practiced his bullfighting technique on New York cabs. He joined a yacht crew because the owner was a Broadway producer and the meeting netted him a part in See the Jaguar. Dean once pulled a switch- ' blade on a stagehand during rehearsals, but got good reviews for his part. However, the play got bad ones, and closed after six runs. , TV had discivered Dean's audience appeal, and he .competed for angry-young-man roles with Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. He won a Tony award for his role in The Immoralist, but quit the play when his part was changed against his wishes Movie producer Elia Kazan had seen him and signed him for a part in East of Eden. As the shooting for East of Eden neared completion, Dean turned nasty again. He lived in his dressing room at Warner Brothers, defending his borders with a Colt .45 revolver and switchblade. One night while stalking the studio lot he' ran into Jack Warner, one of the owners. Neither recognized the otherand they exchanged abuse. Warner gave him 12 hours to move out and Dean spent them vandalizing the studio lot. ' He wasn't sure he wanted to sign for Rebel Without A Cause. His negotiations with the film's Nick Ray were strained, until one night he told Ray he had the crabs and asked how to get rid of them. Ray sent him to the drug store with Instructions, and Dean signed to do the film. Marlon Brando WhUe completing Rebel Without A Cause, Dean met Marlon Brando at a party. Brando gave him a lecture on the dangers of motorcycling, one of Dean's passions. Dean ignored it and a few days later took a bad fall from his bike. His contracts with Warner Bros, forbade him to ride when he was working on films. Dean began work on his last film, Giant. He dated Ursula Andress for a while but eventually broke up. Dean had also begun collecting obituaries and writing poems about death. But he also made a road-safety com mercial, saying, "Remember, drive safely-because the life you save may be mine." Dean's contract allowed him a 12-month vacation when Giant was. finished. Of his films, only East of Eden had been released, but it had done well. He had movie and TV work lined up after his vacation, during which he said he wanted to sculpt, play Hamlet, tour Europe and race. He ordered an all-out racing car from Lotus in England, then spent $6,000 for a Porsche 550 Spyder to use until the other car arrived. . Traffic fatality Dean decided to drive his potent sports-racer tq an event in Salinas to break in the engine. He set off with mechanic Rolf Weutherich, followed by friends in a Ford station wagon. Police said later Dean probably was doing over 70 m.p.h. near dusk when a Plymouth limousine driven by 23-year-old student Donald Turnupseed pulled onto the highway to make a turn. This was in the days before racing cars carried seat belts or roll cages. Dean braked hard, but too late. Weutherich was thrown out, seriously injured. Dean was impaled on the steering column, his neck broken. He was t buried on October 8 in Fairmount, lnd;t .-.H.w5 '..v,ri That was the end of James Dean, but the beginning of a sick cult. Warner' Bros, wasn't sure it should release . Dean's next, 2 movies, but did, with astonishing success. People began writing in asking for a lock of his hair, a fingernail pairing, a piece of wallpaper he had touched. A Los Angeles couple bought the crumpled Porsche and exhibited it in a bowling alley 25 cents to view, 50 cents to sit in the death seat and finger the blood-stained wheel. Subtle pressure made them stop. Dean was nominated for two Oscars but never won. Other cult heroes came along. And that was the end of it. SPORTS PROFILE FOR THE WEEK SUNDAY 5 FRIDAY (ABC) WORLD SERIES: 8:00 PM E.D.T. - 7:00 PM C.D.T. Live coverage of the third game of the World Series from the city of the National League Champion. (PCS) SOCCER MADE IN GERMANY: 10:00 PM E.D.T. - 9.00 PM C.D.T. A weekly series premieres covering the best Qames played the previous week by teams of the West German National Football League. SATURDAY " (ABC) ABC Sports will provide live coverage of the fourth Came of th3 World Series from the city of the National League champion. The schedule will be as follows depending on whether the National League champion is a West Coast city or an East Coast city: (PBS) GRAND PRIX TENNIS: 3:00 PM E.D.T. - 2:00 PM C.D.T. Coverage of the semi-finals of the $100,000 island Holidays Pro Tennis Cl?sic. played earlier this month, from Maui. Hawaii. (CDS) SPORTS SPECTACULAR: 4:30 PM E.D.T. - 3:30 PM C.O.T. Chunichi Cup. men's and women's gymnastic competition, from Njgoya, Japan; 'Jockey Club Gold Cup. 53th running for 3-ycar-olds and up at a mile and one-half, from Belmont Park. Elmcnt. N.Y.; 'World's Strongest Men. Part III. (CBS) THE NFL TODAY: 12:30 PM E.D.T. - 11:30 AM C.D.T. News and features on the NFL and other sports news of the day. (ABC) COLLEGE FOOTBALL 77: 12:30 PM E.D.T. - 11:30 AM C.D.T. Features weekly highlights of key contests which are scheduled during the 1977 NCAA Football season.. (NBC) NFL 77: 12:30 PM E.D.T.-11 :30AM C.D.T. Football news, interviews and features. (NBC) NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE GAME: 1:00 PM E.D.T. -12:00 NOON C.D.T. Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets: Cleveland Browns vs. Oakland Raiders; New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks. (Check local stations for game in your area.) (CBS) THE NFL TODAY: 1:00 PM ELD.T. -12:00 NOON C.D.T. Atlanta Falcons vs. San Francisco 49ers; Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings; New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles. (Check local stations for game in your area). (NBC) NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE GAME: 2:00 PM E.D.T. -1:00PM C.D.T. Cincinnati Bengals vs. Green Bay Packers; Baltimore Colts vs. Miami Dolphins; Houston Oilers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers; New Orleans Saints vs. San Diego Chargers. (Check local sta tions for game In your area.) (NCC) NFL '77: 3:30 PM E.D.T. - 2:30 PM C.D.T. Wrap-up of today's football news. (CBS) THE NFL TODAY: 4:00 PM C.D.T. -3: 00 PM C.D.T. Dallas Cowboys vs. St. Louis Cardinals. (NBC) NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE GAME: 4:00 PM E.D.T. -3:00 PM C.D.T. Denver Bronco3 vs. Kansas City Chiefs. (NBC) NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE GAME: 5.00 PM E.D.T. -4:00 PM C.D.T. If the play-off contests between the National League divi sional winners goes to a fifth game, NBC Sports will provide live coverage from the ball park of the Eastern Division team. (CBS) THE NFL TODAY: 6:45 PM E.D.T. - 5:45 PM C.D.T. Post-game scores, highlights and sports news. (NBC) AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE GAME: 8:00 PM E.D.T. -7:00PMC.D.T. If the play-off contest between the American League divi sional winners goes to a fifth game, NBC Sports will cover the event from the ball park of the Western Division champion. , MONDAY " (ABC) MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: 9:00 PM E.D.T. - 8:00 PM C.D.T. Los Angeles Rams vs. Chicago Bears, live from Chicago, Illinois. TUESDAY . (ABC) WORLD SERIES: 8:00 PM E.D.T. - 7:00 PM C.D.T. Live coverage of the first game of the World Series from the city of the American League Champion. WEDNESDAY (ABC) WORLD SERIES: 8:00 PM E.D.T. 7:00 PM C.D.T. Live coverage of the second game of the World Series from the city of the American League Champion. ADVERTISERS Space reservations are now being accepted for Entertainment guide See your Sales Representative for details, or call 472-2589
