Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean [Hardcover]

Donald Spoto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1996

The story of legendary rebel James Dean is told with the help of dozens of his family, friends, lovers, directors, and co-stars, and reveals the young man behind the image in his first complete, fully documented biography. $125,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The good news: James Dean probably wasn't a male hustler and he didn't act in pornographic films while he was still trying to make a go of it as an actor in New York. The bad news: James Dean was pretty much of a jerk, with a penchant for urinating in public and a singular lack of personal hygiene. Donald Spoto, the biographer of, among others, Alfred Hitchcock, Marlene Dietrich, and Marilyn Monroe, takes a clear-eyed dispassionate look at the legend of James Dean and discovers that his untimely death was probably his greatest career move of all.

From Publishers Weekly

When James Dean died by smashing his Porsche into another car, the 24-year-old actor leaped from fame into legend. Ever since, according to veteran biographer Spoto (A Passion for Life, 1995, about Elizabeth Taylor), Dean has been a protean icon, serving the changing needs of subsequent generations-as a rebel, as a social outcast, as a sexual outlaw. But in this breezy bio, the author contends that "the young man adored and idolized" was, ultimately, "quite simply a boy." In demythologizing Dean, Spoto cites the lack of hard evidence to back up popular allegations about the actor's sexual misconduct, most notably his supposed adolescent involvement with an Indiana minister, his alleged forays into male prostitution and his purported posing for a notorious photo of a young man masturbating in a tree. To lend his version contextual weight, Spoto offers much socioeconomic and cultural background of Dean's time, some of it bland; and to lend it credence, he digs vigorously into the published record, including previous Dean bios like Joe Hyams's Little Boy Lost (1992). While there's not a lot here that's exciting or new, Spoto cuts and pastes smoothly, winding up with an engaging account of a human turned into "the perfect hip icon" for an age "that relies on simple visuals for easy truth." Photos not seen by PW. $125,000 ad/promo; author tour; dramatic rights: Elaine Markson.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060176563
• ISBN-13: 978-0060176563
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,720,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jimmy Dean as a human-man!, March 30, 2002

By 

Christopher Geer (Orange, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean (Paperback)

This is the best book out there on the life of James Byron Dean. It is not only concerned with the things that he did, but whom he affected personally, and the psychological reasoning behind the actions of this tortured genious. This book leaves no loose-ends untied in it's deconstruction of an icon, so that we can better understand Jimmy the man. This wonderfull book makes you feel as though you know James Dean for who he really was, and not for "whatever people wanted him to be". James B. Dean was complicated, tortured, conflicted and was a bottomless well for everyone's love. This James Dean is both more heroic and tragic than the Studios made him out to be, he is a confused, self-conscious boy. This is the real James Dean. Other attempts at recollecting his life are either glorified, or romanticized. Read this book, if you are a real fan of James Dean the person, not James Dean the legend.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rebel : The Life and Legend of James Dean, November 14, 2001

By 

D. Di Ferdinando (Berwyn, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean (Hardcover)

Of the 20 books I have read on James Dean, this is one of my favorite. It was one of the most heart-wrenching books I have ever read. Spoto is interested in exploring the psychological reasons for Dean's behavior, both positive and negative. He constantly makes reference to the abandonment issues of Dean's childhood as the answer for his every move as an adult. Spoto creates such a vivid portrait of the man that when I read about his death, I mourned as if I had known him.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engaging look at a Hollywood icon, April 27, 2006

By 

Andrew Budgell - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean (Paperback)

Being an Elizabeth Taylor fan, I had seen James Dean in "Giant" - his final film and knew little of his life, save for his interest in fast cars, and his tragic death. I had recently become interested in Dean and his work and picked up the recent Warner box set of his three films on DVD. On a quest to learn more on Dean's life, I picked up Donald Spoto's biography "Rebel". I chose "Rebel" because from what I'd heard, it offered a respectable look into the young actor's short life and career, and tried to dispel many rumours that surround Jimmy's legend. I felt that it indeed did that, and I learned quite a bit of who James Dean was.

Dean's life and his relationships were forever altered because of the death of his mother, the only person he was ever close to (at the time). His father was always distant in Jimmy's life, even when his mother was alive. This was heightened when Jimmy was sent to live with his Aunt and Uncle in Fairmount, ID - the state where Jimmy had lived early life. This is paramount to understanding Dean, his motives, and his relationship with others. His fears of abandonment plagued all of his relationships, and stopped him from opening up to others. As quickly as he would make friendships with certain people, he would drop them and move on, without another word.

Donald Spoto's "Rebel" was an intriguing look into the life of a mythical Hollywood figure, James Dean, who as I quickly found out was a complex and tormented young man.