Surviving James Dean [Hardcover]

William Bast (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 20, 2006

A beautifully written memoir, candid and definitive, that tells the story of Bast's five year relationship with the charismatic actor and American legend--James Dean.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bast, a TV writer and journalist, was infatuated with James Dean (1931–1955) from the moment they met (at UCLA in 1950). A closeted gay man, Bast had a crush on the brooding, unknown actor and had a brief fling with him. This work records their close friendship, Dean's rise to stardom and the years following his premature death at age 24. Dean's troubled life is well documented, and Bast isn't interested in repeating his previous James Dean, a Biography, written in 1956. At the time, Bast was loathe to reveal his homosexuality or Dean's affairs with men. He now hopes to make up for his "youthful shortcomings and omissions." The hook is Dean's sexuality, which Bast explores in detail, discounting his relationships with women and focusing on those with men, including a stint with a notorious "chicken hawk," an older man who fancies younger guys (Bast quotes Dean saying of the union, "I paid my way"). This simple, heartfelt book records Bast's coming out and the long-term impact Dean had on his life. 16-page b&w photo insert not seen by PW. (Apr.)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Barricade Books (April 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156980298X
• ISBN-13: 978-1569802984
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real James Dean, May 26, 2006

By 

H. Lucas L. Ginn (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Surviving James Dean (Hardcover)

I just finished reading Surviving James Dean by William Bast. Bast was Dean's best friend during the last five years of his life. The book is excellent. I have read other Dean biographies, but Bast's book completes the portrait of the man in a way that could only be done by a close friend.

Dean is fairly and lovingly portrayed, but the book is not a hagiography. Bast acknowledges Dean's character flaws (we all have them!) without dwelling on them. Instead of the rebel, the introvert, the selfish fellow who has been written about in many lesser biographies, Bast introduces the reader to a young man filled with compassion, generosity, and love of life. This is the James Dean who crawls into Bast's bed and holds him after Bast says good-bye to a lover headed to the battlegrounds of Korea. This is the man who holds his aunt's arthritic hand and strokes it soothingly as he talks with her. This is the movie star on the cusp of success who stops his car on the side of a desert highway to hold and comfort a bird as it dies.

Bast argues that Dean was at the very least bisexual and more likely homosexual. He acknowledges that the two of them had a sexual relationship and that Dean had sexual relations with several other men. That information, combined with Bast's conviction that Dean's relationship with Pier was blown way out of proportion, will undoubtedly upset some fans who are homophobic or starry-eyed romantics. Surviving James Dean, however, is not a sexual biography and Dean's sexuality is not the central focus of the book.

Many rumors or myths about James Dean are debunked. For example, Bast writes that Dean was not deeply involved in the occult. He also reports that Dean was unfairly accused of copping a "Brando act" when in reality it was coincidental that the two of them had so many interests in common.

Bast spends considerable time discussing his own life during the 1950s and his story is nearly as compelling as Dean's. It is amazing what two Midwestern boys from modest means accomplished via their own talent and determination. Bast's book gave me a whole new respect for James Dean and also increased my sadness regarding his early death. James Dean was a very special man indeed and would have left his mark on the world in multiple ways had his life not been so tragically short.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bast's second take on Dean, March 27, 2011

By 

D. Di Ferdinando (Berwyn, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Surviving James Dean (Hardcover)

This book was the 20th that I have read on James Dean. I loved the fact that I still learned some things about him that I never learned in previously read books. Bast gives a fresh perspective. He had been Dean's roommate and now he looks back and analyzes his friend's behaviour in a way that only time and distance allows. The story is tender, informative and very satisfying. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire book.

39 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Still A Question, August 6, 2006

By 

Chaz Macrina (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Surviving James Dean (Hardcover)

I'm really not sure what to make of this book by Bill Bast. I have read his earlier book on James Dean and saw the film based on that book. Each of these offerings leaves me a little empty. I can't help but feel that 1) Bill Bast was jealous of James Dean and 2) he was equally obsessed with him. Most of what happens in his telling of his relationship with James Dean happens in Bast's mind. The constant dissecting of the creature he met in college, his embarassed sexual attraction to him, and his longing to be with him in a romantic partnership. His observations and feelings during those times have not matured since his first installment 50 years ago. But rather his impulse to tell more about their realtionship is really to tell us more about his own fantasies and the depth of his obsession. Just read the passages in which he describes anyone but himself being a part of Jimmy's inner circle.

He discounts Liz Sheridan's book by saying that Jimmy confessed to him that they were only having fun. If he did say that perhaps it was to protect himself from an obsessive's unending interrogation. Also, did James Dean not surround himself in mystery in a self-protective way? On the other hand do we not all edit ouselves at times to those around us? Bast himself admits that he had learned never to ask Jimmy anything about his sex life ... in other words, he had asked enough to be told that by Jimmy. And likewise if you believe Bast, Jimmy and Pier Angeli would never have had a chance to be romantically involved. Yet if you watched any of the documentaries in which Julie Harris appears, it was plain to her that Jimmy and Pier Angeli were in love.

It's hard to believe everything that Bill Bast writes because he simply wasn't around Jimmy all the time and he seems to fill in those blanks as I have said, with romantic longing and obsessive fantasies. Mr. Bast does have the honor of being the first to write a James Dean biography as well as being an articulate person. His passages about Jimmy are indeed compelling the passages about his own life are not. He is reverential of James Dean on one page and makes sure to devalue him on another.

He describes Jimmy's copy of "The Little Prince" and says Jimmy had ultimately given it to Bast. He then describes the round-about way it ended up with Elizabeth Taylor. He said it so many times, I was wondering if he expected Elizabeth Taylor to give it back. Personally I think it's safer with Elizabeth Taylor. Why? Because she didn't want anything from Jimmy and Bill Bast did.

One would hope that the personal touch with regard to James Dean would enhance the telling of his story. Here I am not so sure that it does overall. Of the James Dean biographies that I have read, the one I think is best to date is "Rebel-The Life and Legend of James Dean" by Donald Spoto.

I am willing to consider that I have missed Mr. Bast's sincerity. But for now, I just don't see it.