Customer Reviews

Surviving James Dean

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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.

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.

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.

James Dean might be America's least understood icon. His career was cut short and the success he saw alive was even more so; nonetheless he continues to influence pop culture to this day. I read this book because I was interested in the man behind the myth. The author, William Bast, delivers respectful insight to the life and early career of his friend. Recommended for anyone interested in a study of the actor, or for a wonderful read. William Bast brings you back to the days of James Dean's college days and early struggles in theater and television; the burgeoning of the young stars success, and the haunting circumstances surrounding his untimely death.

This is something that is meant for people who are out there seeking the truth behind the silver screen which James Dean had dominated while he was alive. In fact, truth to be said, he's still dominating the big screen till this very day. However, the book has provided details of the making of James Dean and the obstacles he had to overcome to claim his glory.

Overall, I do think this is a good book that doesn't over glorify his achievements and at the same time going into details of his personality and conflicts from his close friend point of view. It will be more than justified to hear it from William Bast of James Dean story since, he was practically there to witness his transformation into a mega-star.

Though this book does explore on James Dean sexuality, it doesn't go into those raunchy details to make it derogatory. It just enough for people to judge on their for the truth to be accepted.

Bill Bast has the distinction of being the first to write a biography of James Dean only a year after his untimely death. Oft thought of his best friend, Bast was limited by the mores of the 50's which limited his ability to tell Dean, and his, story. Flash forward fifty years: dozens upon dozens of biographies of various degrees of accuracy (and scandal) have been penned, a number of documentaries, docudramas and television programs have been filmed, yet Dean is still an enigma. Having known Dean for the last five years of his life, from his days as a student at UCLA to New York City and back again, Bast roomed with, shared hopes and aspirations with, an loved Dean as a friend and then some.

Surviving James Dean is Bast's memoir to his former friend. It is very much Bast's story about his friendship and life during, and after, Dean enter his world and passed from it. Being that it is a memoir and not a biography, those interested in learning about James Dean's life would be best served reading a more detailed biography exploring his life from birth to death (suggested reading: the excellent James Dean: Mutant King by David Dalton). SJD is more of a filler for Dean fans who are looking for more of an insight into Dean the private person, and if you're looking to flesh out your image of Dean, look no further.

Even someone with a mediocre interest in Hollywood's rebel will find Bast's account intriguiing. There's something more than a biography hidden in the pages of "Surviving James Dean." It's almost much more like a memoir of William Bast's, and it allows the reader to get a sense of longing that one can easily relate to. "Surviving James Dean," is as much a love story as it is a recount of the icon-formation days of one of Hollywood's most enigmatic figures. The book honestly portrays the lonely, the erratic, and the very honest side of James Dean in a way that neither flatters nor harms a golden reputation shrouded in foggy dust.

One of the best lines in the novel regards a hug shared between the "teammates," (Dean's reference for the friendship) on the New York streets before James flies off to LA to begin filming "East of Eden." Bast references the warmth the hug left on him that day and even now, while writing the book, the warmth is remembered. Reading this book is much like the warmth from a good, meaningful hug. Even now, writing this review, I can feel the warmth left by an honest and intriguing memory of one of America's notable figurines.

`Surviving James Dean' is a must-read for any Dean fan who might appreciate the book's deft writing, its sometimes controversial perspective, and its fascinating storyline. As a longtime devotee who has watched Jimmy's films more times than I can recall - and who has read more than a few biographies - nothing (in my opinion) approaches the scope and breadth of this true account by Dean's best friend and lover, author William Bast. From Bast's first meeting with Jimmy at UCLA, to their final encounter before that infamous day in September, the author allows the reader to play voyeur to the unfolding of an amazing journey where dreams of meteoric fame and requited love are finally realized, and then snatched away suddenly.

While savoring this book's 28 chapters, I would have enjoyed some more prurient details of Dean's and Bast's intimacy...although by the final page, I had grown to appreciate the author's gentlemanly manner in disclosing what happened between them. I was also taken by Bast's colorful accounts of a Hollywood long past, as well as of the New York one only sees in vintage films. But what I loved most about this book was how Mr. Bast gave me the chance to peer behind Jimmy's eternally beautiful mask, at the remarkable and very real human being who dreamed, and worried, and worked hard, and made mistakes.

To me, `Surviving James Dean' is a work of true love from a man who was forced by Hollywood for much of his life to hold his cards too closely to his chest; I thank you, Bill, for finally laying those cards on the table. And I'm sure that Jimmy, wherever he is, still considers you his `King of Hearts.'

Some time ago I met a gentleman who said he knew the roommate of James Dean (I was an Ensign USPHS at the time). He told me a number of things which at the time I thought were a little far fetched. But when I read this book I find that the things told to me were in fact "MORE THAN TRUE". This book is well written and has some very true to life facts that make it very memorable. To the point and very truthful as well as believeable. After all these years, reading this book, I realize that I really indirectly met and knew the James Dean and am grateful to read it.

It is understandable to me that Bill didn't reveal his sexual orientation and his relationship with James Dean in the 1956 book. Again, in the 70's he had an opportunity to reveal more, and he didn't. Now, it is the last hurrah for aging Bill and James Dean fans, yet Bill still tells very little. In fact, this book was more about Bill and his coming out to the world than it was about James Dean.

It has been shown through the last 50 years that people who are interested in James Dean are just that and nothing more. The tellers of the tales are simply a means to an end, the end being more knowledge about their idol. This book, for me, didn't fulfill that requirement. I learned way more about Bill than I ever wanted to know, but close to nothing MORE than he already told us 50 years ago about Jimmy.

His effort to protect Jimmy up to the last was heartwarming. It was a well written book, with humor and feeling, and is an addition to my vast James Dean collection.