James Dean

by Darwin Porter

  [Jimmy told Tennessee that he was intimidated by the idea of meeting Magnani. “She’s an earth mother,” Tennessee assured Jimmy. “Italians refer to her as La Lupa, the living she-wolf symbol of ancient Rome. She’s volcanic, with a fiery temper, but she’s also passionate and loving. I want her to star in the movie version of The Rose Tattoo opposite Burt Lancaster.”

  “Tallulah Bankhead, whom you know, and Anna Magnani are two of the most formidable women I’ve ever met,” Tennessee confessed. “In most ways, they’re completely different, except for one thing in common. They resent having to interrupt an animated conversation to answer a call of nature. Each of them will invite you into their bathroom while they go about their business. During their heaving and farting, you’re asked to sit on the edge of their bathtubs as they continue their rapid dialogues.”]

  At the club, Tennessee escorted Kardell across the room to introduce her to a cluster of the Hollywood elite, leaving Magnani to interact with Jimmy.

  Over drinks, she turned to him. “I hate fancy places like this. I don’t know why Tennessee brought me here. He should have taken me to a place where the common people eat. I only relate to the people of the street.”

  “I’m with you, Miss Magnani,” Jimmy replied.

  “I hear you were raised on a farm, so you are one of the people of the earth, not some glamorous Hollywood boy who spends his entire day putting makeup on his face and gazing at his image in the mirror. If you’ve seen any of my movies, you know I appear on the screen without artifice, as a natural woman.”

  upper photo: Anna Magnani, “The She-Wolf of Rome”

  lower photo: the 5-euro coin issued by the Italian government in her honor in 2008

  “Just meeting you for this brief moment, I realize why you are called the greatest actress in the world.”

  “You could show your appreciation for me in another way,” Magnani said.

  “Your wish, my command.”

  “After we get out of this dreadful place, I want you to return with me to my hotel and make love to me,” she said. “I’ll release you at dawn.”

  It is not known if Jimmy accepted that invitation. There is reason to believe that he did.

  ***

  During his filming of Rebel Without a Cause, Jimmy described Magnani to Natalie Wood, another actress who would appear in Tennessee Williams’ dramas.

  “Magnani’s hair is the color of a raven,” Jimmy said. “She has deep, dark shadows around her expressive eyes that speak of her tragic past. She’s a little short and rather plump, but when she talks, she emerges as a Roman goddess who rose out of the earth. When amusing stories are told, Tennessee has this cackle last heard in a henhouse. Magnani has a loud laugh that comes from deep within her soul. It is overwhelming, but only if the tale being related reeks of gallows humor.”

  “My Orgy With Ganymede is Over”

  —TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, IN A POSTMORTEM REFERENCE TO JAMES DEAN

  There is some evidence that Tennessee, near the end of Jimmy’s short life, became disenchanted with him, perhaps the result of Maria’s constant negativity.

  In front of guests in Key West, she loudly voiced her negative appraisal of James Dean:

  “He is a compelling figure, and is so skillful in getting other people to come to his aid. His reckless behavior inspires others to try to save him from himself, but he really has no concern for anybody other than himself. He lives in a world of self-enchantment. His indifference to others is almost perverse. At times, he seems to have impulses of shocking cruelty. Tennessee, my dear, he will only hurt you in the end.”

  In 1955, a few days after Jimmy’s tragic early death, Tennessee phoned Maria:

  “My orgy with Ganymede is over. The greedy gods have carried his golden body to Olympus, where he has become the cupbearer for John Barrymore. Even in heaven, Barrymore has continued to drink heavily, inspiring the wrath of God who is powerless to wean him from the bottle and is therefore forced to keep him supplied with vintage Scotch. The kiss from Jimmy’s lips still lingers on my own lips. The sensation is no longer of warm tenderness, but the cold hard mouth of the Grim Reaper, who will soon be bestowing the kiss of death on me.”

  ***

  Years after Jimmy’s death, Tennessee claimed that he had written a play about Jimmy’s life entitled The Young Man Who Took a Bite Out of the Moon. The only person who claimed to have read it, albeit as a rough draft, was Margaret Foresman. Managing Editor of the Key West Citizen, she had been a close friend of Tennessee’s for many years, especially during the 1960s when “he seemed to live on drugs,” as she recalled.

  “It was clearly about James Dean,” she said. “It was the story of a male hustler of great beauty who rose to sudden fame after drifting from one producer’s bed to another director’s bed. But he cannot handle fame and mass adulation.”

  A drugged Tennessee asked Foresman if she’d compose some descriptive “casting notes” for the character, with the understanding that they would be included with the drafts he was organizing for his literary agent, who would presumably send them on key players on Broadway.

  She made a photocopy of the “thumbnail” she composed, based on her reading of the play:

  “Indiana Hawke is a beautiful but conflicted young man. He is slowly being smothered by the bitch goddess, fame. He struggles for life, but is enveloped by a paranoia fed by past betrayals. Consumed by guilt, he uses others, especially producers and directors, but in the end, he fears that he is the one who has been used.

  He is remorseful for the cruelty he has shown to those few strangers who showed him kindness, and he fears that the razzle-dazzle of his youthful glow is quickly fading. Unlike Dorian Gray, there is no portrait in a closet depicting his evil in lieu of having it embedded in his face. Instead, to his horror, he realizes that the evil is clearly etched into his looks.

  He realized that he is misunderstood because he has tricked the world using gimmicks he’s learned as an actor, and he’s terrified that he has lost his talent and that his gimmickry has become obvious. The world which had once shone so brightly is now growing dark. He imagines that he is being pulled, without resources, out to sea, into the turbulent waters of a winter from which there will be no return.”

  Tennessee Discovers Christopher Jones

  HIS VISION OF “THE NEW JAMES DEAN”

  More than a decade after Jimmy’s death, Shelley Winters invited Tennessee to escort her to a screening of a film in which she appeared, Wild in the Streets (1968).

  [Reviewed at the time as “ridiculous and ludicrous,” Wild in the Streets survives as a cult classic of the counterculture 1960s. Nominated for an Academy Award (for best film editing), it presented an absurdist view of the culture wars of its era, especially issues associated with Vietnam.]

  Based on his screening of that film, Tennessee, from afar, fell madly in love with its star, Christopher Jones.

  “He is one of the sexiest boys I’ve ever seen on the screen,” Tennessee told Winters. “And those tight pants! He left little for my imagination. I predict Jones will be the next James Dean. There’s a resemblance between Jimmy Dean and Christopher Jones: Each is a blonde, blue-eyed Adonis with farm boy sexuality.”

  “If the film rights are ever purchased for my play about Jimmy, this Jones Adonis would be the perfect vehicle for depicting him on the screen.”

  ***

  In the aftermath of Tennessee’s death in 1983, none of the pages of his play about James Dean, nor any of its outlines or notes, were ever discovered among his possessions. Margaret Foresman told Tennessee’s friends and acolytes, as well as the executrix to his estate, Maria St. Just, that he had taken them with him on a trip he made, alone, to Mexico, while the manuscript was still in progress.

  “He was drunk a lot, and consuming large amounts of heavy drugs, and his behavior had become reckless,” Foresman said. “He probably abandoned the manuscript in one of those seedy hotels, like the one he depicted in Camino Real.”

&
nbsp; Three views of Christopher Jones. Although by temperament, they’re very different men and very different actors, Tennessee Williams insisted, based on his only partially successful pur-suit, insisted that they looked almost the same.

  Chapter Twelve

  JAMES DEAN’S AFFAIR WITH

  MONTY CLIFT

  The Doomed Actor With the “Green Diamond” Eyes

  REBEL ACTORS NEUROTICALLY FEUDING ON THEIR RESPECTIVE ROADS TO SELF-DESTRUCTION

  On Stage, Jimmy Physically Attacks Libby Holman, The Millionaire Torch Singer & Murderess

  “I don’t understand it. I love men in bed, but I really love women.”

  —Montgomery Clift

  “The guy acts like he has a Mix-Master up his ass, and doesn’t want anyone to know it.”

  —Marlon Brando, in reference to Montgomery Clift

  Author John Parker wrote, “It was at the Actors Studio during the winter of 1951-52 that Clift spotted Jimmy for the first time. Lee Strasberg told Clift, “This kid is an echo of you.”

  Clift said “I don’t want to meet him. I find it unnerving to watch anyone whose work even in the remotest sense resembles my own.”

  During the development of his own style, it was evident to many members of the studio that Jimmy was mimicking both Clift and Brando. Jimmy wasn’t exactly hiding the influence of these two older actors. He had started signing his name as “James Brando-Clift Dean.”

  He was a very determined man with one overriding goal: He wanted to be introduced to Clift, whom he had yet to encounter. But there was a problem: Clift did not want to meet Jimmy.

  Dennis Hopper, Jimmy’s future friend and co-star in Rebel Without a Cause, said, “Jimmy used to call Monty Clift when he was in New York and say, ‘I’m a great actor, and you’re my idol. I need to see you because I need to communicate.’”

  Sometimes, Clift would pick up the phone and listen to Jimmy’s voice, but say nothing. Eventually, the calls became so frequent that he had to change his number.

  When Clift encountered Elia Kazan, the director told him, “Why don’t you guys get together? Maybe both of you have something to gain from the other. He’s a punk, but he has a helluva talent. He likes racing cars, waitresses, and waiters. He says you’re his idol.”

  “I despise being idolized,” Clift said. “I can’t even walk down the streets of New York anymore without fans chasing after me. I no longer have my privacy. I don’t need some puppy dog like James Dean following after me with his tongue hanging out.”

  As unflattering as it was, Kazan, as was his way, bluntly reported what Clift had said to Jimmy. “Better give up on your phone calls. You’re beginning to really annoy him.”

  “That’s too bad,” Jimmy said. “But I know he’ll change his mind after he meets me. I’ll bet you he falls for me. We’re the same breed. All the best actors come from the Midwest, me from Indiana, Clift and Brando from Nebraska. We grew up in the wide open spaces, not in the shadowy canyons of New York.”

  “That’s true for you guys, but Mae West grew up in Brooklyn, and she has bigger balls that all three of you put together.”

  Three days later, when Kazan encountered Jimmy again, he told him that Brando had turned down the role of Cal Trask in East of Eden. “I had wanted to cast Brando as the evil brother, Clift as the good brother, Aron. Now I’m thinking that maybe you and Clift could play brothers. It’s not an offer, so don’t get too excited.”

  This gave new urgency to Jimmy’s need for that long-hoped-for rendezvous with Clift.

  Their meeting was arranged through a mutual friend and former lover of both men, the British actor, Roddy McDowall.

  Clift had objected when McDowall pressured him to meet Jimmy. “Why should I? I don’t need some punk kid in my life. What for?”

  “C’mon, Monty,” McDowall said. “The kid worships you. That should mean something to you.”

  “All right…Bring him over, but only if you must.”

  “If you don’t like the kid, you can give him a quick blow-job, then kick him out on his ass. He’s very cute. Of course, he doesn’t have your male beauty. What man on the planet does?”

  Two days later, Jimmy nervously accompanied McDowall to visit Clift.

  Afterward, Clift told McDowall, “I expected some punk kid with attitude, but he seemed very humbled in my presence, very respectful.”

  “Did you go to bed with him after I left you guys?”

  “You know I did,” Clift said. “He’s very good looking. He seemed to hold me in awe. I think he’d have done anything I wanted. Usually, my escort service sends me a guy whose dick is either an inch too short, or two inches too big. Dean was just the right fit. But first, we talked.”

  Jimmy would remember his first conversation with Clift, and reported it to others, omitting, of course, the sex act.

  Clift complained to him about how the Actors Studio had used his name and image to promote itself, based on his success in such hit movies as The Search [Best Actor Oscar nomination, 1948]; Red River [also 1948], co-starring John Wayne; The Heiress [1949]; and A Place in the Sun [another Best Actor Oscar nomination, 1951] and, more recently, From Here to Eternity [yet another Best Actor nomination, 1953].

  “Lee Strasberg is a charlatan,” Clift had claimed during his conversation with Jimmy. “I never really trained at the Actors Studio. I had the same talent when I arrived as when I left. I never learned anything from Strasberg, and may have taught the fucker a thing or two. Now, I just drop in on special occasions. I’m at the point where I’m learning about the downside of fame.”

  “Like, for instance?” Jimmy asked.

  “Once you’re famous, each of your flaws and all of your weaknesses are exaggerated.”

  “Just what is a weakness of yours, if you forgive my asking.”

  “Self-destruction,” Monty answered. “Same as you.”

  “But how do you know that about me? You’ve just met me!”

  “It’s etched on your face! It takes a doomed cat to know another one.”

  ***

  Later, in a follow-up visit, Clift told Jimmy that during the original planning stages of East of Eden, Elia Kazan had wanted Brando to interpret the film’s meatiest role, that of Cal Trask; and that he’d envisioned Clift as Aron, Cal’s rigid and sanctimonious brother.

  “But I really wanted to play Cal, so I rejected the role Kazan had planned for me as Aron.” Clift then continued, to Jimmy, “But you’d be great as Cal. Campaign for it.”

  “But you’ve rejected a lot of other hot roles recently. I heard that you even rejected the role of Joe Gillis in Sunset Blvd., opposite Gloria Swanson,” Jimmy said.

  “William Holden took it, and, as you know, that was a huge break for his career.”

  “Why did you do that?”

  “I didn’t think I could be convincing making love to a woman twice my age,” Clift said.

  “But you’re involved with Libby Holman, and she’s at least sixteen years older than you, if a day,” Jimmy answered.

  [Clift’s strongest emotional attachments were to women, notably Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Myrna Loy, and Russian-born Mira Rostova, his long-time acting coach.]

  Irrational anger suddenly flashed across Clift’s face. “Why don’t you shut your fucking trap about who else I’m involved with? Don’t get the idea that my life centers around you. Get out!”

  Less than a week later, Clift called Jimmy and apologized. “I’m touchy about certain subjects,” he said. “Come on over tonight, and we’ll have a make-up session.”

  ***

  The more time Jimmy spent with Clift, the more he began to imitate his mannerisms. Many future film critics, such as Lawrence Frascella, noted that, “Dean took the fragility and naturalism of Montgomery Clift and the rebelliousness and emotionally unbridled sexuality of Marlon Brando and created his own enlarged space for male behavior on the screen.”

  Sometimes, the comparisons were negative, as when Parker Tyler wrote: “Jame
s Dean is nothing but a homosexual parody of Marlon Brando.”:

  “I’d rather the comparison have been to Monty, not Brando,” Jimmy said.

  Clift, as he told Jimmy, resented being grouped with both Jimmy and Brando as rebels. “I’m tired of all this rebel shit talk,” he said. “I am neither a young rebel nor an old rebel, but more like an actor who tries to do his job with a maximum of conviction and sincerity.”

  One Sunday afternoon, Kazan had lunch with Clift and Jimmy. “I admire actors like you guys and Brando—men who don’t insist on projecting a traditional masculine image. Lots of guys, and a lot of actors, have to constantly reaffirm their muscles, their fearlessness, their affluence, the strength of their erections. All three of you guys can appear vulnerable, almost like an open wound.”

  On the following Sunday afternoon, when Jimmy dropped in on Clift, he found film scripts scattered around his living room. “I can work and be unhappy, or I can stop working altogether and be unhappy,” he told Jimmy. “For the time being, unless a great part comes up, I’ve chosen the latter,”

  As Jimmy picked up and examined some of the scripts, he was amazed at the prominence and prestige of projects that Clift had interpreted as unsuitable, inappropriate or wrong for him. They included the role of Brick for the Broadway opening of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He had also rejected the lead role in Elia Kazan’s film, On the Waterfront (1954).

  Clift also turned down Friendly Persuasion, William Wyler’s gentle look at life among the Quakers. [That choice role eventually went to Gary Cooper.]

  King Vidor had also offered Clift one of the lead roles in War and Peace, Tolstoy’s sprawling Russian novel which was released as a film adaptation in 1956 with Henry Fonda, Audrey Hepburn, and Mel Ferrer.