They say the charm and angst that Hollywood actor James Byron Dean (1931–1955) portrayed in film was how he actually lived off-screen. Born on this day in Marion, Indiana, this icon of pop culture completed only three movies before his untimely death, East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant

Only East of Eden, based on John Steinbeck’s masterpiece, had been released. Dean’s portrayal of Caleb, the black sheep brother aching for approval, earned raves and an Oscar nomination. He once said, “The gratification comes in the doing, not in the results.”

Leather jacket, blue jeans, cigarette dangling from his lips, in Rebel Without a Cause Dean radiated cool intensity. Lonely, brooding, misunderstood by his parents and by society, he cried out, “You’re tearing me apart.”

Producers banned Dean from racing his new Porsche 550 Spyder during the filming of Giant. The day after shooting wrapped, he climbed into the silver car, racing stripes gleaming, LITTLE BASTARD painted across the tail. He headed for a Salinas race track. He never arrived. A collision. A telegraph pole. Instant silence.

Then the myth began. James Dean stepped beyond stardom into legend. Co-star Natalie Wood said, “All of us were touched by Jimmy, and he was touched by greatness.” His intensity rippled outward, touching another young icon, Elvis Presley.

According to biographer John Parker, Presley watched Rebel Without a Cause forty-four times and knew the dialogue by heart.

Jimmy Dean made vulnerability look powerful. He became the face of youth misunderstood. And in dying young, his story never softened. It stayed electric. Untamed. Unresolved. Immortal.