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After reading a James Dean bio which directly explores his sexuality (pretty solidly arguing that most of his sexual relationships were with men), Iâm reading one now that tiptoes around it all together, even obfuscating his long-time affair as a teen with an adult male pastor.
Yet even this book is full of quotes about what a âsensitiveâ child he was, and how âeffeminateâ he seemed to the other kids, and how âitâs funny, he never had girlfriends in high school, I guess he just was more interested in focusing on his extracurriculars...â
Btw I read the second (David Daltonâs The Mutant King) years ago. Iâm rereading because itâs full of excellent information and does a really beautiful job exploring his work and craft, even if the author has clear biases regarding how he chooses to present Jimmyâs private life.
The former, Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Paul Alexander, does a much better job handling Dean as a person but arguably not quite as well at capturing him as an artist and what made him a legend as Daltonâs book. So theyâre complementing each other nicely.
The number of times the no-homo biography of James Dean casually mentions how he moved in with yet another older male agent, producer, or director, as if thatâs something that just happened to young, hot up-and-coming actors they werenât fucking.
Men in power in the entertainment industry were notoriously just extremely generous, letting young actors live in their homes, and providing them with food, money, and helping them get work, yâknow?
This sketch of a bullfighter that James Dean drew (he was FASCINATED by them) is *alone* proof he wasnât straight.
A straight 20-year-old boy drawing that bulge in 1951? Okay!
