From Publishers Weekly
This September marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Dean in a racing accident, and with this anecdotal biography, his fans will have plenty of fresh fodder to chew. Born in 1931, Dean was nine when his mother died, and he was brought up by relatives in Indiana. After graduating from high school, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, which was advanced when he became sexually involved with an adman/director who introduced him to influential people in New York City. A bisexual, Dean used sex to promote his career by boating with a producer who cast him in the lead role in the Broadway-bound See the Jaguar. The book heavily concentrates on Dean's Manhattan years (groupies will have a field day visiting the myriad addresses where he lived) and gives a blow-by-blow description of almost every one of Dean's acting jobs, his years at the Actors Studio and his relationships with such actors as Arthur Kennedy, Martin Landau, Julie Harris and Betsy Palmer. Holley recounts Dean's manipulative friction with Raymond Massey in East of Eden; the confrontations with director George Stevens on the Giant set; and how studio head Jack Warner ended Dean's romance with actress Pier Angeli. Freelance writer Holley has produced a meticulously documented work that dissects Dean's personality as never before. Photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Published on the 40th anniversary of James Dean's death, Holley's biography admirably avoids buying into the mythos that has grown around Dean over the years, instead presenting a fascinating description of a flawed human being. Holley draws on diverse sources, many of them previously unavailable, to create a candid and fully realized portrait of this most enigmatic of actors. Dean was a shy, deeply insecure man who never recovered from the early loss of his mother. Charismatic, ambitious, and astoundingly gifted, Dean was also notoriously moody and difficult, his desperate need for affection and attention often manifesting itself in contradictory, ultimately self-destructive behavior. Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, this is a worthy addition to the growing body of literature surrounding an actor whose life achieved mythic proportions as a result of his untimely death. Recommended for all types of libraries.?Cynthia Ward Cooper, Carrolton Libs., Tex.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
On September 30, 1955, en route to a car race in Salinas, James Dean, in a Porche Spyder, crashed head-on with a Ford and died instantly; he was 24 years old. This year he will have been dead 40 years; Holley's biography is the most definitive biography yet written, and it is quite interesting without being sensational. Holley does take off into flights of verbosity at times, but his general style is so forthcoming that his work gains in credibility, albeit slowly, as the very first chapter, "A James Dean Primer," is too breathless, dazzling readers with his subject's legendary achievements and controversies. But then the pace slows, and Holley begins building his portrait with fine use of the 100 or so interviews with people who have never before spoken on record. His presentation of Dean's career in New York onstage is surprising in that for most people his image is filmic. But, like Brando, he worked well on the stage, gained notoriety, and became a member of the Actors Studio. Holley reveals that Dean's television work was extensive and continued after he became a Hollywood star. It seemed before that James Dean came from nowhere, a total myth, who in the last 18 months of his life acted in three films--East of Eden, Rebel without a Cause, and Giant, and only East of Eden had been released when he crashed. Now it's different; an icon has human dimensions. Bonnie Smothers


From Book News, Inc.
Author Holley delves into Dean's early life and training to depict the life and work of a self- destructive actor who achieved cult status based on the three films he made during the last 18 months of his life. Extensive use is made of first-hand accounts by friends and coworkers of Dean's. Sixteen b&w photographs. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


Review
"The most definitive biography yet written...quite interesting without being sensational."
--Booklist

"Holley has produced a meticulously documented work that dissects Dean's personality as never before."

"Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, this is a worthy addition to the growing body of literature surrounding an actor whose life achieved mythic proportions as a result of his untimely death." --Library Journal

"The freshest, most revealing, and probably the most truthful account of [Dean] I have ever read." --Alexander Walker, author of Vivien: The Life of Vivien Leigh and Fatal Charm: The Life of Rex Harrison

"Jimmy, Brando and Clift knew how to play the field; how to project a unique mixture of 'delicate macho'--'Save me, but don't come too close'" --Frank Corsaro, artistic director, Actors Studio

"What's important about Jimmy is that in spite of his short life, he had really lived--and with his beauty, he acted in ways that other actors only dream about." --Terese Hayden, producer Carmino Real

"We felt Jimmy was explosive and not party of the community. We were aware he marched to a different drummer than nintey-nine percent of Fairmont. Some people in the town were glad to see him to go California." --Sue Hill, former Fairmont, Indiana, resident

"Val Holley allows James Dean to be as wily, controlling, beautiful, seductive, sexually ambivalent, and actory as he apparently was. It's like suddenly having the gift of a fourth, posthumous movie to slip on the shelf." --Brad Gooch, author of City Pearl: The Life and Times of Frank O'Hara

"I was drawn in by its legwork and detail, suprising interview, sweet reasoning, and vivid characterization. This immortal of the screen stacks up as an American enigma" --Patrick McGilligan, author of George Cukor: A Double Life

"Val Holley's James Dean is obviously a labor of lve, and very thorough." --Washington Post Book World



Review
"The most definitive biography yet written...quite interesting without being sensational."
--Booklist

"Holley has produced a meticulously documented work that dissects Dean's personality as never before."

"Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, this is a worthy addition to the growing body of literature surrounding an actor whose life achieved mythic proportions as a result of his untimely death." --Library Journal

"The freshest, most revealing, and probably the most truthful account of [Dean] I have ever read." --Alexander Walker, author of Vivien: The Life of Vivien Leigh and Fatal Charm: The Life of Rex Harrison

"Jimmy, Brando and Clift knew how to play the field; how to project a unique mixture of 'delicate macho'--'Save me, but don't come too close'" --Frank Corsaro, artistic director, Actors Studio

"What's important about Jimmy is that in spite of his short life, he had really lived--and with his beauty, he acted in ways that other actors only dream about." --Terese Hayden, producer Carmino Real

"We felt Jimmy was explosive and not party of the community. We were aware he marched to a different drummer than nintey-nine percent of Fairmont. Some people in the town were glad to see him to go California." --Sue Hill, former Fairmont, Indiana, resident

"Val Holley allows James Dean to be as wily, controlling, beautiful, seductive, sexually ambivalent, and actory as he apparently was. It's like suddenly having the gift of a fourth, posthumous movie to slip on the shelf." --Brad Gooch, author of City Pearl: The Life and Times of Frank O'Hara

"I was drawn in by its legwork and detail, suprising interview, sweet reasoning, and vivid characterization. This immortal of the screen stacks up as an American enigma" --Patrick McGilligan, author of George Cukor: A Double Life

"Val Holley's James Dean is obviously a labor of lve, and very thorough." --Washington Post Book World



Book Description
For the first time in trade paperback, this is the most comprehensive biography of James Dean ever written, based upon over one hundred interviews with people who have never before spoken on record. Author Val Holley delves into Dean's early life and training on stage and in television using research that is astounding in its detail and frequently lets his sources speak in their own voices.



About the Author
Val Holley has written numerous articles on James Dean and H.L. Mencken. He lives in Washington, D.C.

ANNOTATION

The most comprehensive biography of James Dean ever written, this book includes over 100 interviews with people who have never before spoken on record--published to mark the 40th anniversary of his tragic death. 16-page photo insert.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

What new is there to say about James Dean? Plenty. Most of what we know about Dean grows out of the cultlike status he achieved for the three films he made during the last eighteen months of his life. Author Val Holley delves much further into Dean's early life and training on stage and in television. Using research that is astounding in its detail and frequently letting his sources speak in their own voices, he paints a portrait of an immensely talented actor, devoted to his craft, whose natural self-destructive streak Hollywood exacerbated - with fatal results.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

This September marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Dean in a racing accident, and with this anecdotal biography, his fans will have plenty of fresh fodder to chew. Born in 1931, Dean was nine when his mother died, and he was brought up by relatives in Indiana. After graduating from high school, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, which was advanced when he became sexually involved with an adman/director who introduced him to influential people in New York City. A bisexual, Dean used sex to promote his career by boating with a producer who cast him in the lead role in the Broadway-bound See the Jaguar. The book heavily concentrates on Dean's Manhattan years (groupies will have a field day visiting the myriad addresses where he lived) and gives a blow-by-blow description of almost every one of Dean's acting jobs, his years at the Actors Studio and his relationships with such actors as Arthur Kennedy, Martin Landau, Julie Harris and Betsy Palmer. Holley recounts Dean's manipulative friction with Raymond Massey in East of Eden; the confrontations with director George Stevens on the Giant set; and how studio head Jack Warner ended Dean's romance with actress Pier Angeli. Freelance writer Holley has produced a meticulously documented work that dissects Dean's personality as never before. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)

Library Journal

Published on the 40th anniversary of James Dean's death, Holley's biography admirably avoids buying into the mythos that has grown around Dean over the years, instead presenting a fascinating description of a flawed human being. Holley draws on diverse sources, many of them previously unavailable, to create a candid and fully realized portrait of this most enigmatic of actors. Dean was a shy, deeply insecure man who never recovered from the early loss of his mother. Charismatic, ambitious, and astoundingly gifted, Dean was also notoriously moody and difficult, his desperate need for affection and attention often manifesting itself in contradictory, ultimately self-destructive behavior. Thoroughly researched and engagingly written, this is a worthy addition to the growing body of literature surrounding an actor whose life achieved mythic proportions as a result of his untimely death. Recommended for all types of libraries.-Cynthia Ward Cooper, Carrolton Libs., Tex.

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