James Dean was born February 8, 1931, in Marion, Indiana, to Winton and Mildred Dean. His father, a dental technician, moved the family to Los Angeles when Jimmy was five. He returned to the Midwest after his mother passed away and was raised by his aunt and uncle on their Indiana farm. After graduating from high school, he returned to California where he attended Santa Monica Junior College and UCLA. James Dean began acting with James Whitmore's acting workshop, appeared in occasional television commercials, and played several roles in films and on stage. In the winter of 1951, he took Whitmore's advice and moved to New York to pursue a serious acting career. He appeared in seven television shows, in addition to earning his living as a busboy in the theater district, before he won a small part in a Broadway play entitled See the Jaguar.
In a letter to his family in Fairmount in 1952, he wrote:
"I have made great strides in my craft. After months of auditioning, I am very proud to announce that I am a member of the Actors Studio. The greatest school of the theater. It houses great people like Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, Arthur Kennedy, Mildred Dunnock...Very few get into it, and it is absolutely free. It is the best thing that can happen to an actor. I am one of the youngest to belong. If I can keep this up and nothing interferes with my progress, one of these days I might be able to contribute something to the world." [He worked with Arthur Kennedy in "See the Jaguar"; he would later star with Julie Harris in "East of Eden" and Mildred Dunnock in "Padlocks," a 1954 episode of the CBS television program "Danger."] Dean continued his study at the Actors Studio, played short stints in television dramas, and returned to Broadway in "The Immoralist" (1954). This last appearance resulted in a screen test at Warner Brothers for the part of Cal Trask in the screen adaptation John Steinbeck's novel "East of Eden." He then returned to New York where he appeared in four more television dramas. After winning the role of Jim Stark in 1955's "Rebel Without A Cause," he moved to Hollywood
James Byron Dean is my 18th cousin.
You
→ Mom
your mother → Pvt. Garnett Hancock, WWII Veteran
her father → Burrell H Hancock
his father → Samuel Austin Hancock
his father → Peter Hancock, CSA Soldier
his father → John Hancock 1785
his father → Benjamin Hancock 1759
his father → unknown
his parent → Benjamin Hancock
his/her father → John Hancock
his father → William Hancock, III
his father → Elizabeth Hancock
his mother → William Nicholas Spencer, Sr
her father → Nicholas Spencer, I
his father → Rose Cokayne
his mother → Chad Cockayne
her father → Catherine Cockayne
his mother → Sir John Savage V, K.B., K.G.
her father → Ellen Legh
his sister → Sir Piers Legh, of Lyme and Haydock
her son → Jane Legh, of Lyme
his daughter → Thomas Garrett
her son → Thomas Garrett
his son → John Garrett
his son → Francis Garrett
his son → Dennis Garrett
his son → Johanna Cole (Garrett)
his daughter → Joseph Cole
her son → Sarah Chamness
his daughter → Martha Hussey (Chamness)
her daughter → Christopher Hussey
her son → Sarah Williams
his daughter → Betty Smithson
her daughter → Adeline Woollen
her daughter → Emma Dean
her daughter → Winton A Dean
her son → James Byron Dean
his son
http://www.geni.com/people/James-Dean/6000000009604247971
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dean
