James Dean died on 30 September 1955, aged twenty-four.
At the time of his fatal car accident he had just completed Giant, his third film after East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause. Yet from this meagre career a legend was born that shows no sign of abating. He is a classic American icon, surpassed only by Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, projecting an image of Fifties cool and tough-guy charm that has been vigorously mass-marketed via T-shirts, posters, calendars and countless fan clubs. But until now no serious biography has looked beyond the Hollywood-manufactured cliché to the volatile polarities, conflicted sexuality and childhood trauma of the person himself. Was he bisexual or gay? A neurotic con artist or a lost boy trying to find himself.