Happy Birthday: James Dean (1931–1955)

James Dean (1931–1955)

Born: February 8, 1931 in Marion, Indiana, USA
Died: September 30, 1955 (age 24) in Cholame, California, USA

When an actor plays a scene exactly the way a director orders, it isn’t acting. It’s following instructions. Anyone with the physical qualifications can do that. So the director’s task is just that to direct, to point the way. Then the actor takes over. And he must be allowed the space, the freedom to express himself in the role. Without that space, an actor is no more than an unthinking robot with a chest-full of push-buttons.

If a man can bridge the gap between life and death… I mean, if he can live on after his death, then maybe he was a great man.

[on acting] You can do “Hamlet” while performing cartwheels… as long as the audience sees your eyes – you can make the performance real.

(When speaking to a friend) Death can’t be considered, because if you’re afraid to die there’s no room in your life to make discoveries.

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