Talk:James Dean /archive1

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His sexual preference

Created this topic in light of the controversy and rumors surrounding James Dean's sexuality (as well as the controversial editations of this wiki article). Please discuss and cite sources before modifying the article in regards to this topic. (unsigned comment by Aquawarlock)

I found an article [1] stating that he had documented homosexual relationships, but that no one is really sure whether he was "gay". – flamurai(t) 20:50, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC)
See also http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biod1/dean2.html The author of this well-researched biography says,
The debate about Dean's sexuality rages passionately. He told a friend, "I've had my cock sucked by five of the biggest names in Hollywood...". He also claimed to have worked, with his friend Nick Adams, as a street hustler when he first arrived in Hollywood. When asked if he was gay, he replied, "Well, I'm certainly not going through life with one hand tied behind my back".
Over the years, one of the most enduring questions about Dean, whose androgynous, almost delicate, looks were alluring to both men and women, concerns his sexuality - was he straight or gay, or did he fall somewhere between the two ends of the Kinsey scale?
One way to address Dean's sexuality is to examine the company he kept. An early mentor in his hometown of Fairmount, Indiana, was the Rev. James DeWeerd, minister of the local Wesleyan Methodist church. When he knew Dean, DeWeerd was in his 30s and unmarried, liked poetry and classical music, and was partial to the company of boys.
The teenage Dean - whose mother died when he was eight and whose father abandoned him to be raised by an aunt - spent a great deal of time alone with DeWeerd, which is suggestive of a sexual relationship or molestation. But no evidence of either has come to light. At Dean's funeral, however, DeWeerd eulogized him as "a boy ... who knew how to seek counsel from men older and wiser than himself."
In fact, Dean's success in Hollywood, where he relocated in 1949 at age 18, did stem in large part from the contacts he made with influential gay men. One of his few documented homosexual relationships was with Rogers Brackett, the sophisticated, 35-year-old radio director of a prestigious advertising agency, whom Dean met in the summer of 1951 while working as a parking attendant at CBS. At a time when many radio programs were created, written, and cast at ad agencies, Brackett was a particularly good person for a struggling actor to know. Just two weeks after they met, Dean began living with Brackett in his Hollywood flat. Brackett used his social and professional connections to find Dean work on radio shows like Hallmark Playhouse. By Labor Day, Dean was also getting bit parts in movies.
Most biographies of Dean, including a recent TV biopic, acknowledge the sexual component of this relationship, but also claim that Dean had sex with Brackett purely out of expediency - he needed acting jobs, and the well-connected Brackett could get them for him. Brackett, however, remembered their relationship differently - although he later said that, because of Dean's talent, "my primary interest in Jimmy was as an actor," he added that "I loved him, and he loved me."
Later that year, Dean moved with Brackett to New York, where most radio programs were produced. There Dean began getting television work and eventually theater parts, including a pivotal role as a gay Arab houseboy in Andre Gide's The Immoralist, opposite Louis Jourdan. That, in turn, garnered the young actor the lead role as Cal Trask in the Elia Kazan film East of Eden.
While in New York, Dean began dating a singer-dancer named Elizabeth "Dizzy" Sheridan, who seems to have been his only serious girlfriend; he even asked her to marry him. Dean confided in Sheridan about the relationship with Brackett and also said that he planned to end it. "He did not want to be gay," Sheridan recalled years later - a telling statement that, coupled with the fact that he continued seeing Brackett, hints at a possible practical side to Dean's romantic involvement with Sheridan. Being openly (or even too suggestively) gay would have quickly ended his career at that time, when gay actors like Rock Hudson were being forced into sham marriages to protect their image.
It's not surprising, then, that when Dean's movie career began to take off, he started appearing at Hollywood events with pretty starlets on his arm. The press - and his studio, Warner Brothers - made much of his supposedly passionate love affair with the lovely Italian-born Pier Angeli, one of the stars of The Silver Chalice. But though Dean's colleagues and friends maintained that he was heartbroken when Angeli decided to marry singer Vic Damone, Dean's relationship with Angeli was, she herself later said, "all so innocent." Kazan once told an interviewer that he "did not think Jimmy was a very effective lover with women."
Another of Dean's documented gay relationships was with Jack Simmons, a young actor who, by all accounts, was devoted to him. Because the attachment was kept quietly in the background - Dean virtually lived with Simmons while filming Rebel Without a Cause but had his own apartment - studio officials did not seem to mind. That may have also been because the Warner publicity machine was busily getting articles like "The Dean I've Dated," by Lori Nelson, into fan magazines.
Dean took the secret of his sexuality to his untimely death, which occurred soon after he finished filming Giant. (His next scheduled role, in Somebody Up There Likes Me, went to Paul Newman.) Although Dean can hardly be called straight, it remains unclear if he identified as gay or bisexual, or if he was questioning. Since he was only 24, his sexual identity may, in fact, have been still in formation.
In other words, there's not a shred of evidence Dean was bisexual. No letters, no public statements, no court transcripts, not even any tabloid gossip from the era... Wyss 4 July 2005 17:52 (UTC)
Sorry. Did you read the whole text? There is a documented homosexual relationship with Roger Brackett, the sophisticated, 35-year-old radio director of a prestigious advertising agency, whom Dean met in the summer of 1951 while working as a parking attendant at CBS.
Sorry, I have decided to assist you however I can in your quest to make Elvis Presley gay. You know, that Nick Adams was one clever boy... seems his wife never made a peep about his wild drug abuse and homosexual prostitution during the custody battle for the kids... Wyss 4 July 2005 18:19 (UTC)

i think james dean was a bi guy meaning he liked both genders because i have read articles saying he slapt with guys and girls (unsigned comment)

I think there is likely to be greater debate on this topic following a recent article by feminist critic Germain Greer in the Guardian newspaper (Sunday may 15 2005) which links to this wikipedia entry. Whilst I do not know enough about James Dean to have an opinion one way or the other, it must be noted that Greer's article doesn't contain any actual evidence of Dean homosexuality bar innuendo and suggestion. A threatened biography by Dean's gay former roomate, William Bast, is mentioned, but Greer does not produce any actual quotes to support her thesis.

Whilst it may be possible, likely even, that Dean was bisexual, the lack of hard evidence suggests that discussion of his sexuality constitutes conjecture and thus has no place in Wikipedia. Will Lakeman 15:54, 15 May 2005 (UTC)

At the same time Sal Mineo's bio should be modified because it reads: 'While explicit mention of homosexuality was not permissible in Hollywood movies at the time, the reportedly bisexual James Dean dared Mineo to let his real-life desires for Dean shine through considerably in the scenes between them.' Zimbricchio 21:53, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I agree with Will Lakeman and Zimbricchio. Would either of you consider editing the articles accordingly? Wyss 5 July 2005 09:42 (UTC)

I removed the term Urban legend which is not applicable here. Referennces to James Dean's bisexuality are rumors. Ted Wilkes 21:24, August 15, 2005 (UTC)

I used urban legends to end a spate of deletions (of rumours) by anons. If rumours sticks this time, I do prefer it. Wyss 21:36, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
...and I like the Gilmore cite even more. Wyss 22:05, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

So how about the Gilmore biography? Ted Wilkes 22:28, August 15, 2005 (UTC)

Could you rephrase the question? (I don't understand it) :) Wyss 11:07, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

Reportedly to be from Boze Hadleigh's interview claimed to be with Sal Mineo: Note that this is a gossip book and discredited by peer reviews from qualified sources such as Publishers Weekly and the Library Journal seen here

Hadleigh: James Dean and Nick Adams were roommates, as I'm sure you know. Were they also lovers?
Sal Mineo: I didn't hear it from Jimmy, who was sort of awesome to me when we did Rebel. But Nick told me they had a big affair- I don't know if it was while they were living together or not. See [2]
Aside from this being total hearsay from a known self-promoter and dodgy story teller (Adams), Mineo drops a big docking hint moments later in that interview that this tale, along with lots of others about "Hollywood gays" might not be true. Wyss 17:17, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
This tale, along with lots of others? I think you are wrong, Wyss. Sal Mineo is only questioning the rumors about the other stars. Here is again the full quote:
From Boze Hadleigh's interview with Sal Mineo:
Hadleigh: James Dean and Nick Adams were roommates, as I'm sure you know. Were they also lovers?
Sal Mineo: I didn't hear it from Jimmy, who was sort of awesome to me when we did Rebel. But Nick told me they had a big affair- I don't know if it was while they were living together or not. But there's always the roomie thing in Hollywood- Brando and Wally Cox, Brando and Tony Curtis, Cary Grant and Randolph Scott- and there are always rumors about them, even if they aren't true. I think Hollywood secretly wants to think it's true..." Onefortyone 17:58, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

Mineo mentions what Adams (the well-known embellisher and hanger-on to the Dean "legend") told him, then states rather flatly these rumours may not be true. His intent his plain to me although obviously, someone with an agenda to push will attempt to separate the two sentences as if they're unrelated but why would Mineo have added that remark if not for Adams. Moreover, Mineo was lead into the question by the interviewer, he didn't volunteer it. This appears to be to sole source for all the "Adams was gay" rumours and it's hearsay from "big-talking" Nick Adams who was known to lie when it came to his show business connections and background. I don't think it's strong enough to even mention, but will wait for consensus. Wyss 18:27, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

I think I can settle it. All dead super-celebrities were gay. There, that's enough. 141.211.168.102 14:48, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

As a newcomer to Wikipedia, I find this interesting on the subject of evidence and how we apply it in our editing. It seems to me that asking "Was he or wasn't he bi or gay" is really saying "Yes, we know he had sex with men and women; but did he really desire both sexes?" This strikes me as being almost a metaphysical question. It means that evidence is not what was done or said, but what we take the evidence to mean regardless. If rape or coercion were in question, it would be different; then we could say this is no indication of sexuality. But to say that his sex with men was opportunist, and therefore not an indication of desire, is a decision we are scarcely qualified to make. Our concern is only with what he did and what he said, as evidenced by himself or by other reliable sources.

We know that he had sex with men; he said so himself in that quote about having his cock sucked, etc. The evidence from Rogers Brackett is also not being disputed, as I gather. Therefore we agree that James Dean was a man who was known to have had sex with men as well as women. To say, in effect, "Oh, but it's not what he really wanted" is not for us to determine. And yet that, it seems to me, is what is meant by "Rumors" as a topic heading; rumors in this case would refer to his orientation. Does this mean that every man who has ever had sex with another man is gay or bisexual? This is what we're getting hung up on here: the questions rather than the answers, with the answers forced by the questions.

If a man, for instance, has sex one time with another man and then goes for the rest of his life having sex with women: what, then, is the question we pose, and what is the answer we give? A pointless question to ask would be "Was he bisexual?" Once again, that is a speculation that is useless for us to make. For the purposes of writing or editing an article, we could say in this case that the once-only same-sex evidence was not important enough to be put in the article. But if someone on a discussion page were to ask "Did he ever have sex with a man?", we would say yes. Why not describe James Dean, for example, as a man who had sex with men and women but had his most intense and lasting relations with women, as evidenced by what he said of them? Why not put it this way rather than get into futile debates about was he really this, that or the other? InvisibleSun, 8/28/05

What's your source for that quote? Wyss 14:10, 29 August 2005 (UTC)
Only what I've read here. As you may gather from the above, I'm not here to edit the article. My question was of a different sort, relating to POV vs. NPOV in evaluating evidence. If none of the sources quoted in previous posts holds up as evidence, so be it. I have no case to make one way or the other. But after reading the article and then this talk page, it made me wonder what questions were being asked here. Are we asking "Did James Dean have sex with men?" or are we asking "Was James Dean gay or bisexual?" The latter, it seems to me, would not be NPOV. If I've misinterpreted what I've read here, then the fault is mine. InvisibleSun, 8/29/05
Are you saying that your only source for... he said so himself in that quote about having his cock sucked, etc was this WP article and its talk page? Wyss 20:52, 29 August 2005 (UTC)
Correct. I have no sources to add to this discussion. I'm a reader of the article who was prompted to ask a question based on the article and this discussion page. If there's no consensus as to the reliability of the statements presented as evidence by earlier posters, then my proposed "We know that he had sex..." etc. would not be valid. But I'm still looking for an answer concerning the question I posed here, which was my only reason for joining this discussion. As a newcomer, I've read the Wikipedia guidelines on POV vs. NPOV and thought this an interesting case of learning about it as applied to an actual article. So once again, I ask: Are we trying to determine whether Dean had sex with men, or are we trying to determine his sexual orientation? InvisibleSun 8/29/05
The pith of it is there is zero documented evidence (as far as I know) to support any rumours about Deans "experiences" along those lines and even if there were, I don't think it would be worth mentioning unless it related directly to his career as an actor. So far as the Nick Adams rumours go, those are even less plausible than the ones about Dean (again, zero evidence except for some hearsay briefly mentioned in an interview published by an author known for making up his interviews from whole cloth). Wyss 22:44, 29 August 2005 (UTC)

Some quotes about Dean's sexuality

1. Reportedly from Gavin Lambert's Natalie Wood biography: (a gossip book reviewed by also The Guardian

p. 168: "Another crosscurrent developed when Sal Mineo echoed the character he played by becoming strongly attracted to Dean. Both Dean and Nick were aware of it; and Nick, who was also aware of Dean's bisexuality, asked him to "use" it in their scenes together. Accordingly, Dean told Mineo "to look at me the way I look at Natalie," and a subtle erotic tension develops when the screen threesome spend a night in the deserted mansion. Mineo's Plato glances longingly at Dean's Jim Stark, who gives him a quick smile with an undercurrent of flirtation, while Natalie's Judy is too involved with Jim to notice."

p. 576: "As Natalie later recalled, he [Nick Ray] felt that "it was important to know a lot personally about the actor ," and he also felt that the director had to discover as much as he could about himself. When he pointed the finger at absent or inadequate fatherhood in all three families, it pointed at himself as well. He drew on his own life to understand and probe the bisexuality of Dean and Mineo, and as Natalie's lover, he knew the intensity of her need for love."

Please understand that I interpret these carefully worded passages differently, and read them as rumours layered over unfounded assumptions stemming back to that single Mineo interview. Adams was a braggard and an embellisher and now doubt brought all this post mortem inuendo on himself but there is no documented evidence either NA or JD were gay. As for Dean? Clever actor. Anyway this is now covered in the articles. Is something missing? Wyss 16:23, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

Notice

User:Ted Wilkes is frequently claiming that the independent sources I have used are gossip books, but he himself is unable to cite a peer-reviewed source which he has used for his own contributions. His only strategy is to disparage my sources. Very interesting indeed. He should read the Wikipedia article on Double standard. Onefortyone 15:09, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

Unacceptable references

I don't think the Boze Hadleigh material is acceptable. It is unsubstantiated and as noted in a peer review his writings were critized and called suspect because Hadleigh had no tapes or anything to back up his claims of interviews with the conveniently dead people. This type of reference may be okay in a tabloid, but is not acceptable for an encyclopedia. Ted Wilkes 22:58, August 25, 2005 (UTC)

Gavin Lambert, a reputed Hollywood biographer, has also written that Dean was bisexual. There are further sources which support the view that Dean had homosexual leanings. Onefortyone 23:02, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
Lambert was careless. Worse, I think you're aware of that. Wyss 23:03, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
Sorry, Lambert was part of the gay Hollywood circles of the sixties. He knew very well that Dean was bisexual. Onefortyone 23:07, 25 August 2005 (UTC)
Ever been there? The one does not follow the other. Wyss 23:35, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

"Rumors" section

As there are additional facts which support the view that Dean had homosexual leanings, I have now changed the "Rumors" section to this version:

  • Rumors about Dean's homosexual leanings

Decades after Dean's death, author Boze Hadleigh published a 1972 interview with Sal Mineo in which the actor said, "Nick (Adams) told me they had a big affair-" [3] However, seconds later Mineo hinted that many other Hollywood stories about secretly gay actors might be exaggerated or untrue. Adams had died four years earlier and Hadleigh's interviews are sometimes criticized for having often been misleadingly pasted together from other sources or even invented. Moreoever, Adams was well-known in Hollywood for sometimes embellishing or making up stories about his show business experiences (and had long tried to attach himself to the James Dean legend). Later, bit actor and writer John Gilmore, a member of Dean's "Night Watch" motorcyle riders, wrote a book on James Dean claiming they had a homosexual encounter. A more serious source is Gavin Lambert's Natalie Wood biography. In this book, the author, himself homosexual and part of the gay Hollywood circles of the 1950s and 1960s, describes Dean as being bisexual. In her memoir of her brief affair with Dean, "Dizzy" Sheridan (Jerry Seinfeld's mother to zillions of TV viewers) spoke quite candidly about the fact that she knew Dean had an affair with producer Rogers Brackett, the sophisticated radio director of a prestigious advertising agency, whom Dean met in the summer of 1951 while working as a parking attendant at CBS. In Val Holley's James Dean: the Biography (1997) gay studies scholars will also find rich factual evidence of Dean's homosexual social life, and of the crucial role gay patrons like Rogers Brackett played in Dean's rise to stardom. Onefortyone 13:30, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

I don't care

I don't care what JD did in bed or whatever. I do care about qualifiying assertions as to the reliability of their sources and balancing the article accordingly. Sources not based on documented evidence (verified, personal letters and interviews, court records etc) don't merit "equal space" in a helpfully written article, since that can throw off any sense of balance and hence mislead the reader. I also wonder what any of this has to do with his notability as an actor, rather than as unsupported gossip. Intimate relationships between celebrities and their colleagues are common and not in themselves notable or encyclopedic. Finally, these unsupported assertions 141 has cited about all of these people (Presley, Wood, Adams, Dean) only began to appear after they were long dead. Wyss 01:27, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Article split

Should we take the gay sex rumors to another page? Maybe combine with similar gossip about Elvis Presley and other entertainers who have been "outed" (or slandered). It's not really of general interest. Besides, you guys are alway fighting about it, and I'm getting tired of settling your squabbles. Uncle Ed 02:52, September 4, 2005 (UTC)

Why not? Wyss 03:21, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Deeds vs. orientation

I am inspired by InvisibleSun to propose that we distinguish between reports of same-sex actions and "homosexual orientation". It would be in vain to use the James Dean article to settle the following question:

  • If a person has sex with both men and women, does this mean they are "bisexual"?

Moreover, we should not be placing arguments in the article. Just quote the people who make the claims, provide links (or page numbers in books), and let the reader decide for themself.

  • James Dean said he way gay [1], or
  • James Dean said five mean performed fellatio on him [2], or if you can't find quotes like these,
Here is one source of this kind of information:
The debate about Dean's sexuality rages passionately. He told a friend, "I've had my cock sucked by five of the biggest names in Hollywood...". He also claimed to have worked, with his friend Nick Adams, as a street hustler when he first arrived in Hollywood. When asked if he was gay, he replied, "Well, I'm certainly not going through life with one hand tied behind my back". See http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biod1/dean2.html

My suggestion is:

  • James Dean had homosexual roommates, leading some biographers to speculate that he provided them sexual favors in return for help with his acting career (see casting couch). Uncle Ed 10:36, September 4, 2005 (UTC)

Hollywood screenwriter Gavin Lambert, himself homosexual, certainly must have known that Dean was bisexual, as he was in close contact to him. The problem is that User:Wyss and User:Ted Wilkes are frequently denigrating every source which supports my view that James Dean had homosexual leanings and is not in line with their opinion. I think this is not fair play. For instance, referring to Gavin Lambert's Wood biography, they have added, "but this book has been described as 'high class gossip.'" in order to disparage this source which clearly says that Dean was bisexual. Here is the original text from the Guardian review: "For bitchy, witty and perceptive high-class gossip about Hollywood, there was no better source." This sounds somewhat different. See [4] It should also be noted that Publishers Weekly has a very positive review of Lambert's Wood biography saying that the author

follows her (Wood) from such childhood triumphs as Miracle on 34th Street to her breakthrough adult part opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. ... Lambert reveals deep sensitivity and understanding of her development as an actress, and he's one of the few authors to capture the depth and beauty of her relationship with Robert Wagner. Lambert also effectively highlights Wood's shrewd professional moves, including her pretense to boss Jack Warner that she didn't want to star in Splendor in the Grass ... Lambert eloquently clarifies the self-destructive reasons behind Wood's addictions and insecurities, and in the end, readers will feel they truly know the subject more than they do in most biographies."

The book was also praised by Natalie Wood's daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, as

a wonderful biography on my Mom ... that we are all involved with - everybody that knew my Mom and was close to her ... It will be the definitive biography on my Mother.

Film historian Professor Joseph McBride writes,

The novelist, screenwriter, and biographer Gavin Lambert, a British expatriate who has lived in Los Angeles since the 1950s, is a keenly observant, wryly witty chronicler of Hollywood's social mores and artistic achievements.

If Lambert, himself part of the gay circles in Hollywood at that time, states that James Dean was bisexual, he certainly must be accepted as a first-class source of reference, although Wyss and Ted Wilkes do not like the idea that some Hollywood stars may have had homosexual leanings. I do not understand what should be wrong with this fact. Wyss has further changed the original text which says,

In Val Holley's James Dean: the Biography (1997) gay studies scholars will also find rich factual evidence of Dean's homosexual social life, and of the crucial role gay patrons like Rogers Brackett played in Dean's rise to stardom

to the biased version,

Val Holley's James Dean: the Biography (1997) also describes purported homosexual encounters and relationships.

Query: if you compare the different versions of the paragraph (see [5] and [6]): which one is more POV? If Dean biographer Val Holley is right, Dean's homosexual leanings played an important role in his rise to stardom. This must be mentioned in the article. Perhaps an administrator can rewrite the whole passage. Onefortyone 12:25, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

No

How many times do we have to go in circles on this? Why do some admins allow themselves to be sucked into a topic and discussion about which they know nothing, without reading the talk pages, to be manipulated into supporting the use of WP as a platform to sell tabloid books with largely fabricated content through Google keyword searches?

  • For starters, there is zero evidence James Dean and Nick Adams were roomates.

I strongly suggest anyone attempting to mediate or edit this page read the entire talk page archives for Nick Adams along with the last three months of Elvis Presley before attempting any interaction with either article. Wyss 17:11, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Are you sure that there is zero evidence that James Dean and Nick Adams were roommates? From Boze Hadleigh's 1972 interview with gay actor Sal Mineo:
Hadleigh: James Dean and Nick Adams were roommates, as I'm sure you know. Were they also lovers?
Sal Mineo: I didn't hear it from Jimmy, who was sort of awesome to me when we did Rebel. But Nick told me they had a big affair- I don't know if it was while they were living together or not. But there's always the roomie thing in Hollywood- Brando and Wally Cox, Brando and Tony Curtis, Cary Grant and Randolph Scott- and there are always rumors about them, even if they aren't true. I think Hollywood secretly wants to think it's true... See [7]
As I said, I strongly suggest anyone attempting to mediate or edit this page read the entire talk page archives for Nick Adams along with the last three months of Elvis Presley before attempting any interaction with either article. Wyss 17:32, 4 September 2005 (UTC)
I would also recommend that every user should read these talk pages, as I have frequently cited several independent sources which support my contributions. Onefortyone 17:35, 4 September 2005 (UTC)
"Independent" does not mean "reliable." Wyss 17:47, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Removed rumours section

The following is the rumours section removed by User:Ted Wilkes. I'm neutral as to its inclusion or exclusion in this form, since it's carefully built around citations (even if those cites are worthless): Wyss 10:31, 14 September 2005 (UTC)


Rumors about James Dean's sexuality

Decades after Dean's death, author Boze Hadleigh published a 1972 interview with Sal Mineo in which the actor said, "Nick (Adams) told me they had a big affair-" [8] However, seconds later Mineo hinted that many Hollywood stories about secretly gay actors might be exaggerated or untrue. Adams had died four years earlier and Hadleigh's interviews are sometimes criticized for having often been misleadingly pasted together from other sources or even invented. Moreoever, Adams was well-known in Hollywood for sometimes embellishing or making up stories about his show business experiences (and had long tried to attach himself to the James Dean legend).

Later, bit actor and writer John Gilmore, a member of Dean's "Night Watch" motorcyle riders, wrote a book on James Dean claiming they had a homosexual encounter. Gavin Lambert's Natalie Wood biography describes Dean as being bisexual, but this book has been described as "high class gossip." In her memoir of her brief affair with Dean, actress Dizzy Sheridan claimed Dean had an affair with Rogers Brackett, a radio director for an advertising agency whom Dean met in the summer of 1951 while working as a parking attendant at CBS. Val Holley's James Dean: the Biography (1997) also describes purported homosexual encounters and relationships.