James Dean

James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement. Dean's premature death in a car crash cemented his legendary status. He became the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and remains the only actor to have had two posthumous acting nominations.

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Trust and belief are two prime considerations. You must not allow yourself to be opinionated.

To grasp the full significance of life is the actor's duty, to interpret it his problem, and to express it his dedication.

But you can't show some far off idyllic conception of behavior if you want the kids to come and see the picture. You've got to show what it's really like and try to reach them on their own grounds.

The gratification comes in the doing not in the results.

There is no way to be truly great in this world. We are all impaled on the crook of conditioning.

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.

Studying cows pigs and chickens can help an actor develop his character. There are a lot of things I learned from animals. One was that they couldn't hiss or boo me.

Being an actor is the loneliest thing in the world. You are all alone with your concentration and imagination and that's all you have.

I also became close to nature and am now able to appreciate the beauty with which this world is endowed.

Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today.

Being a good actor isn't easy. Being a man is even harder. I want to be both before I'm done.

The only greatness for man is immortality.

Only the gentle are ever really strong.

If a man can bridge the gap between life and death if he can live on after he's dead then maybe he was a great man.

I think the one thing this picture shows that's new is the psychological disproportion of the kids' demands on the parents. Parents are often at fault but the kids have some work to do too.

An actor must interpret life and in order to do so must be willing to accept all the experiences life has to offer. In fact he must seek out more of life than life puts at his feet.