James Dean - Blog Posts

Natalie Wood and James Dean photographed in between takes of Rebel Without a Cause, 1955.

Rebel Without a Cause (1955) dir. Nicholas Ray

Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Screen Test

Rebel Without a Cause 1955, dir. Nicholas Ray

He arrived late for the first rehearsal, roaring in on his motorcycle, dressed in jeans, a dirty T-shirt, and a large safety pin holding his fly together. “He was exactly what I expected. A junior version of Marlon Brando. He mumbled so you could hardly hear what he was saying, and he seemed very exotic and eccentric and attractive.” Natalie Wood by Suzanne Finstad.

James Dean & Natalie Wood in Rebel Without A Cause (1955)

Rebel Without a Cause (1955) dir. Nicholas Ray

You can wake up now, the universe has ended.

REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)

“While Natalie hero-worshipped [Nick] Ray, she was in awe of Dean... “He was all she could talk about. Every night for weeks in a row, she went to see “East of Eden”— she must have seen it over fifty times. She even taught me to play the theme song from the picture on the piano.” According to Natalie’s tutor, “She would hang around him as much as possible... she was very flirtatious with him.” ’

Excerpt from Natalie Wood by Suzanne Finstad; Natalie Wood gets James Dean’s autograph on set of “Rebel Without a Cause,” 1955.

Dean, with blood on his shirt, signs Natalie Wood’s suede autograph jacket. He was her 100th co-star to sign. Wood’s mother later burned the signatures with a hot needle for posterity.

“Dean barely spoke to Natalie that morning, but trailed her out the door during the lunch break, inviting her on his motorcycle. “I was thrilled. We went speeding off to some greasy spoon.”... Dean chatted with Natalie about the script at lunch, relaxing her. Suddenly he put down his sandwich. “I know you,” he said challengingly. “You’re a child actor.” Natalie, who sensed he was testing her, responded, “That’s true. But it’s better than acting like a child.” Dean “didn’t get it for a moment,” she later recalled. “Then he started to laugh. Then I started to laugh.” Natalie Wood by Suzanne Finstad.

Natalie Wood, James Dean, and Nick Adams review their notes behind the scenes of “Rebel Without a Cause,” 1955.

Natalie Wood, James Dean, and Sal Mineo in a screen test for “Rebel Without a Cause,” 1955.

Screen test for Rebel Without a Cause.

“The next day, she ... went to see Dean in “East of Eden,” which had opened at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. “She walked out and said, ‘I’m gonna marry him.’ Natalie later admitted she had ‘a big crush’ on Dean. “I remember going with my school girlfriends to see East of Eden like fifteen times, sitting there sobbing when he tried to give the money to his father. We knew every word by heart.”

“I tested three times for the part. The director, Nicholas Ray, was besieged by dozens of girls wanting to play Judy. After weeks of waiting, I heard the part was mine. But I had to keep quiet because the studio wanted to announce it at the right moment. I felt like running through the halls of Warner’s!”

Natalie Wood on her casting as Judy in “Rebel Without a Cause;” Natalie Wood and James Dean in a screen test for “Rebel Without a Cause,” 1955.

Natalie Wood and James Dean on the set of Rebel Without A Cause

Natalie Wood photographed by James Dean on the set of Rebel Without a Cause. Upper left: A crew member, also shot by Dean. 

Natalie Wood pinning up photos of her late co-star James Dean on her vanity mirror, 1955.

Natalie Wood, James Dean, and Sal Mineo in a screen test for “Rebel Without a Cause,” 1955.

James Dean and Natalie Wood on the set of Rebel Without A Cause, 1955.

Natalie said her favorite scene in Rebel Without a Cause was one she shared with James Dean that was cut from the film.

“It was in the car. I was waiting for him and he comes up and we talk to each other. There was a section of the scene where I imply that I’ve sort of been around, that I’m not really pure.

I say to him, ‘Do you think that’s bad?’ And he says ‘No, I just think it’s lonely. It’s the loneliest time.’

I thought it was a wonderful line—right on the cutting room floor.”

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Natalie Wood and James Dean eat at a hot dog stand during a break in filming “Rebel Without a Cause,” 1955.