Me and my James Dean memorial stamp. 
First, thanks to soul sister Sheila O’ Malley for reminding me that today would be James Dean’s 91st birthday. I was only 9 when Dean’s first feature East of Eden was shown at our local theater…10 when Rebel Without a Cause was. Seems real young when I think about it, but through those two films Dean made an indelible impression on me, as witness by this passage from my 1994 book, The Dan Riley School for a Girl:

There’s a great deal of nostalgia about the good, old days of American public education. They seem good to me too, although not particularly rigorous academically. In fact my most vivid recollection of my elementary school teachers is that they excelled at teaching manners and conventions above all else. I can remember bringing my brother's milk money down to Miss Sullivan's first grade class and wearing my collar up in honor of James Dean who had just died in his car crash. There was a great deal of concern about juvenile delinquency back then, and of course the surest sign of a boy gone bad was a turned up collar. So Miss Sullivan did her bit to save me from going the full JD route -- sideburns, black leather jacket, a sneer, and long, idle hours on the street corner. She took me aside and turned my collar down and said, "There. You're not that kind of a boy." 
What significantly set that incident apart from today’s school environment, I think, is that Miss Sullivan was not taking a great risk in touching a student’s clothes and venturing a judgment on what kind of boy he was or wasn’t. Back then she wouldn’t have had to worry about unleashing a tirade from the student or the student’s parents about the student’s rights. This is not to suggest that student rights are not a legitimate issue. As both a student and teacher myself over the years I witnessed numerous infractions of those rights, and it’s well that they be treated with respect -- which is not to be confused with reverence. Sometimes I think in the swirl of controversy surrounding today’s American public schools, we’d all be a lot happier and a lot better off if teachers -- and parents -- could express themselves clearly and freely about what kind of boys -- and girls -- we are or ought to become.

Without giving Miss Sullivan any back talk or attitude, just my brother’s milk money, I left her room, walked up to the second floor, exercised my right to pull my collar back up, and returned to my classroom. In typical kid fashion, I thought I had the last laugh, but here I am 40 years later and Miss Sullivan’s words are still with me. 

 Miss Sullivan’s words and James Dean’s performances…I’ve watched East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause multiple times since my childhood, and I find myself as stirred by his acting more than by any other actor living or dead. I anticipate his every dramatic note and am never disappointed. Reflecting on his all too brief career has me thinking about what films he would’ve made had he lived. Below is a list based of films made by his contemporaries that he could’ve been cast in and either matched or surpassed the actual performance. As happens Paul Newman, who admitted to being intimated by Dean’s talent and in constant competition with him, probably would’ve lost out on more choice roles than anyone else…but there’s really no shame in that. I say this as a big Paul Newman fan, but even those inspired blue eyes would not have been a match for James Dean’s intensity: 
Somebody Up There Likes Me (for which he had already been cast, Newman was Plan B) Psycho (replaces Anthony Perkins) I Never Sang for My Father (replaces Gene Hackman) Chinatown (replaces Nicholson) The Conversation (replaces Gene Hackman) Cool Hand Luke (replaces Newman) The Verdict (replaces Newman) The Great Escape (replaces Steve McQueen) Tender Mercies (replaces Robert Duvall) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (replaces either Newman or Robert Redford) Midnight Cowboy (replaces either Dustin Hoffman or Jon Voight) Bonnie and Clyde (replaces Warren Beatty)