James Dean: The Mutant King: A Biography

by David Dalton

This is the book that restarted the James Dean cult by celebrating him as the cool, defiant visionary of pop culture who made adolescence seem heroic instead of awkward and who defined the style of rock 'n' roll's politics of delinquency. The only book to fully show how deliberately and carefully Dean crafted his own image and performances, and the product of still unequalled research, vivid writing, intimate photographs, and profound meditation, James The Mutant King has become almost as legendary as its subject.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Film

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Serbay GÜL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Çok sevdiğim bir arkadaşımdan , Lana Del Ray'in Blue Jean şarkısına bir gönderme ile 'Blue jeans, white shirt walked into the room you know you made my eyes burn. It was like James Dean, for sure' notuyla hediye edilmişti. Okuduğum en iyi ünlü biyografilerinden birisi. Bu kadar başarılı ve yakışıklı bir adamın sürekli yüzünde bir kusur bulması beni çok şaşırtmıştı. Belki de kişinin kendisiyle olan savaşıdır sanata giden yol diye düşünüyorum. Keşke daha uzun yıllar izlenebilseydik kendisi de genç yaşta ölümü ve yakışıklılığının yanı sıra muhteşem kariyerini de konuşsaydık. Buna rağmen 24 yıllık ömre sığdırılmış 2 Oscar adaylığı ile yetineceğiz.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite biographies. Not as trashy as some (Boulevard Of Broken Dreams), but one which made me consider that there is always more to movie stars' lives than you think. (I read this before I learned to read between the lines).

[Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite biography of Dean. Ive read all of the bios and this one is the most complete. Avoids sensational ideas, focus is on the facts.

[AL · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was first introduced to James Dean by my mom right when I was fifteen years old, just about to turn sixteen. I was already a budding fan of old movies and of early twentieth century American literature, so I was very receptive to her recommendation for me to watch "East Of Eden." Needless to say, I was blown away by James Dean. His movements, his moodiness, his attitude, all seemed like he was showing me just what it was like to be a young in modern America. All of the strange internal struggles and realizations that were bursting forth, and all the desire to control them within the fragile husks we inhabit were encapsulated by his mere presence. After watching his other films, it was clear to me that he had an alien quality that made him shine brighter than anyone around him. I wanted to be him, and possess that same complex energy that to me erupted with a ferocity for life. His contradictions were what made him believable. He was all aspects of humanity, like all of us really are deep down, but most of us fail to explore or even to admit to ourselves. And his early death made him that much more desirable. His movie career was like a well written pop song whose melody won't leave your head and makes you want to keep singing. I had read so much about James Dean before that I had never got around to reading this book. Now, after reading it, I find that it has reinvigorated my interest in Dean, but it's presentation has left me with much to be desired. It is poetically written, but may be a bit thin on information in many parts. There are some well-researched interviews with people who knew Dean, but I would prefer more interviews instead of the poetic psychological speculations and recaps of his movies that dominate this book. There is very little about his time filming on "Giant" and a lot of the "Rebel..." chapter is just rehashing the story which anyone reading this book is surely already familiar. Dalton's coffee table book "James Dean: An American Icon" has most of the same information without the author's self-indulgent ramblings. Not that they are all bad, but I simply want as much information as can be had on the subject of the book, and not the author's ego-centric hero-worship. It's fast reading, so it's still worthwhile if you're a James Dean fan, but in the end it leaves me unfulfilled because of it's laziness.

[Bret Minges · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Dean, the Mutant King: A Biography by David Dalton is a great biography on Hollywood legend and rebel James Dean.

[Andrew Epperson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very effective biography about the late James Dean. The author’s ability to avoid mystification and deification were key to this. As someone who came in with a “Great Man” reverence for Dean despite knowing little about the man or his movies, I appreciated the author’s inclusion of the now-sanctified actor’s humanity. Some of that history was/is dark, but it gives a fuller picture of the man who died so young.
I grew up knowing about James Dean the myth—and that’s because my dad was a teen of the 50s, and Dean’s image is synonymous with that era of young people. For that reason, I’d been interested in learning a detailed history. What I came away with wasn’t what I expected: Dean, in reality, was a rising star with much to learn, but his untimely death coupled with being in the right place at the right time allowed for his image to be affiliated with midcentury Americana.
The man was flawed. He was of the “Kerouac” generation of men who saw themselves as too smart to be bothered, too uncouth to be tamed, too mysterious to be understood, and too macho to be available. Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, young John Lennon, and so many others are in that camp, and their work is among my favorites. As I age, I realize most of their personas were totally made up. They were fabrications. Their images were marketed and pushed as reality, but they were not legitimate. They began to see themselves as the personalities they created, and that took a brand of narcissism few could relate to. To be honest, I bet it would’ve been really hard to hold a conversation with Dean or work with him. Still, Dean’s image and history are interesting, and as an idea, his legacy can’t be ignored. Hope to see the James Dean Museum in Indiana sometime!

[Zach Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a great read and packed quotes full of James Dean the actor and Jimmy the man, this book is for you. Dalton has very true sensibility in crafting the Dean mystic, while also attempting to explain how he had such a cultural impact for the new “rebellious” generation post WW2. Dean was the personification of cool, laid back, and reclusive at points and these things exceptionally easy to romanticize if you don’t know how else he acted. The book gives great insight into how his behavior was also first hand experienced by his friends and colleagues erratic and narcissistic. My understanding after reading it is that, yes, those bits may be true and I have no sympathy for an asshole but something so admirable about his work is the unwavering dedication to the craft of acting which changed the space of film for generations. Brando and Dean alike have new found meaning to committing to their roles and their performances are embellished in immortality because of their approach and rejection of the First Hollywood Golden Age style. Dean should certainly be commemorated for his craft, but the book does an excellent job at showing how his behavior was also uncompromising, inevitable playing to his ego which had a part in his own self destruction.

[Davy Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in college, bought at the Village Bookstore Purdue in my freshman year in 1973-74.

This one blew me away. Even though I had been born and raised in Dean's hometown of Marion Indiana [Fairmount is in the same Grant County], i didn’t grasp who he was. I was confused by the Jimmy Dean sausage guy as much as anything. My parents weren't into Dean and Brando and those types, though they were of about the same age, and from roughly the same town. The next door neighbor kids used to brag about their Dad being first cousin of Dean, but I didn't grasp it. He died the same year I was born.
I did grasp Steppenwolf for a time, and then the Rolling Stones ... just can't quite convey the power I got from they and Dean, and Dylan somewhat.

I have read some other stuff about Dean, some a little more revealing, but for my money, this is the go-to book.

[Alex Kearney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool

[Paul Lyons · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of David Dalton's acclaimed biography of James Dean is by no means perfect, nor accurate, yet for the most part is actually quite good. When focused enough, Dalton paints a vidid impression of who James Dean might have been, and what his life was life during his too brief twenty four years on this earth. Unfortunately, "James Dean, the Mutant King: A Biography" reveals more about the author than it does its subject matter.

On a positive note, David Dalton utilized plenty of research and had interviewed (or had access to interviews with) a wide collection of family, friends, girlfriends, lovers, work associates. This resulted in a compelling portrait of James Dean: the orphaned child of the midwest who found his home in the arts and achieved great heights before tragically losing his life on September 30, 1955 on the road in California. The author's educated prose (at its best) gets under your skin and consciousness to the point where you find yourself enjoying "James Dean, the Mutant King: A Biography" without understanding why.

...but then, David Dalton breaks his own spell. Perhaps in an effort to impress, the author insisted on flexing his pretentious, literary muscles by quoting ancient, old and modern literature on constant basis in order to further explain a point or a philosophy. The author quotes fragments from poems, plays, essays, songs and books from legendary writers to obscure writers to members of a James Dean fan club. It's one thing for a biographer to use selective quotation to emphasize an aspect of a subject matter, it's another thing when a biographer uses such an abundance of quotations from other writers that one wonders if the biographer is either too lazy, or too incompetent to write words of his own.

The last quarter of "James Dean, the Mutant King: A Biography" is a complete disaster. Whatever good David Dalton provided in the book is wiped away clean with his choice of closing his James Dean biography with over 30 pages of excruciatingly dull ramblings and quotations involving the cult of James Dean that lives on past his death. The author gets so lost with his fascination of the James Dean fan clubs and cults and merchandising that he seemed to have forgotten what his book was about. Proving the point, the author makes sure to include a detailed James Dean "Discography" in the closing pages...a full list of all film soundtrack released as well as tribute songs made to James Dean after his death. Um...WHAT?

Worse, there are the errors. Nothing gets my cow more than a non-fiction book that is sloppily written, edited and fact-checked. The mistakes in "James Dean, the Mutant King: A Biography" are sometimes forgivable, sometimes glaring. Stunt driver Bill Hickman befriended James Dean while working on GIANT as a dialect coach? Nope. Did not happen. James Dean actually meeting his hero Montgomery Clift? When? Because there is zero evidence of such. How bout James Dean liking Elvis Presley's music...in 1955?? How bout some fact-checking people?! David Dalton casually throws out these random false tidbits as if he knew what he was talking about it, which he clearly did not. Makes me question the whole book's validity.

"James Dean, the Mutant King: A Biography" shows that in the end, and despite good intentions, a biographer can lose his (or her) way in an attempt to reach far and wide in order to fully understand their subject matter to the fullest extent. What WAS good in David Dalton's writing worked wonders, yet what was bad and unforgivable were the author's hubris and insanity, which drove the book in too many distant directions and too often inspired me to leap out of a moving car and do something else with my time.