Was James Dean a great actor?

romad · romad's Garage

Would his method carried him thru a life time career? Great car guy, but was he a great actor? I like his three movies overall, but some of his emotional scenes are
just too much........

speeder · 05-16-2011, 08:03 AM

Legitimate question. He certainly had talent but was also a major scenery-chewer. He may have improved greatly, (others have), or not. Most people don't really know the difference, so he may have worked forever regardless. I think that he would have drank himself to death by about 1965, myself.

Paul Newman was not a great actor by any stretch, he even knew it. But he worked forever and was much loved. Steve McQueen actually was great, IMO.

Tobra · Tobra's Garage

no

Laneco · 05-16-2011, 09:19 AM

No, he was not.

I think he could have evolved into a very good actor, perhaps even a great one. But at the time of his death, I would say not a great actor.

He was however, a great Hollywood STAR and that would have carried him by itself until his acting developed. Sometimes, even back then, being a Hollywood STAR was not necessarily synonymous with being a great actor.

angela

R K T · 05-16-2011, 09:57 AM

Compared to some of the "actors" today that get paid 20 mil a picture and they are mostly box office flops.....he wasn't too bad!

tabs · 05-16-2011, 10:00 AM

Pretty much agree with Speeder the guy would have flamed out like Marilyn.

A better way to judge Deans acting skills would be to watch his TV acting roles...there would be more range

DanielDudley · 05-16-2011, 10:08 AM

Yes, a Star.

DanielDudley · 05-16-2011, 10:10 AM

Famous, he was.

Zeke · 05-16-2011, 11:57 AM

Type cast. And good at what he knew.

romad · romad's Garage

If Dean was not was Montgomery Cliff? Same style...Cliff didn't changed much thru many more movies.

Paul Newman was a very believable actor...meaning good

speeder · 05-16-2011, 01:06 PM

It's Montgomery Clift and he could mop the floor w/ Dean, acting-wise. Still, Dean had talent...

cairns · 01:26 PM

Within their range I thought Dean (and Clift) were both very good actors (Clift was far better IMO- he could have been great I thought but I don't recall ever seeing it). Of their contemporaries only Newman and Lee Remick stand out as great in my mind though. Except for On the Waterfront I don't even think Brando showed much in the way of greatness- but that's just my opinion.

Great to me means you forget who they are- and they "become" the character- no matter who they're playing. Currently I think Russell Crowe, Andrew Oldham and Meryl Streep have all shown greatness. But there aren't many others that I can think of. Most of them fit very narrow roles and IMO that's all Dean could do. Maybe he would have grown but we'll never know.

romad · romad's Garage

current actors...Clooney old bro and Michael Clayton, "Markie mark" I don't think he has done a bad movie yet, Kevin Bacon, Matt Damon makes a very believable spy, plays a large range.

I agree with On the waterfront that was Brando one good one.

azasadny · azasadny's Garage

No, he just died early, at the peak of his career...

tabs · 02:15 PM

Monty Cliff in "From Here To Eternity" was very good indeed.

Johnny Depp is very versatile agree with Oldham,... Denzel, Cheadel, Seymore, Whitaker, Brolin, Bridges, Dicaprio, Damon..Downey

Hugh R · 02:43 PM

Google Mark Waldman and you'll find out that he is/was a racist. He beat an Asian guy in his "hood" so badly, the guy lost an eye. Happenednduring his "Markie Mark" days.

romad · romad's Garage

What does that have to do with anything ?.... I guesss thats beside the point now..........so I guess, If a white guy gets into a fight with another race he is a racist......what does that make the none white guy? Oh of course white guys start all the fights, and other races are incompatible of being 1st class a holes.

Thread offically highjacked.

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by romad

current actors...Clooney old bro and Michael Clayton, "Markie mark" I don't think he has done a bad movie yet, Kevin Bacon, Matt Damon makes a very believable spy, plays a large range.

I agree with On the waterfront that was Brando one good one.

Have to agree on the current actor list. Matt Damon, especially, if you see The Informant and his cameo in Entourage, can play humor (the hardest role there is) to perfection. He has a hell of a range.

Brando was good in just about everything he did, IMO. Streetcar, Godfather, Wild One... a little over the top in Last Tango, tho.

I think Dean was great in his two earlier films. Did not like him at all as the older Jett Rink in Giant. Maybe it's hard for a 20-something to play a 50-something, but I was unconvinced.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

I'd pay to watch Kevin Spacey read the phone book. Whatever that is...

techweenie · techweenie's Garage

To stay with the Dean theme, I had an interesting conversation with an older Japanese waiter in the 80s. He said that the day James Dean was reported to have died that there was so much emotional distress among the students in his school in Japan that they had to close the school that day. Dean was already an international star, based on just two films (Giant was released after his death, adding to a contemporaneous rumor that Dean wasn't really dead.)