James Dean died at the age of 24, and he starred in only three films, out of which only one was released before his death- East of Eden. The other two, Giant and Rebel Without a Cause, were released posthumously. For decades, people have wondered what it would have been like if Dean had lived.
Would he have been an even bigger star? After all, he’s still an icon today. Or would his contemporary Paul Newman have taken over his stardom anyway? In a memoir, the late Paul Newman addressed these issues and talked about how luck saved him.
Did James Dean’s Death Affect Paul Newman’s Movie Career?
In Paul Newman’s memoir called The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man, he remarked that there are people who credit James Dean’s death as the reason behind his rise in Hollywood. However, The Colour of Money star has a different way of looking at it. He termed his career as something that’s there due to his luck. The actor said:
“I know there are some people who attribute my career breakthroughs to Jimmy’s death. Yes, there were elements of luck— and a lot of my success has indeed involved what I call ‘Newman’s luck’. Luck recognized me. If Jimmy hadn’t been killed, half of me says, ‘You could have done it anyway. It would have been a hair slower, but it would have happened.”
Initially, Newman was set to star with Dean in the TV show The Battler. But when the latter was killed in a car crash just two weeks into filming, he was upgraded into the lead role from the supporting one he was originally cast in.
From there, he got cast in another project that was allegedly also made for Dean- Bob Wise’s Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), a big Rocky Graziano biography. On this, Newman said:
“Word was that the film was to be Jimmy Dean’s next project, and his sudden death obviously scrambled things; Wise and the producers cast me, probably on the strength of my handling the part in The Battler.”
It’s impossible to know how Newman’s career would have turned out if James Dean hadn’t died. However, at one point, he was fed up with the comparisons to Dean and Marlon Brando.
Read More: Legendary Actor James Dean Hated Secretly Gay Co-Star Trying to Seduce Him in $39M Cult-Classic
Paul Newman Despised Being Compared To Marlon Brando And James Dean
In Hollywood, an actor being called similar to a veteran star is seen as a compliment. However, not everyone is fond of such labels. The late Paul Newman, a stalwart of the industry, was one of them. As reported by UPI, he hated actors getting labeled as something or the other. The actor said:
“Why does everyone have to put labels on actors. It never falls. Sooner or later every newcomer to Hollywood is told he is ‘another somebody or other.”
The Sting star further explained that he hated being compared to Marlon Brando and James Dean. He said:
“First they said I looked like Brando. Then it was agreed that we had the same quality. All I want to know is what quality? I have yet to have anyone come up with the answer to that… I’ve also been compared with Jimmy Dean, but Jimmy’s quality was a lost little boy point of view.”
However, Paul Newman isn’t referred to as another Brando or Dean anymore. He very much carved his own space thanks to films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Hustler (1961), and more.
Source: Paul Newman’s memoir
