Just As I Thought

He didn’t get along with Rock Hudson, either

I was just watching a documentary biography of Elizabeth Taylor on “Great Performances,” which said flat-out that James Dean was gay.
Is this now an accepted fact? I had no idea that there was some kind of proof of this, I figured it was just wishful thinking because Dean had that… well, gay outsider vibe, you know?

3 comments

  • From Deans Bio

    Dean’s success in Hollywood, where he relocated in 1949 at age 18, did stem in large part from the contacts he made with influential gay men. One of his few documented homosexual relationships was with Rogers Brackett, the sophisticated, 35-year-old radio director of a prestigious advertising agency, whom Dean met in the summer of 1951 while working as a parking attendant at CBS.

    and

    Another of Dean’s documented gay relationships was with Jack Simmons, a young actor who, by all accounts, was devoted to him. Because the attachment was kept quietly in the background – Dean virtually lived with Simmons while filming Rebel Without a Cause but had his own apartment – studio officials did not seem to mind.

    Couldn’t be too big of secret if this is listed in his Bio?

  • I saw that documentary too! I was also surprised how they pretty much presented Dean as gay, but guess it’s not much of a secret any more.

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