Fame, Secrets &Lies

A NEW BOOK SHEDS LIGHT ON THE MYSTERIES OF THE REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE STAR'S PRIVATE LIFE

-  Katie Bruno

”In a letter dated Aug. 12, 1954, agent Jane Deacy sought to advise her client James Dean about his plans to marry his girlfriend, Pier Angeli. “I don’t know what to tell you,” Jane wrote. “I found out that if you get married, you have to advise your draft board, and whether they will reexamine you or reclassify you or what happens, I can’t find out.”

The Rebel Without a Cause star’s private world — including the rumor that he had been exempted from military service due to homosexuality — is examined in a new book, Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean, by Jason Colavito. “His first concern was whether [marriage] would mean he would be eligible for the draft again,” says Colavito, who examined hundreds of pages of correspondence between the famed actor and his agent. “[Jane’s letter] is the only surviving evidence proving that James had contemplated marrying Pier.”