36 Photos That Exhibit the Eternal Cool of James Dean

Before becoming synonymous with leather jackets and teenage angst, James Byron Dean was just a quirky farm boy from Fairmount, Indiana. One Sunday afternoon, at a soiree on the grounds of the Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles, the then-unknown actor was introduced to a shy young photographer named Dennis Stock. As the wine flowed, "so did our conversation," Stock recalls in his collection of photographs, Dennis Stock: James Dean. Here, we take a look back on the life of Dean through 36 candid photographs of the late actor, including shots from Stock.