Giant

“I don’t want to burn myself out….I’ve made three pictures in the last two years.” – James Dean

“Giant” was James Dean’s first Hollywood epic. He recieved equal billing with heavyweights Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. Liz, who was very fond of Dean, gave him a kitten (“Marcus”) as a gift. However, the director, George Stevens, and James didn’t see eye to eye. (Elizabeth Taylor apparently wasn’t fond of Stevens either.) To even further complicate matters, Rock and James never really hit it off!

“Stevens has been horrible. I sat there for three days, made up and ready to work at 9:00 every morning. By 6:00 I hadn’t had a scene or a rehearsal. I sat ther like a bump on a log watching that hog lumpy Rock Hudson making love to Liz Taylor. I’m not going to take it any more.” – James Dean

“(James Dean) was sulky and had no manners.” – Rock Hudson

Around this time, James began a stormy affair with Ursula Andress. The two seemed to fight almost constantly, prompting one paper to report that Dean was learning German so he and Andress could carry on their quarrels in two languages.

“What the hell would she have in common with a poor farm boy? If it weren’t that I was up there on the screen, her and people like her wouldn’t give me the time of day.”

“We fight like cats and dogs – no, on second thought, like two monsters. But then we make up and it’s fun. Ursula doesn’t take any baloney from me and I don’t take any baloney from her. I guess it’s because we are both egotistical.” – James Dean