The story of James Dean is one of the most memorable and tragic in Hollywood’s long history. Dean’s career had started like many in the profession. He found sporadic work in Los Angeles and then moved to New York City. He landed numerous TV roles for years, but it wasn’t until director Elia Kazan and author John Steinbeck met Dean for the role of Cal Trask in East of Eden that Dean’s career launched into the stratosphere. He would earn an Oscar nomination for the part, becoming the first male actor to earn a posthumous Academy Award nomination. That same year, Dean would become a cultural icon of teen disillusionment in Rebel Without a Cause. It remains Dean’s most famous role, possibly because he had died just one month prior to the film’s release. Dean would get less acclaim for that role than he got for East of Eden — and even for his final role in Giant (pictured above), for which he received a second posthumous nomination for Best Actor. Tragically, Dean passed away on September 30, 1955, more than a year before Giant hit theaters in October 1956.