James Dean

Director Elia Kazan was looking for a new young actor to play the role of Cal in East of Eden; Dean and another relatively unknown actor, Paul Newman, were the final two chosen. Following a screen test in New York City, the part was given to Dean (a portion of the screen test in which the two joke in a homoerotic manner can be seen here ).

On March 8, 1954, Dean left New York City and headed for Los Angeles to begin shooting East of Eden. The film is based on the 1952 novel of the same name by John Steinbeck, which dealt with the story of the Trask and Hamilton families over the course of three generations, focusing especially on the lives of the latter two generations in Salinas Valley, California in the mid-1800s through the 1910s. The novel was adapted for film by screenwriter Paul Osborn and director Elia Kazan and dealt predominantly with the character of Cal Trask, of whom Elia Kazan said before casting "I wanted a Brando for the role." He eventually cast Dean for the role of Cal, who is essentially the rebel son of a constantly disapproving father (played by Raymond Massey) and prostitute mother (Jo Van Fleet). Dean's performance in the film foreshadowed his role as Jim Stark in Rebel Without A Cause. Both characters are rebel loners and misunderstood outcasts, desperately craving parental guidance from a father figure.

Much of Dean's performance in the film is completely unscripted, such as his dance in the bean field and his curling up and pulling his arms inside of his shirt on top of the train during his ride home from meeting his mother. The most famous improvisation during the film was when Cal's father rejects his gift of $5,000 (which was in reparation for his father's business loss). Instead of running away from his father as the script called for, Dean instinctively ran to Massey and desperately embraced him. This cut and Massey's surprised reaction were kept in the film by Kazan.

He received a posthumous Best Actor in a Leading Role Academy Award nomination for this role, the first posthumous acting nomination in Academy Awards history.