# Who was/is the "James Dean" of other decades? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 3, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244 "2013-02-03T18:58:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/1 "2013-02-03T18:58:09Z")
I was a teenager in the '50’s and discovered Dean after he was already dead. To me he was the symbol of that decade, but I can’t think of parallels in other decades with his power and longevity. If Dean wasn’t your symbol of the '50’s, who was? Who represents the 40s? 50s? 60s? 70s? 80s? 90s? 00s? 10s? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/2 "2013-02-03T19:18:46Z")
60s - Steve McQueen 70s - John Travolta 80s - Tom Cruise 90s - Brad Pitt 00s - Leonardo DiCaprio 10s - Ryan Gosling ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/3 "2013-02-03T20:02:19Z")
I assume by longevity you mean that his image is still viable even his personal longevity was quit short, ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/4 "2013-02-03T20:09:21Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > I assume by longevity you mean that his image is still viable even his personal longevity was quit short, Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/5 "2013-02-03T20:10:05Z")
Gah! Wrong button. Let’s try that again… 70’s John Beluishi 80’s River Phoenix 90’s Kurt Cobain ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/6 "2013-02-03T20:13:05Z")
30s: Clark Gable or Errol Flynn 40s: Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant or Jimmy Stuart; take your pick ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/7 "2013-02-03T21:17:23Z")
70s – Al Pacino 80s – Robert Downey, Jr. 90s – Johnny Depp 00s – Heath Ledger ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/8 "2013-02-03T21:52:10Z")
As a friend of mine put it, “I wanted Heath Ledger to be the Robert Redford of my generation, and instead, he’s James Dean.” ---
**Author:** ![jack\_tardiff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@jack\_tardiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_tardiff)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/9 "2013-02-04T04:45:19Z")
Tie between Steve McQueen and Paul Newman in the late 1960s-early 1970s – I think that’s fair. McQueen had the relatively early death going for him, though, in addition to the fast living, alleged prodigious drug and alcohol use, and love of speedracing on the Dean scale of relativity. I think the 1940s belonged to Bogey. 1930s? Yeah, Errol Flynn is a great choice, but so is The King. By the end of the 1930s, though, Cary Grant was I think one of the very few big-time actors who had amassed enough power to escape the binding, exploitative studio contracts and call his own shots, choose his own pictures. Less convincing ideas: Bart Marshall as 1930s iconic sums-it-up male actor known for being a man’s-man type, though, and even David Niven goes in that pot, speaking of Brits. More convincing idea: Cagney in the 1930s. Not really a James Dean type, though. I’m not sure about the premiss that Dean was the Dean of the 1950s, though – maybe Rock Hudson, maybe Glenn Ford or comparatively old Randolph Scott or Monty Clift. Early-late 1960s? Kirk Douglas? Brynner? Not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/10 "2013-02-04T05:05:44Z")
For the early 80s, I’d vote for Harrison Ford. Between Han Solo and Indiana Jones, Ford was THE quintessential depiction of the rebellious sexy manly man that every guy of that time wanted to be. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/11 "2013-02-04T05:09:02Z")
> [@jack\_tardiff](#): > > Early-late 1960s? Kirk Douglas? Brynner? Not sure. Compared to Sean Connery in a tuxedo? ---
**Author:** ![jack\_tardiff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@jack\_tardiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_tardiff)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/12 "2013-02-04T05:11:45Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > For the early 80s, I’d vote for Harrison Ford. Between Han Solo and Indiana Jones, Ford was THE quintessential depiction of the rebellious sexy manly man that every guy of that time wanted to be. Good one. Maybe Kurt Russell, though – and that guy really was, in life, a pretty serious macho man, with his ball playing and everything. Of course he pretty much grew up in the studios as a child actor, so Ford has more of the everyman making it big thing going for him. Not sure, but I’d give a slight edge to Kurt Russell. Harrison Ford was tough to beat, though – he was the man in a lot of ways. Really close call. ETA yeah, I forgot Sean Connery. He was the man, no doubt, even before his triumph in _Highlander_. I think he’s a better choice than Douglas or Brynner. James Coburn could be his sidekick, maybe. Lee Marvin maybe his evil twin. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/13 "2013-02-04T05:23:33Z")
Different media, but like James Dean, a lot of people don’t realize that Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin were only around for a few years from the time they became popular (in a mainstream sense) until the time they died. Are You Experienced and Big Brother and the Holding Company both came out in '67. Jimi and Janis both died in '70. ---
**Author:** ![jehan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f6c823/32.png) [@jehan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jehan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/14 "2013-02-04T15:52:08Z")
1920s- Rudy Valentino. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/15 "2013-02-04T16:24:05Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Different media, but like James Dean, a lot of people don’t realize that Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin were only around for a few years from the time they became popular (in a mainstream sense) until the time they died. > > Are You Experienced and Big Brother and the Holding Company both came out in '67. Jimi and Janis both died in '70. Good call - I woulda gone with **Jim Morrison**. Fiery, handsome to the point of being mislabeled a teen heartthrob, some interesting work that captures a level of rebellion and trying to find your own path. I’m not up on my JD, but wasn’t he known as having a difficult personality, like Morrison? To the point of being an asshole to some? ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/16 "2013-02-04T16:25:11Z")
1780s Wolfgang Mozart 1840s Felix Mendelsohn 1910s Maybe Florence Lawrence, better known as “The Biograph Girl”. In the early days of film, studios tried to discover giving actors credits, feeling they would become famous and demand more money. > **[Florence Lawrence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Lawrence)** > > Florence Lawrence (born Florence Annie Bridgwood; January 2, 1886 – December 28, 1938) was a Canadian-American stage performer and film actress. She is often referred to as the "first movie star", and was long thought to be the first film actor to be named publicly until evidence published in 2019 indicated that the first named film star was French actor Max Linder. At the height of her fame in the 1910s, she was known as the "Biograph Girl" for work as one of the leading ladies in silent f Bo... 1860s maybe Edwin Booth, of a famous acting family and brother of John Wilkes Booth. In one of those amazing coincidences Edwin saved Robert Lincoln from serious injury or death months before John Wilkes killed Abraham Lincoln ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/17 "2013-02-04T16:26:59Z")
Kenny G was the James Dean of the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/18 "2013-02-04T16:34:46Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I’m not up on my JD, but wasn’t he known as having a difficult personality, like Morrison? To the point of being an asshole to some? Not quite sure that quality was (is) unique to Dean, but he was labeled “a rebel” by columnists like Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons (and others) which in those days wasn’t a common label for young actors. One of the amazing things about Dean in those years was how many young actors (most perhaps) modeled their behavior and looks on his. Martin Sheen is an excellent example. The beatnik/hippie culture was in large part a follow-up to the eccentricities Dean established. He may have been the best commercial for Levi’s (jeans in general) and t-shirts and red windbreakers. I know almost every kid in my school followed that dress code. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/19 "2013-02-04T16:36:49Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Kenny G was the James Dean of the 80s. Paula Deen, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244/20 "2013-02-04T16:37:22Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Kenny G was the James Dean of the 80s. Blasphemy! 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-is-the-james-dean-of-other-decades/649244.md?page=2)