I often wonder about today's crop of actors and who they remind me of from the past. Some are easy, like Brad Pitt whose career reminds me a bit of Robert Redford's. Truth is though, the business has changed so much, and there will never be the huge movie stars that there were in the past.
James Dean was one of a kind, and his early death has only added to the allure of his short career. Dean only worked for one decade, the 1950's, but in the latter part of the decade he was one of the worlds biggest stars. Nominated for two Best Actor Oscars, both posthumous, each of the three big films he starred in were nominated for awards.
It's always interesting to ponder if actors like Dean and Marilyn Monroe had not died so early, what path would their career have taken. Would Dean have followed the path of Paul Newman, and continued to work in interesting projects? Would he have been more like Brando and lost his looks, and worked mostly for money in the end. Would he have been like Grace Kelly and basically walked away from Hollywood. I suspect he'd have tried a Newman, but maybe ended up a Brando. Actors as sexually desired as Brando and Dean were in their early days often struggle transitioning as seamlessly as Newman appeared to, at least on screen.
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