James Dean Signed Photograph.

DEAN, James. [Sanford H. Roth].

$35,000.00

Item Number: 124398

Rare large format Sanford H. Roth photograph of cultural icon James dean playing table tennis. Inscribed beneath his image, “To Mr. Roth best wishes James Dean.” The recipient, renowned American photographer Sanford H. Roth, was a close friend of Dean’s and photographed him frequently. Dean visited Roth’s home in California frequently and treated him and his wife Beulah almost as adoptive parents. Poignantly, Roth was in Dean’s Ford station wagon driving behind Dean’s new Porsche Spyder on the way to the Salinas Road Races on September 30, 1955, when Dean was killed in a late afternoon traffic accident. Roth took the now famous post-accident photographs. Beulah later denied that Sandy ever took any photos of Dean trapped in the wrecked Spyder. In near fine condition. The photograph measures 14 inches by 11 inches. The entire piece measures 19.5 inches by 16.5 inches. An exceptional association.

American actor James Dean is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause (1955), in which he starred as troubled teenager Jim Stark. The other two roles that defined his stardom were loner Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955) and surly ranch hand Jett Rink in Giant (1956). After his death in a car crash on September 30, 1955, near Cholame, California, Dean became the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and remains the only actor to have had two posthumous acting nominations. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him the 18th best male movie star of Golden Age Hollywood in AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars list.