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Dean's sexuality and his close friendship with his 'Giant' costar is explored in the biography 'Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean'

When James Dean became a massive movie star in with the back-to-back classics East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, he set a new standard for iconic masculinity.

And while that brooding, dangerous-but-squishy-on-the-inside schtick made women swoon and cleared the way for the emergence of rock & roll teen idols like Elvis Presley, Dean, according to age-old Hollywood lore, was secretly gay.

One of the more significant relationships the book addresses is the one Dean had with Elizabeth Taylor, his costar in the film Giant.

According to Colavito, the two got off to a somewhat rocky start as Dean "purposely provoked Taylor early on by ignoring her."

"When she demanded to know why," Colavito writes, "she proved to him she cared, and they became fast friends.

She saw him as a wounded puppy, and he saw her as sensitive, caring and (most import