Paul Newman @100: The Early Roles (1954-1959)

by Cláudio Alves

THE LONG, HOT SUMMER (1958) Martin Ritt

On January 26th, it'll be a century since Paul Leonard Newman came into this world. To celebrate this centennial, various writers from our Film Experience team will explore some of the blue-eyed star's best performances and most interesting pictures. There'll be some analysis of Oscar-honored triumphs, perchance a look at his directorial career, re-evaluations and sweet farewells as we remember one of the greats. As one dives into Newman's life on screen, feel free to explore the actor's tag on the site and re-discover some of the many, many pieces we've already posted about him over the years. From Oscar histories to overviews of his creative partnership with Joanne Woodward, there's a lot to enjoy.

For now, let's go back to the start, where everything began. Let's look at Paul Newman's early roles, those 1950s projects that saw him go from a nobody to a veritable, no doubts about it, Hollywood star…

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Almost There: James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause"

by Cláudio Alves

Today, it's time for another name from your list of requests – James Dean. The doomed star was nominated posthumously for Best Actor in 1955 and 1956 for his work on East of Eden and Giant. In that first year, however, he was also in Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause, delivering a performance that's arguably more iconic than the one that got him Academy recognition. Playing a troubled teen, Dean embodied a new archetype and carved a place for himself in the annals of Hollywood history.

Considering the actor's meteoric rise and both films' popularity, it's fair to say that Dean got some votes for the Ray-helmed adolescent drama. Indeed, if not for the other flick, he probably would have scored a nom for Rebel Without a Cause…

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Gay Best Friend: Plato in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1954)

a series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Sure, Plato stared at Jim that way just because he wanted to be his good friend, right?After a few months of looking at the gay best friend trope over the past 30 years, we wanted to go back to a time where the “gay best friend” couldn’t be called a “gay best friend.” The Hayes Code stopped queer life from being outwardly depicted on screen. However, that didn’t keep gay characters off the screen. Screenwriters, directors and actors would “code” certain characters as queer. This allows them to pass as “straight” and make it through the sensors, but people could look at signals and recognize the characters as queer.

One of the more famousl “gay best friends” during the code era was Sal Mineo’s Oscar-nominated portrayal of Plato in Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause. How could we tell he was gay?

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Beauty Break: The Celebrity Portraiture of Phil Stern

by Nathaniel R

Happy Phil Stern Centennial! "who?" you say? Phil Stern, you philistines! He's one of the great Hollywood photographers. He lived a very long life, dying just 5 years ago at 95 years young but his work was largely before our time. We grew up with Herb Ritts and Annie Liebovitz as the biggest names in celebrity photoshoots but as long as Movie Stars have existed there have been artists behind the camera helping to mythologize them. Stern was one of those idolmakers taking several amazing photos of James Dean, Charlton Heston, Liz Taylor and many other important celebrities from the 20th century. Though celebrity portraits and candids weren't his only claim to fame having also been a war photographer. 

After the jump 14 other images from Stern's vast portfolio that we adore...

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Monte Hale Centennial

James Dean with Monte Hale on the set of "Giant"

Who? Listen we're not huge western devotees but nevertheless we tip our imaginary cowboy hats today to the bygone tradition of singing cowboys on film. (You know the kind if only from watching Alden Ehrenreich work such charismatic wonders as one of 'em in the Coen Bros Hail Caesar!). Monte Hale, born on this day 100 years ago in Oklahoma, was among the last of such stars...

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