One of James Dean’s most famous quotes was his flirty, non-committal answer to the question of whether he was homosexual.
“No,” he shot back, “I’m not homosexual. But I also won’t go through life with one hand tied behind my back.’
In doing so, Dean tacitly acknowledged that he enjoyed contact with both men and women – his animal magnetism did not discriminate – and he seemed more than happy to explore all his sexual options.
But a new book has suggested that his urges may also have indulged in an adventurous threesome with two powerfully attractive women more than twice his age.
Edna Ferber was 70 years old when the epic film of her novel Giant was made in Marfa, Texas, starring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and a then little-known 24-year-old actor named James Dean.
It would be his last film – he died late in production in a tragic car accident and another actor had to overdub some of his lines.
In Giant Love – a memoir by Ferber written by her great-niece Julie Gilbert – it is clear that the writer was in love with the sultry beautiful Dean, as was his co-star Mercedes McCambridge, who was about 40 at the time.
“Ferber had not been average in any way, except this one,” Gilbert writes. “She was drawn to the Dean magnet just like everyone else.
She describes McCambridge as having a similar appearance (and vision) to Ferber, with her strong qualities, outspoken manner and impressive achievements. She was also a confidante of the young James Dean.
James Dean on the film set of Giant in 1955 – he died the same year
Dean with his Giant co-star Elizabeth Taylor
“He confided in McCambridge during their time in Marfa … and they were openly fond of each other.”
Ferber has never married, never had children, and has not had a romantic or physical relationship with anyone, leaving many with questions about her sexuality.
“For much of my life, people have asked about my great-aunt’s proclivities,” Gilbert writes.
And as she researched the memoir, she says she came away with a clearer picture, thanks in part to an off-hand comment from none other than Katharine Hepburn.
“Hepburn was a good friend of Ferber,” she writes. They shared a deep understanding and ‘recognized a quality in each other.
“Hepburn had a term for it: ‘We were both unicorn women,’ she once told me.”
At the time, Gilbert interpreted the comment as meaning that both women were rare, in that they had remained single and dominant “in a world of romantically paired people, where women were more often than not still subordinate or recessive.”
“Ferber and Hepburn walked proudly and with one horn all their lives,” Gilbert writes. ‘Both tolerated injustice, laziness, stupidity and arrogance and spoke their thoughts with passionate eloquence. They lived their lives – public and private – as they saw fit.”
James Dean’s screen test for the role of oil baron Jett Rink in Giant
The film starred two of the greatest actors of the time, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson
Edna Ferber with James Dean, dressed as an older, balding Jett Rink
McCambridge had a similar look (and outlook) to Ferber; she was also a confidante of the young dean
She later re-examined Hepburn’s comment, in light of the correspondence she discovered – and through the lens of an era when non-traditional sexuality was more accepted.
“When Katharine Hepburn called herself and Ferber “unicorn women,” I assumed the term meant they were unique. It sounded original and right on target. They both had special heads on their shoulders,” she wrote.
‘Now, in the age of varied sexuality, I finally understand what a ‘unicorn woman’ means. It is a female that grazes with flocks.
‘I think back. During my research for Ferber’s biography, I came across a multitude of correspondence with famous couples: Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne (devoted as they were to each other, both were said to prefer their own gender); Moss (with old homosexual tendencies) and Kitty Carlisle Hart; Katharine Cornell (reportedly bisexual) and Guthrie McClintic; the Louis Bromfields and the William Allen Whites – Ferber had deep friendships with both men.”
And while there was no outright sexual content in those letters – ithis audience was as sophisticated as you could get…and knew that whatever goes into print, stays in print.” – Gilbert felt the vaguest suggestion of romance in a book by publisher Blanche Knopf, who congratulated Ferber on the success of her novel.
‘The correspondent exudes a certain melancholy… It is also documented that the woman was open to love triangles, so perhaps, just perhaps, she was referring to a past invitation in her note.
‘Dear EF,
When I read the Book of the Month Club News about you, and when I think back to our very early acquaintance and friendship, I hope I start Giant. I am so impressed that I wanted to write to you and congratulate you on all your achievements. I wanted…I wanted…but it never happened. But I think your path has been littered with glory and hard work and all I want to do is offer my little congratulations along with those of the world.
Giant was Dean’s last film – he died late in production in a tragic car accident and another actor had to overdub some of his lines
At age 30, Ferber was already a successful Midwestern writer (photo circa 1916)
Katharine Hepburn (left) called herself and Ferber (right) ‘unicorn women’
Ferber had not been average in any way, except this: She was drawn to the Dean magnet like everyone else
‘If we get the chance again one day, we should meet and talk about all the good old days and maybe about the days to come.
“All good wishes to this Texas book, and to you.”
Then there was the allusion to a “romantic episode” with the film’s director George Stevens, at an LA farmers market.
A letter from producer Henry Ginsberg to attorney Harriet Pilpel, written as the contracts were finalized, read: “My plans at this time are to come to New York the last week of the month. George Stevens will follow shortly afterwards for a conference with Miss Ferber. You’ve probably had Edna’s account of her visit to Los Angeles and what could be construed as a romantic episode between herself and George Stevens at the Farmers Market.”
As Gilbert writes, “It’s never alluded to again, but once you’ve read it, it’s hard to forget. One could imagine a more fraught collaboration between the two – or was it one that Ferber merely longed for?’
Analyzing Hepburn’s commentary with fresh eyes, she says: ‘The curtain falls on Ferber, Dean and McCambridge in Los Angeles during the final weeks of filming Giant. They spent a lot of time together, both on and off set.
Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean in the Oscar-winning Giant
A romantic interlude with director George Stevens was also hinted at
‘Ferber and Dean became close, but McCambridge was never far away. There may have been a connection. McCambridge was married, but did say “I love you” in a letter to Ferber; and Dean was so young and random that it seemed like he would try anything.”
Every now and then Ferber would say to her sister Fannie, Gilbert’s mother, “One day I will tell you everything.”
She never revealed everything. But, Gilbert wonders, “Maybe this was part of the ‘everything.'”
But in the end, the only love affair Gilbert knew Ferber definitely had was with fame.
In her words: ‘Life can never truly defeat a writer who is in love with writing, for life itself is a writer’s lover to death – fascinating, cruel, lush, hot, cold, treacherous, constant.’
Giant Love: Edna Ferber, Her Best-selling Novel of Texas, and the Making of a Classic American Film by Julie Gilbert is published by Pantheon