The only time I ever worked with James Dean was in a 1953 off-Broadway production called The Scarecrow. He played the Scarecrow's reflection in the mirror. He was an unknown then but he was jolly good in every way. I knew then that he was born to become an actor.

Actually, the person I related to was James Dean. I grew up with the Dean thing. Rebel Without A Cause had a very powerful effect on me.

Jimmy was not only an internal actor, but an expressionist, which came partly from his studying dance. He would physicalize actions, such as the way he lifted …

It wasn't so much a matter of whom I was acting with, it was whom I was watching: Marlon Brando, Maureen Stapleton, Geraldine Page, Jimmy Dean : a pretty hotsh…