Originally Posted by
Castle
He seems to be the River Phoenix of Golden Age Hollywood. it is sad he died young and we may never know where his career would have taken him. However he is one of those actors where I have seen many more traditional film historians try to use to draw the line between an icon and a legend, despite the fact a person can be both. Dean is more of an icon than a legend.
The AFI List of the 50 greatest actors of that era, many were not happy Dean was placed higher than the likes of William Holden and Sydney Poiter and I have to agree. I am not even sure he should have even been on the list, because he was still quite young and as you said he had only 3 films. Many felt the reason he was placed higher than some others who were more legends and veterans in the business was because he was this huge iconic sex symbol.
However to give a more balanced view. On that list of AFI greatest actors, Marlon Brando was placed 4th. After Humphrey Borgat, Cary Grant and James Stewart. Jeans Dean was placed 18th, so maybe if he had lived, the gap between him and Brando would have been closer, especially if they had gone head to head with one another in some films.