James Dean's Lucky Watch

James Dean's lucky pocket watch was his most important personal possession. The back has a spiral pattern and the cover has his engraved initials. This lucky watch worked for him and he became a movie star. Talismans come in many forms!

When Dean first starred in East of Eden, he insisted on wearing his lucky pocket watch. He had bought it in late 1951 when he was a struggling young actor in New York. It was his first big purchase and he was proud of it. He had his initials engraved on the gold cover and carried it in his pocket for luck wherever he worked, whether it was on TV or in plays.

Around two and a half years later, Dean was spotted and went to Hollywood to meet John Steinbeck, author of East of Eden. When Dean arrived in Los Angeles, he visited his father, which was their first communication in a long time. His father was afraid Dean would lose his lucky watch, so he gave him his own gold watch chain. Even though director Elia Kazan protested, Dean wore the watch, hanging from a belt loop, throughout the filming of East of Eden.

Dean attributed his success to the watch, and it was also a link to his father. Kazan finally relented and allowed him to wear the watch, but he insisted that Dean's engraved initials had to be covered up in close-ups. Dean's performance in East of Eden earned him his first of two posthumous Academy Award nominations and two Golden Globes.

Before his fatal car crash, he had gifted his lucky watch to a woman named Tillie Starrier, who had befriended him early in his movie career. Tillie, a Warner Brothers employee, was older than Dean and seems to have been a surrogate mother for the young 23 year old actor. She was the only person he would allow to prepare his hair for East of Eden and also Rebel Without A Cause. Her letters describe their closeness and tell about how she visited with him the day he crashed his car. Our long-lost Jimmy Dean gave away his talisman and came to a tragic end.

The story of James Dean is a sad one. A talented young man brought down in the prime of his life and career (Heath Ledger is this generation's). I remember him as brooding, almost petulant and definitely a rebel in his own right. I didn't approve of his lifestyle but I still had his picture on my wall when I was a teen in the 50's. That brooding mystery appealed to young girls like me, much to parents horror everywhere!

Can a lucky charm work for you? Definitely yes, as long as you know how to use it!