The secret life of James Dean & Bill Bast… & the woman who came between them

The following is an excerpt from Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean by Jason Colavito and available now from Applause Books.

A scant forty-eight hours after he arrived in Los Angeles, [James] Dean showed up at Bill Bast’s apartment in a rented convertible, roused him from bed at an early hour, and hustled him into the car for a trip to the Anza-Borrego Desert south of Palm Springs to get a tan. They had spoken only a couple of times over the past year, but now, all smiles and teasing affection, it seemed as though no time had passed.

During the drive, Dean, confident and safe with the adoring Bast, said that he saw Eden as a stepping stone toward the transcendent greatness

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