The U.S. Postal Service honored actor James Dean with the 2nd collectible postage stamp in its Legends of Hollywood commemorative stamps series.

In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service added another collectible postage stamp to its Legends of Hollywood commemorative stamps series with their dedication of the first class 32-cent James Dean stamp. Dean appears on the 2nd stamp in the popular Legends of Hollywood stamp series.

The Career of James Dean

According to the Internet Movie Database, James Dean was born on 8 February, 1931, in Marion, Indiana.

Dean was raised on his family farm in Indiana, and at a young age moved to New York to pursue acting. His performances on Broadway earned him a trip to Hollywood.

Dean played the lead in only three movies prior to his untimely death. His roles as Caleb in East of Eden (1955) and Jett Rink in Giant (1956) were bookends to the role that immortalized the image of James Dean in America's mind for all eternity. Playing the brooding teen Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), cemented his place in Hollywood history despite his abbreviated film resume.

James Dean died on 30 September, 1955, in Cholame, California after one of the most famous car crashes in history. His Porshe Spyder race car collided with another car on a road near Cholame, killing Dean instantly. He was 24 years old.

USPS James Dean Stamp Design

As told in the USA Philatelic: Beyond the Perf, Issue 008, stamp artist Michael Deas based his stamp drawing of Dean on a photograph taken by Roy Schatt in 1954 in New York City.

The selvage art (or the art in the surplus margin around the sheet of stamps), was also based on a photograph by Roy Schatt taken in 1954 in New York City. The photograph had a cigarette in Dean's mouth, but in keeping with USPS policy of not showing smoking on stamps, the cigarette was eliminated.

The selvage text reads: "In a brief but brilliant career, the actor James Dean (1931-1955) spoke for millions of American teenagers as the misunderstood youth in East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause. His stature grew mythic after he died in a car crash, shortly before his final film, Giant, was completed."

Stamps in the Legends of Hollywood Series

The USPS Legends of Hollywood series of United States stamps began in 1995 with the release of the Marilyn Monroe stamp and continues to be one of the longest-running and most popular stamp series in USPS history. As of 12 May, 2010, there are 16 stamps in the Legends of Hollywood series, with no end in sight. The current list of Legends of Hollywood stamp subjects can be found below. For those interested in postage stamp collecting, the Scott catalog number is listed beside each stamp.

         1. Marilyn Monroe (1995) (Scott #2967)
         2. James Dean (1996) (Scott #3082)
         3. Humphrey Bogart (1997) (Scott #3152)
         4. Alfred Hitchcock (1998) (Scott #3226)
         5. James Cagney (1999) (Scott #3329)
         6. Edward G. Robinson (2000) (Scott #3446)
         7. Lucille Ball (2001) (Scott #3523)
         8. Cary Grant (2002) (Scott #3692)
         9. Audrey Hepburn (2003) (Scott #3786)
        10. John Wayne (2004) (Scott #3876)
        11. Henry Fonda (2005) (Scott #3911)
        12. Judy Garland (2006) (Scott #4077)
        13. James Stewart (2007) (Scott #4197)
        14. Bette Davis (2008) (Scott #4350)
        15. Gary Cooper (2009) (Scott #4421)
        16. Katharine Hepburn (2010) (Scott # 4461)