Death can do wonders for one's reputation. James Dean was a hot young actor with one hit -- "East of Eden" -- when he crashed his Porsche on a California back road and became an instant legend.Would his admirers have become so devoted -- and in some unfortunate cases, suicidally deranged -- if he had survived the wreck and gone on to make 30 movies instead of three? Probably not.
He might well have gone on to a brilliant career, but his early end gives his performances in "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant" an extra poignancy. This, we know, is all we're ever going to get of Jimmy.
Though not a Dean-like icon, Masaji Kaneko had a Dean-like career: short, intense and fruitful, though in his case the fruit was only one film, the 1983 film "Ryuji."