Post Office Turns Rebel Into A Stamp

Proving that yesterday’s outlaw can become today’s icon, James Dean - the angst-ridden 24-year-old star of “Rebel Without a Cause” - is now featured on a U.S. postage stamp.

Friends and acquaintances eulogized Dean, who was killed 40 years ago in an auto accident, during a ceremony Monday to unveil the stamp at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.

Dean starred in just three films, but his early death, combined with the tormented characters he played, made him a symbol of youthful rebellion and anguish to teens and young adults in the 1950s.

To fans who still remember his performances, Dean’s work highlighted destructive family relationships decades before the term dysfunctional became a cultural cliche.

But on Monday, the symbol of postwar upheaval took his place among American icons from Thomas Jefferson to Marilyn Monroe - on a 32-cent stamp. The first-class postage is the second in the Postal Service’s Legends of Hollywood series, which began last year with Monroe.

Dean was a notoriously fast driver. He was driving to an auto race in Salinas when he died in a crash.

The stamps go on sale in post offices nationwide today.