MONTBLANC Great Characters / James Dean Special Edition Rollerball

James Dean

Broadway and Hollywood Star

James Dean’s career began in 1954, after he had already auditioned in Hollywood many times without success.To get a foothold in the film business, he took a detour via the stage. Any knowledge James Dean lacked, he picked up at the famous Actors Studio New York under Lee Strasberg. It was here that the director Eliza Kazan discovered him and immediately engaged him for screen tests. People were looking for fresh faces – for a new, revolutionary character that would turn the film world upside down. There was no one better for this than James Dean.

Rebel for Eternity

As the cool, unapproachable and sensitive rebel he embodied not only in his films but also personally, James Dean became a figurehead for the wild youth of puritan in the 1950s. The sensitive and shy actor, who expressed teenage anger in his films, loved fast cars. Before his career as an actor, he dreamed of being a Grand Prix driver. It was in his Porsche 550 Spyder, the car he called “Little Bastard” – this nickname originated on the set of Giant – that James Dean met an early death. On 30 September 1955, he died in a car accident at only 24. While the engraved ring on the barrel gives the exact geographic position of James Dean Memorial Junction, where he died. The handcrafted, rhodium-coated Au585 gold nib bears a fine engraving of a race flag.

James Dean – Film Icon

After just three major films, he reached immortality. He was one of the greatest big-screen stars of his time, remembered for his leading roles in the films “East of Eden”, “Rebel without a Cause” and “Giant”. James Dean was exceptionally talented at portraying characters with rough edges, but his charisma, his passionate delivery and his early death made him a legend. Though he never won an Oscar during his short, meteoric rise in Hollywood, he was nominated posthumously for an Oscar for two of his starring performances. With the Montblanc Great Characters “James Dean Special Edition”, Montblanc honours the legendary Hollywood star – the young rebel who won his place in cinematic history in just a year and a half.

Montblanc Great Characters

James Dean Special Edition

Commemorating the actor who embodied the spirit of rebellious youth, the Montblanc Great Characters “James Dean Special Edition”, available as a fountain pen, rollerball and ballpoint pen, is made of red precious resin – the same colour as the iconic jacket worn by James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause”. The ruthenium-coated clip is shaped like the gun carried by Dean’s character in “Giant”, Jett Rink. In tribute to James Dean’s passion for car racing, the rhodium-coated, Au585 gold nib is engraved with a race flag. Completing the edition are a leather notebook and the James Dean red ink, available as an ink bottle and as rollerball or ballpoint cartridges.

The Montblanc Great Characters “James Dean Special Edition”, made of red precious resin with platinum-coated fittings, is dedicated with numerous details to the charismatic James Dean. One of his most quotes, “Dream as if you will live forever. Live as if you will die today”, is engraved on the cap ring.

Launch 2018

Limitation: 1,931