James Dean and Marlon Brando were in a relationship that bordered on ‘sadistic’ – according to a new book.
Rumours about the s-xuality of both Hollywood icons are nothing new, but a new volume titled James Dean: Tomorrow Never Comes by authors Danforth Prince and Darwin Porter makes curious claims.
A friend of James’ called Stanley Haggart says Marlon played mind games with the Rebel Without A Cause star – who died in a car accident in 1955, aged 24.
It is claimed Marlon made James watch him having s-x with other people, hoped for ‘some S&M play’, and enjoyed toying with the younger star.
‘I got the impression that Jimmy was engaged in a cat-and-mouse affair with Brando, with Brando being the cat, of course,’ Stanley claims in the book.
‘Brando seemed to be toying with Jimmy for his own amusement. I think Brando was sadistically using Jimmy, who followed him around like a lovesick puppy with his tongue wagging,’ the old friend adds.
While James Dean has been rumoured to have slept with men as well as women (his friend, screenwriter William Bast claimed they were lovers) Marlon (who died in 2004, aged 80) openly told his biographer in 1976: ‘Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homos-xual experiences and I am not ashamed’.
