vis-à-vis

James Dean and Pier Angeli

“His entrance provoked an earthquake in my life. I was irresistibly drawn to this simple guy, humble, moody, and I would even say, complex. I felt that he too was lost, like me, in the world of Hollywood. He was the idol of an entire generation of Americans, and for some, perhaps many, he and I formed an ideal couple, the kind that photographers and journalists like. Jimmy, which is how I called him, in my eyes was the prime example of the new type of American. A leader of a new way of living, way of thinking, way of behaving, a way of dressing. Anyone who knew him well, and I believe I did, knew that he could make you feel as if anything were possible.” - Pier Angeli (in a letter to a friend a few months before her death)