Sal Mineo (1939-1976) rose to fame in the 50s. The big splash was with the film "Misdirected Youth" (Rebel Without a Cause, 1955), in which he starred alongside none other than James Dean. In the story, the needy young millionaire Plato (Mineo's role) fell in love platonically with Jim (James Dean). Of course it was all subliminal, after all, it was the moralistic 50s.
But behind the scenes there was gossip about the stars' sexuality. Both Mineo and Dean were reported to be bisexual, and there were those who said the two had an affair. James Dean left the scene soon after – as we know, he died in 1955 in a car accident. Sal Mineo would die in 1976, murdered under mysterious circumstances.
Now, a biography of the actor of Italian origin has reached the world. "Sal Mineo", written by Michael Gregg Michaud, is the result of ten years of research and interviews with the actor's friends, colleagues and romantic affairs.
According to the biographer, Sal Mineo was never James Dean's lover, but he had an affair with Bobby Sherman – a teen idol from the 60s. The author also states that Mineo was not killed by a gangster, contrary to popular belief. The actor was stabbed near his apartment in Hollywood while returning from a theater rehearsal. "The police found a copy of the gay Kama Sutra in his house and saw leather pants in his closet, and they came to the ridiculous conclusion that there was something SM about his death," says the book's author. The actor's killer was convicted in 1979.
Sal Mineo's career was a subversion of Hollywood rules. He began taking singing, dancing and acting classes as a child, and went on to work on Broadway as a teenager. With "Juventude Destraviada", he was nominated for an Oscar for Supporting Actor at the age of 16. On American TV, he played the genie Aladdin in a television film with music by Cole Porter, in 1958.
Decadence came, and to return to the scene Mineo bet big: he appeared completely naked in the show "Fortune and Men's Eyes", in 1969 – a bold move by the standards of the time. The play talked about male homosexuality in prison, including themes such as sexual slavery and other dynamite. It became a film in 1971, without Mineo in the cast.
The biography "Sal Mineo", in its original version, can now be found on sites such as Amazon.
