| ~ My Interview with Elizabeth Sheridan ~ |
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C: What did you think of Jimmy when you first met him? Did this change at all as you got to know him? ES: I thought he was cute, and scraggly and kind of interesting, then as time went on, and I fell in love, I found him to be those things and more cute, more scraggly and more interesting. C: aww! :-) What was his best quality? ES: He was caring. C: Were you dating him during the filming of one of his movies? ES: No. When we first met he had just come to New York to be an actor. We dated, move into an apartment together, and stayed together until he got his first Broadway play. I found him so torn between hurting me and wanting his career so desperately, I left for the Virgin Islands to live and he, shortly after, left for Hollywood. C: Okay, here is an easy one. Do you like Jimmy with or without glasses? ES: With. If you've read my book, you'll remeber I wrote about hiding them from him. A game we played, he hated. His strength left his face when he didn't wear his glasses. Most people's do. His fans have loved him partly because they identified with that lost soul quality. Actually, it's there because he couldn't see a damn thing. C: hehe. Was he serious, a jokester, or a little of both? ES: Both. He had moods which were dark. I think we stayed together for so long,, partly because I made him laugh. He giggled a lot. C: What James Dean movie was your favorite and why if you have any special reason? ES: I think "Rebel Without A Cause" was my favorite. He wasn't ready as an actor to tackle the last half of "Giant" as an old man. Good try though. C: People anywhere from 10 to 100 years idolize Jimmy. Millions of people everywhere are his fans! What do you think Jimmy would have to say about this and what do you think? ES: Im torn about people idolizing a movie star, because I think if you spend time traveling to someone's grave, chatting on line with strangers or making that person the center of your universe, then you can't have much of a life to fill and so much of life passes you by. There's something a little sad about that. As far as how Jimmy would react to him being an idol......I think he'd laugh like hell. It would seem silly to him. C: Jimmy will forever remain in the hearts of all of us. What do you think he would wish for all of his fans today? ES: I think Jimmy would wish for his fans that they follow their hearts in everything. The truth was very important to him. C: If Jimmy were alive today do you think he would have directed any movies or still be acting? ES: Jimmy's wish was to eventually be a director. He told me many times. I honestly don't know if he would still be acting. I tend to think not. I think he would have made a wonderful director. Don't you? C: You’re book, Dizzy and Jimmy, was your first ever written. What motivated you to write especially for the first time, about Jimmy? ES: It took me almost 40 years to even begin to want to share my relationship with Jimmy to the world. As time went on, I changed. Partly because every book about him, with a few exceptions, were based on fantasy. I was terribly frustrated about things that were written that I know were not true. So many friends, over the years have tried to persuade me to write about Jimmy. I never wanted to., until recently. I think, mainly, because I'm at the age when it seemed important to me to get the truth out there and writing is an artistic release and the money would be splendid C: You have met James Franco. Would you say that he reminded you of Jimmy? ES: The minute James Franco walked into my livingroom, I almost lost it. And when my husband came in, he couldn't believe it. The hat, the jacket, the way he stood, his manner.....everything about him floored us. He sat in the garden for two days and read the manuscript of the book. I fed him and chatted, swinging my legs back and forth like a little girl. Jesus, and I'm 72 for god's sake. He was sweet as hell. Totally done his homework. C: How were you made aware of Jimmy’s fatal crash? ES: I heard about Jimmy's crash while I was excercising my horse, on a beach in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Jimmy and I had written back and forth. He knew where I was. I got off my horse, tied him to a tree, went to the little bar right there on the beach ordered a drink and the next thing that happened, was the little radio on the bar, playing soft musick suddenly flashed a news report about Jimmy. I ran to my horse and we galloped out into the ocean until we had to turn back. I was in shock. |
| I reached contact with Mrs. Sheridan. For those of you who are not firmiliar with her, she dated Jimmy from 1950 until 1953. I figured out a few questions about our Jimmy and we set up an interview. Here are the results of that. |
| Cassie’s Interview with Elizabeth Sheridan |
| Please e-mail me your comment and reactions to this interview! JamesBDeanChick@yahoo.com |