I like them all - men I mean
...and a few chicks
now and then
Sal Mineo
B: 10 January 1939
D: 12 February 1976 aged 37
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Never afraid to show his liking for the diversity of the sexual spectrum, Sal Mineo shot to fame
as the real outsider of the 1955 James Dean classic REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, thanks to his tender
portrayal of an alienated gay teenager.
On the strength of that alone, he went onto tap into both the cinematic and music markets,
predominantly cast thereafter as a juvenile delinquent, all of which gave way
to his screen persona of 'The Switchblade Kid.'
Yet like so many actors of yesteryear and today, he was soon to find that you're only as good
as your last box-office receipt, causing him to seek more adult roles when his teenage looks
gave way to a mature mind and body. Even then, life can be hard and when leading roles
become somewhat evasive, Mineo returned to his first love and began to tread
the boards to considerable acclaim.
Yet his was a career of mixed fortune, one that caused Mineo to comment "one minute it seemed I
had more movie offers than I could handle, the next, no one wanted me."
Cast as the young prince opposite Yul Brynner in the stage outing of THE KING AND I, recipient
of an Academy® nomination for his role of Plato in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and again for his
intense performance in the Otto Preminger epic EXODUS / 1960, he would later direct the gay
themed play FORTUNE AND MEN'S EYES in 1971 starring a young Don Johnson, a production
that in many ways mirrored his career, having received positive reviews
in Los Angeles, only to be panned in New York.
Five years later and whilst rehearsing for the Los Angeles run of the hit San Francisco
production PS - YOUR CAT IS DEAD, Mineo was tragically stabbed to death, the victim
of a botched mugging.
Openly bisexual with a strong liking for men, Mineo's death in February 1976 at the age of 37
would not only come to mark the second in the trilogy of REBEL lives cut short, but
equally the end of a career of remarkable highs and dramatic lows.
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