James Dean photographed in his bungalow, and on set in 1954 Nicholas Ray lived at Chateau Marmont from 1952 to 1958, a particularly prolific time for the Hollywood director who would often entertain some of the industry’s hottest rising stars at his weekly Sunday gatherings in what became known as The Director’s Bungalow. By the time James Dean paid a visit to Ray’s bungalow with some friends in 1954, Ray was already developing a new movie for Warner Brothers based on a non-fiction book called Rebel Without a Cause. Ray had seen a pre-release cut of Dean’s film debut, East of Eden, and knew that he wanted Dean to be his leading man in Rebel. Within a few months, Ray had assembled a young cast featuring Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo and Dennis Hopper, who gathered at Chateau Marmont to rehearse for the upcoming shoot. The cast became so comfortable with the Director’s Bungalow that Ray asked the set designer to recreate the look of the bungalow and its staircase for Dean’s fictional home in the film. #jamesdean #chateaumarmont #hollywood