DEAN WASN'T ALOOF, JUST BLIND

James Dean's terrible eyesight was partly responsible for his image of being cold and aloof but it also made him a better actor, Dennis Hopper told Mirabella magazine. Hopper recalled sitting with Dean and Natalie Wood in the Warner Bros. commissary when Dick Davalos, Dean's co-star in "East of Eden," joined them. "I thought Jimmy was being very rude to Davalos," Hopper says. "He didn't say hello and didn't acknowledge his presence. When Dick started a conversation with Natalie, Jimmy said, `Davalos, is that you?' Dick said, `Yeah, it's me,' sarcastically. Jimmy . . . got up and hugged him. `I couldn't see you man, I left my glasses in the trailer.' " Hopper, who worked with Dean in "Giant" and "Rebel Without a Cause," says Dean could barely see 4 feet in front of him but considered his poor vision to be a professional blessing because "as an actor he had to imagine everything that was happening beyond that point."