Sal Mineo: His Life, Murder, and Mystery

This long-overdue biography chronicles the dramatic ups and troubled downs of a career that won 1950s teen screen idol Sal Mineo two Oscar nominations—for Rebel Without a Cause (with James Dean) and Exodus—before he was twenty-one and ended with a movie has-been’s shocking death, at thirty-seven, by a stab wound in the chest. As this carefully and caringly researched biography shows, Sal Mineo’s talents far exceeded the limits typecasting imposed upon a career that saddled him with the nickname, The Switchblade Kid. It also demonstrates that Mineo’s decline had less to do with the loss of the baby-face good looks that quickened the heartbeat of teenage girls than it did with his unwillingness to deny his homosexuality. Investigating the mystery that continues to surround Sal Mineo’s tragic death and sifting the facts from the fictions that shroud his private life, this serious study of the man and the star sympathetically chronicles the thirty-seven years that made an “erotic politician” and gay icon of a street kid and teen idol. 24 pages of black-and-white photographs are included. “Literate, anecdote-rich biography.”—Boston Globe “An excellent biography.... A thoroughly readable book.”—Associated Press “With an easy style and sound reporting, Jeffers has recreated the performer’s life with verve and insight.” — Publishers Weekly