On the last day of shooting "East of Eden" (1955), Julie Harris went to James Dean's trailer to say goodbye because she was not sure she would attend the wrap party. She found Dean crying because the production was over. "It was so moving. It was his first picture (first CREDITED role, anyway); it meant so much, and now it was over."
When Dean found out that Harris was playing the part of Abra in the film, he asked the actress, approximately 29 at the time, in person if she was a bit too old for her character. Harris admitted many years later in an interview, how she struggled to maintain control at such a question. Keep in mind that Harris, at 27, received her first and only Academy Award nomination as the 12-year old Georgian tomboy in "A Member of the Wedding" (1952)
Harris found Dean very exciting to work with. "He was always inventing; you never knew what was coming. You had to listen, watch; you had to be there." She found him exciting and highly imaginative and was impressed with the way he studied music with composer Leonard Rosenman and played Bach on his recorder alone in his dressing room.
Elia Kazan, in his autobiography "A Life" said that he was grateful to have Harris on the set of "East of Eden" because she had a calming influence on James Dean. Kazan praised Harris as both an actress and as a human being. Harris reciprocated, saying that she found Kazan easy to work with and very stimulating: "He adored actors because he was an actor. He was exciting to be with and got everyone excited about what they were doing." (IMDb)
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