"Dean Stockwell, the Eternal Teenager"

author unknown

Télé 7 Jours, May 1996

Translated from French to English, by Marie

The solitude in his ranch.

Dean Stockwell has celebrated his 60 on March 5th, but stating that he was not an adult yet.  His relatives know that this actor, famous for Quantum Leap, keeps chasing after his adolescence.  Son of actors Harry and Betty Stockwell, at age 6 he is cast with his brother Guy in his first Broadway play:  "Innocent Voyage".  A talent scout sees Dean and offered him a MGM contract for seven years.  From 7 to 16, Stockwell performed in eighteen movies, including Anchors Aweigh (Sidney), Gentleman's Agreement (Kazan), and The Boy With Green Hair (Losey) in 1948.  However, he did not hesitate to drop everything, because he has had enough of not being able to live like other teenagers.  Dean cut all his hair off, used a different name and went to live in the mountains in a chalet to dedicate himself to pottery.  After two years, he missed the Hollywood spotlight and resumed his career.  In 1960, another retirement.  And he goes to San Francisco in search of all the liberties, living with five women at once.  When he succeeded in getting back to "the Mecca of the cinema", he divorced his wife, actress Millie Perkins.  Now he is starting his third career with famous directors:  Wenders (Paris, Texas), Lynch (Dune, Blue Velvet).  In 1988, he is Oscar- nominated for Married to the Mob and took a job in the series Quantum Leap.  He remembers his part as Al fondly and has been very friendly with Scott Bakula.  Bakula is one of the rare people invited in the ranch that Dean bought in Northern California.  Between two parts, Dean likes to spend three or four months alone.  Remarried in 1982 to Joy, this mystic, adventurer through and through, has separated from her, preferring she becomes his best friend.