James Dean

There are at least two Nicolas Cage personae. One is the wildly eccentric, Oscar-winning character of Leaving Las Vegas, as well as similar loose cannons in Adaptation, Raising Arizona and Wild at Heart. The other is the action hero of The Rock, Con Air and Gone in 60 Seconds. National Treasure, which opened Friday, combines both of them. Cage plays an eccentric, scholarly treasure hunter who seeks riches possibly buried by our Founding Fathers, who wanted to prevent the booty from falling into British hands.

On March 27, 2004, JAMES DEAN MEEKS of Baltimore, Md. Predeceased by his Mom and Dad, Alice C. Meeks (nee Williams) and Herman F. Meeks, Sr.; loving father of Lisa M. Meeks Angeles (Jose L.), Stacy R. Meeks; loving grandfather of Dale, Devin, Daysha and Orlando; brother of Carol, Junior and the late Bonnie. Also survived by several nieces and nephews. Relatives and friends are invited to call at the GARY L. KAUFMAN FUNERAL HOME SOUTHWEST, INC., (corner of Pratt and Stricker Streets) on Friday, from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 and to attend funeral services on Saturday, at 11 A.M.

With sweep both noble and tacky, Chris Epting's book, James Dean Died Here: The Locations of America's Pop Culture Landmarks (Santa Monica, $16.95), is the complete package for those who like their American history unadulterated by the usual cultural distinctions. As far as Epting, a Huntington Beach, Calif., ad man, is concerned, the tiny New Hampshire town that inspired Peyton Place is as key to our national identity as Plymouth Rock. In his mind, the site of Dean's fatal automobile crash in California rates up there with the Senate caucus room where the McCarthy hearings took place.

On March 2, 2003, KATHLEEN FRANCES (nee Mangan), beloved wife of the late Paul O. Dean Sr., devoted mother of Michael Dean, Darlene Ennis, Paul Dean Jr., James Dean Sr. and Patrick Dean, loving grandmother of Christina, Kimberly, Brian, Heather, Candice, James Jr., Stacey and Sam, great grandmother of Matthew, Brandon, Jordan, Evan and Airianna, Caitlin, and Gabriel, sister of John Mangan and Josephine Hitchings. Friends are invited to call at the Burgee-Henss-Seitz Funeral Home, Inc., 3631 Falls Rd., on Tuesday and Wednesday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9. A Christian Wake Service will be held on Tuesday at 4 P.M. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday at 10 A.M. at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Hickory Ave and W. 37th St. Interment in Cedar Hill Cemetery.

WHEN DID ''cool'' come to mean ''fitting in''?Christmas being one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar, my youngest boys plan to rise early that morning, steal downstairs in the coolness of pre-dawn, kneel reverently before the tree and pray that when they open their eyes, they'll see Old Navy shirts and Air Jordan athletic shoes. These are priority items on their annual gimme lists.I used to think it was just all-American greed. Actually, I still do. But I've also come to realize that what motivates my boys is more complicated than avarice.

Charles Everett Dean, 62, mailer for The Baltimore SunCharles Everett Dean, a 44-year employee of The Baltimore Sun who owned several rental properties and owned and operated a drainage business, died of heart failure Oct. 8 at Harbor View Medical Center. He was 62.Mr. Dean, who was an active member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 888, began working for the newspaper company as a mailer at age 16 in 1951. He worked for the company until 1995.In 1974 he started a part-time business called Red Foxes Sewer and Drain Service.

BOSTON -- It couldn't have been scripted more horribly: A Mercedes racing a princess and her lover through the darkened streets of Paris. A gaggle of photographers on motorcycles pursuing their prey like international hounds after the last British fox. A thunderous crash against a tunnel wall. And finally, the unforgivable flash of a camera as the 36-year-old woman lay dying.Diana Spencer, so shy that she would take only nonspeaking parts in school plays, came into the public eye at 19. What a public eye it was!

The star of "East of Eden" is causing a stir west of Towson.Ever since promotion of the new James Dean stamp started at the Riderwood post office last week, patrons have been asking for the life-size poster of the '50s teen idol that stands in the post office lobby."

"Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean," by Donald Spoto. HarperCollins. 306 pages. $25He made only three movies before he died at the age of 24, yet James Dean's sullen image is indelibly etched into the public's mind's eye. Within nine months of his death, more than 400 fan clubs celebrated Dean's ephemeral career. "He was a limited talent," writes Donald Spoto in this rather limited biography. Dean had less interest in bucking the system than in drawing attention to himself; he represented "the safest kind of rebellion."

FAIRMOUNT, Ind. -- They didn't get enough of James Dean when he was alive.Dean made just three movies in a span of 18 months. But he concentrated the intensity of a frustrated, misunderstood young man like no star before him. And then he died, 40 years ago today.The cult that sprouted from his death has grown shoots, and now people who have been alive only half as long as Dean has been dead join the 25,000 who descend on his hometown this time of year.Grunge-rock teens walk the streets of Fairmount along with slick-haired middle-age men reliving the 1950s in their custom 1949 Mercury sedans, just like the one Dean drove in "Rebel Without a Cause."