Her name was Anna Maria Pier Angeli but James Dean called her Miss Pizza. They met while Jimmy was filming his first movie, East of Eden. Unlike the voluptuous Italian beauty, Sophia Loren, Pier was petite and delicate like a fairy with large green eyes.

Jimmy was head over heels in love with her. "She is out of this world", he would gushed about her.

The two were often seen together when they weren't filming. Pier came from a traditional Italian upbringing and soon their relationship was discovered by her mother. Pier's mother was a strict old-fashioned woman and she was against their relationship right from the start. She didn't consider Jimmy to be a well-suited boyfriend for her daughter. She disapproved that Jimmy was not a Catholic, hated his casual appearance and reckless ways. Jimmy got into a lot of arguments with Pier's mother and the poor girl was torn between two - her devotion and loyalty to her mother and her love and passion for her lover. However, despite her mother's objections, the young couple continued to see each other.

Jimmy wanted to marry her and even suggested they elope however she refused because it would break her mother's heart.

After went through so many issues and conflicts, finally Pier decided to end their relationship.

"He wanted me to love him unconditionally, but Jimmy was not able to love someone else in return...it was the troubled boy that wanted to be loved very badly. I loved Jimmy as I have loved no one else in my life, but I could not give him the enormous amount that he needed. Loving Jimmy was something that could empty a person."

Their brief romance was intense and passionate. Both were so deeply in love but the relentless drama with her mother made Pier so jaded.

A couple of months after their break up, Pier met Vic Damone who proposed to her soon after. She said yes (sounds like a rebound to me). Jimmy was devastated when he heard the news. Pier and Vic got married a month later. It was rumored that on their wedding day, Jimmy waited outside of the church on his motorcycle because he wanted to see it with his own eyes. When the newlyweds came out of the church, he roared up his motorcycle and sped off.

Jimmy tried to forget about her but it was obvious he couldn't get over her and often talked about Pier to friends.

A year later Pier gave birth to her son Perry Damone in August 1955. On 30 September 1955 Jimmy was killed in a road accident on his way to Salinas, California. He didn't die instantly as many believed. He was still alive when he was pulled out from the wreckage. However, he died moments later in the arms of his friend, Bill Hickman. I couldn't help but wonder what went through his mind as he lay dying next to his destroyed Porsche. Did he think of Pier? I would love to think so but we would never know.

Pier marriage to Vic laster for 4 years and she remarried again later in life but that marriage didn't last as well.

On 10 September 1971, almost 16 years after Jimmy died, Pier was found dead in her apartment due to a barbiturate overdose. She was 39 years old.

Several months before she died, Pier wrote to her friend...

"My love died at the wheel of a Porsche. It’s now been 17 years that I’ve been lonely, desperately lonely. I want to find peace and be free and finally be with my father and Jimmy again."

Personally, I think their romance was toxic but there was no doubt that they loved each other deeply. It was full of passion and anguish at the same time.

I sketched Pier's portrait specifically for Jenny's Art Contest and the theme for this week is passion. It's a broad theme but we could interpret it any way we want. I think Jimmy and Pier's love story fits the theme perfectly.

Medium: water soluble graphite on watercolor paper

Here are the progress photos...

Reference image is taken from here