The Thief (1955) was the ninth episode of the second season of The U.S. Steel Hour dramatic program and was broadcast live on ABC in New York City on January 4, 1955. Produced by The Theater Guild, it was directed by Vincent J. Donehue from a script by Arthur Arent, which was based on the play by Henri Bernstein.

Many of James Dean's appearances on television had him playing a criminal. This program differs in that Dean plays a young man who falsely confesses to a crime he didn't commit because he believes the girl he loves (Diana Lynn) is guilty. Also in the cast were Hollywood veterans Patric Knowles, Mary Astor, and Academy Award-winner Paul Lukas.

Dean was shy and solitary at rehearsals, never really socializing with the other actors. As on other television shows, his cast mates found him difficult to work with because of his mumbling and his erratic performances. He would often change what he was doing, while the other actors needed him to be consistent. They also needed Dean to speak up so that they could hear the cues for their lines. Mary Astor wrote in her autobiography that she was standing six feet from Dean during a final dress rehearsal for The Thief and "I could barely hear what he was saying, and what I could hear seemed to have very little to do with the script. I looked over at the booth, my palms up in a 'Help!" gesture. 'What's the trouble, Mary?' asked the director, his voice booming impatiently over the loudspeaker. Paul Lukas, that excellent actor, came to my rescue. He said, 'De trouble iss dat ve don't know vat the hell he's saying, ven he's going to say vat, or vere he's goint to be ven he says anything.'" The director apologized but said it was the way Dean had to work. Astor wrote that the cast felt superior to "this inconsiderate 'whippersnapper' or 'vippersnopper' as Lukas called him. But the vippersnopper was the one who got all the notices and we were just lumped together as 'cast.'"

By Lorraine LoBianco

SOURCES:

Dalton, David James Dean: The Mutant King
The Internet Movie Database
http://ejones23.tripod.com/Filmography.html
http://www.tv.com/shows/the-united-states-steel-hour/the-thief-184539/