BBC 28/2006

BBC RADIO 2 Tuesday 11 July 2006

Dean Reed - Death Of A Comrade

Tuesday 11 July
8.30-9.30pm BBC Radio 2

Mark Lamarr looks at the life and mysterious death of American singer and actor Dean Reed. Often dubbed the Red Elvis or the Communist Johnny Cash, Dean was virtually unknown in the Western world but became one of the Soviet bloc's biggest stars.

Dean was a committed socialist and was, in the Sixties and Seventies, the biggest "pop" star in the socialist bloc. Signed to Capitol Records as a teenager, Dean became successful in Argentina and Chile where his beliefs were formed. Those beliefs later got him thrown out of both countries. He moved to Italy where, in the late Sixties, he enjoyed a prolific career starring in a number of spaghetti Westerns, including Adios Sabata with Yul Brynner.

After a number of successful visits to the USSR and other Eastern bloc countries Dean made his home in the DDR from 1971. He quickly established himself as a film actor and prolific recording artist and received many honours, including the Order of Lenin from Leonid Brezhnev. However, with the onset of Glasnost and changes in taste, his popularity began to wane in the early Eighties.

Dean became depressed and died, aged 47, in mysterious circumstances at Zeuthner Lake near East Berlin. His death, in 1986, gave rise to many theories: some say he was executed by the CIA, others say a jealous lover killed him, or even that he committed suicide.

Contributors to the programme include Victor Grossman (American defector and Dean's German translator), Will Roberts (American film-maker and director of American Rebel: The Dean Reed Story), Stefan Ernsting (author, Der Rote Elvis) and Phil Everly.

Presenter/Mark Lamarr, Producer/Bob McDowall

BBC Birmingham Publicity