James Van Der Beek died aged 48 after suffering from cancer. He starred as Dawson Leery in Dawson's Creek (1998–2003), a teen drama set in Capeside, Massachusetts, portraying friendship, first love and adolescent trials. Dawson's nerdy idealism and habit of over-analysing produced unrealistic expectations and long emotional speeches, while his ambition to be a film director led him to view life as movie moments. Van Der Beek was 20 and studying in New Jersey when cast as a 15-year-old, balancing schoolwork with lengthy commutes to film. Creator Kevin Williamson cast him for a nervous, pre-thinking quality, and the series brought worldwide fame to him and Katie Holmes.
"For a worldwide generation of young television viewers in the 1990s, James Van Der Beek, who has died aged 48 after suffering from cancer, provided the role model of a sensitive male teenager. As the fresh-faced Dawson Leery in the American drama Dawson's Creek (1998-2003) shown in the UK on Channel 4 and then on Channel 5 he starred in a series portraying friendship, first love and the trials and tribulations of adolescence in the fictional coastal town of Capeside, Massachusetts."
"The nerdy Dawson's idealism and habit of over-analysing often give him unrealistic expectations and a tendency to make long emotional speeches. It's not about the kiss it's about the journey and creating a sustaining magic, he reflects in an early episode. With the ambition to be a film director, Dawson has posters from Steven Spielberg's blockbusters on his bedroom wall and sees life in terms of movie moments."
Read at www.theguardian.com
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