Dean Reed – singer and actor

Dean Reed was an American singer, film actor, film director and public figure, who enjoyed great popularity in Latin America and Eastern countries Europe.
Dean Cyril Reed was born on September 22, 1938 in Denver, Colorado, USA. His father, Cyril Reed was a village teacher, and his mother, Ruth Anna was a housewife. Dean had two brothers – Vern and Dale. The boy started playing the guitar at the age of 12.
At the age of 18 he entered the University of Colorado to study meteorology. He wanted to become a weather reporter. During his studies, Reed performed in bars and clubs. However, two years later, he left the University and went to Hollywood.
In 1958, Dean Reed went hitchhiking in Los Angeles, California, and signed a contract with a minor musical studio Capitol Records. Studio recorded several records and he performed on national television.
In 1961, his disc with the title Our Summer Romance was a hit in Latin America. In South America his fame surpassed Elvis Presley himself.

After a very successful tour in Latin America, he decided to stay in Argentina. There he recorded albums, starred in the films and presented his own television program.
Dean advocated the prohibition of nuclear weapons, was against the war in Vietnam. In 1966 Reed was forced to leave the country. For several years he lived in Rome, where he actively starred in the so-called “spaghetti westerns” – “cowboy movies about the Wild West” of Italian production. Later, Dean Reed began to appear in the USSR and Eastern Europe, where he was very popular. In 1965 he came to the USSR for the first time.

Simultaneously, he participated in social and political life and even was arrested at a demonstration in Rome. He helped in the election of a socialist president Allende in Chile in 1970. He visited the Soviet Union many times and wanted to stay to live there and even to buy an apartment in Moscow. Reed devoted a lot of songs to the BAM.
In 1970, Reed washed his country’s flag in front of the US consulate in Santiago to protest against the Vietnam War and US policy. He was arrested in Chile and spent a few days in prison.
Dean went to the GDR and married German actress Renate Blume.
In 1973, Reed settled in East Germany, where he continued to sing, play in films, as well as making his own films.

Dean Reed

In 1979 he was awarded Lenin Komsomol Prize for songs dedicated to the struggle for peace and anti-imperialist solidarity and friendship among peoples.
In 1980, he appeared in the intellectual club “What? Where? When?”
Dean Cyril Reed died on June 13, 1986 near Berlin, the German Democratic Republic. Although no note was discovered, the coroner’s verdict was suicide by drowning.
A few weeks before his tragic death, Reed recorded musical show Dean Reed And His Songs for Deutscher Fernsehfunk.