Roy Dean was born August 2, 1925, in Kent, England. His acting career started with parts in local children's plays and continued in England through his teenage and young adult years, including an acting stint with the Shakespeare Company and broadcasting for the BBC. In the early 1950s, he moved to New York to work in theater before moving to Hollywood in 1955 to appear in film and television. Besides acting, Dean has worked as a stage designer, director, writer, and photographer. As a photographer, he contributed to numerous gay pornographic titles of the 1970s. His work has been shown in several exhibitions and numerous magazines. His first book of photography A Time in Eden published in 1986 was one of the first to bring male nude imagery to the masses. His books include Before the Hand of Man, Adam Today, In Search of Adam, The Ecstasy of Eden, The Naked Image, and A World of Nudes. He died June 24, 2002, in Palm Springs, California.