Trivia

His father, Doyle Teaster, was one of the original famed gunfighters of "Ghost Town in the Sky" Wild West Show in Maggie Valley, North Carolina, from 1961 through 1967. He played the first "Digger the Undertaker," with Dan Blocker, Clu Gulager, Paul Fix, Burt Reynolds, Tony Dow, Gig Young, Frank McGrath, Donald May, and Peter Brown. Doyle also acted with a local named 'Herbert "Cowboy' Coward' who played "Grandpappy" in the same Wild West Show. In 1967, Dean (West) Teaster moved to Michigan with his family and immediately met and became friends with James O'Barr, who later created the The Crow (1994).

Dean Teaster's Ghost Town the Movie was made as a tribute to his father and his association with Ghost Town in the Sky in the early '60s. The movie is somewhat based on the legendary Smoky Mountain settler "Harmon Teaster", who is Dean's great,great, grandfather.

Dean graduated from Truman High School in Taylor, Michigan in 1975.

At 6 years old, Dean Teaster met Burt Reynolds who took an afternoon to talk with him while performing at Ghost Town in the Sky (1963). That genuine time and interest invested by Burt, was what later inspired him to get into acting. Other performers that Dean met at an early age were Dan Blocker, Paul Fix, Tony Dow, Frank McGrath, Clu Gulager, Jon Provost, Veronica Cartwright, Clint Walker, Peter Brown, Darby Hinton, Craig Hill, Donald May, Grant Sullivan.