On September 30, 1955, 24-year-old James Dean lost his life when the Porsche he was driving hit another car at an intersection in Cholame, California.
Dean was on his way to a sports car race in Salinas, and some claim that a 1950 Ford Tudor suddenly turned into his path at an intersection, which caused the accident.
Dean suffered massive internal injuries, a broken neck, fractures to both arms and his jaw, and massive internal trauma. He was rushed to Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
However, earlier that day, Dean had received a speeding ticket in Bakersfield, about 84 miles from the accident site, and the accident happened less than three hours later.
The driver of the other car was student Donald Turnupseed; the accident left him mostly uninjured, while Dean’s passenger, Rolf Wütherich, was badly injured but survived.
Dean was born on February 8, 1931, in Marion, Indiana. His first professional acting assignment was for a soft drink commercial, which led to his role in the TV Easter special Hill Number One in 1951.
He played in three Hollywood films, Fixed Bayonets, Sailor Beware, and Has Anybody Seen My Gal? before moving to New York. After some short-term jobs, Dean got a main role in the Broadway flop See the Jaguar, then in The Immoralist.
After The Immoralist, Dean caught the attention of film director Elia Kazan, who cast him in the leading role in East of Eden. Dean’s second film was Rebel Without a Cause, and then he was cast in Giant. Shortly after completing Giant, Dean was in a car accident. The funeral was held on Oct. 8, 1955, in his hometown of Fairmount, Ind.
In the years following his death, Dean’s was honored through various memorials, including the James Dean Memorial Park and museum in Fairmount and the James Dean monument in Cholame, Calif.
In 2005, a documentary, James Dean: Forever Young, directed by Michael J. Sheridan and narrated by Martin Sheen, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
Martin Sheen, the narrator, said, “All of his movies had a profound effect on my life, in my work and all of my generation. He transcended cinema acting. It was no longer acting, it was human behavior.”
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