1950s James Dean

1950s James Dean

Jennifer Rosenberg is a historian, history fact-checker, and freelance writer who writes about 20th-century history topics.

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In September 1955, actor James Dean was driving his brand-new Porsche 550 Spyder to an auto rally in Salinas, California, when he was involved in a head-on collision with a 1950 Ford Tudor. James Dean, only 24 years old, died in the crash. Although already famous for his role in "East of Eden," his death and the release of "Rebel Without a Cause" caused James Dean to soar to cult status. James Dean, forever frozen as the talented, misunderstood, rebellious youth remains the symbol of teenage angst.

James Dean had appeared in a number of television shows before getting his big break in 1954 when he was chosen to play Cal Trask, the leading male role in the film "East of Eden" (1955). This was the only one of Dean's films released before his death.

Quickly following "East of Eden," James Dean was signed to play Jim Stark in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955), the film for which Dean is best remembered. Immediately following the filming for "Rebel Without a Cause," Dean played the lead role in "Giant" (1956). Both of these films were released after Dean's death.

As Dean's movie career began to take off, James Dean also started to race cars. In March 1955 Dean raced in the Palm Springs Road Races, and in May of that year he raced in the Minter Field Bakersfield race and the Santa Barbara Road Races.

James Dean liked to go fast. In September 1955 Dean replaced his white Porsche 356 Super Speedster with a new, silver Porsche 550 Spyder.

Dean had the car specialized by having the number "130" painted on both the front and back. Also painted on the back of the car was "Little Bastard," Dean's nickname given to him by friend Bill Hickman, who was Dean's dialogue coach for "Giant."

On September 30, 1955, James Dean was driving his new Porsche 550 Spyder to an auto rally in Salinas, California, when the fatal accident occurred. Originally planning to tow the Porsche to the rally, Dean changed his mind at the last minute and decided to drive the Porsche instead.

Dean and Rolf Wuetherich, Dean's mechanic, rode in the Porsche. Following were photographer Sanford Roth and Bill Hickman, driving a Ford station wagon that had a trailer for the Spyder attached.

En route to Salinas, Dean was pulled over by police officers near Bakersfield for speeding around 3:30 p.m. After being stopped, Dean and Wuetherich continued on their way. Two hours later, around 5:30 p.m., they were driving westbound on Highway 466 (now called State Route 46), when a 1950 Ford Tudor pulled out in front of them.

23-year-old Donald Turnupseed, the driver of the Ford Tudor, had been traveling east on Highway 466 and was attempting to make a left turn onto Highway 41. Unfortunately, Turnupseed had already started to make his turn before he saw the Porsche traveling quickly toward him. Without time to turn, the two cars smashed nearly head-on.

The injuries among the three involved in the crash varied greatly. Turnupseed only received minor injuries from the accident. Rolf Wuetherich, the passenger in the Porsche, was lucky to be thrown from the Porsche. Although he suffered serious head injuries and a broken leg, he survived the crash. Dean, however, was killed in the accident. Dean was just 24 years old at the time of the wreck.

To this day, James Dean is the only person to receive two Academy Award nominations posthumously. In 1956, he was nominated posthumously for Best Leading Actor for his role in "East of Eden." This was a historic first. In 1957, Dean was again posthumously nominated for Best Leading Actor, this time for his role in "Giant."

Many Dean fans wonder what happened to the smashed Porsche. After the accident, the crumpled car was toured around the United States as part of a driver safety presentation. However, en route between two stops, the car disappeared. In 2005, Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois, offered $1 million to anyone who currently had the car. So far, the car has not resurfaced.

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Despite a career that only spanned five years, James Dean was one of biggest stars of the 1950’s. He rose to stardom after starring in just three movies and quickly became an icon of youth, rebellion, and disenchantment. Dean was born in Marion, Indiana on February 8, 1931. At the age of nine he lost his mother to uterine cancer and his father sent him to live with his aunt, where he was raised in a Quaker household. After graduating high school in 1949 he moved to California where he started college as a pre-law major. He transferred to UCLA for one semester and changed his major to drama. While there he was chosen out of 350 actors for a role in Macbeth. In 1951 he dropped out of UCLA to pursue an acting career.
His first television role was in a commercial for Pepsi. For the next several years he had small parts in movies, television and theater. After four uncredited movie appearances Dean got his big break in 1955 with a role in East of Eden. He was posthumously nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of character Cal Trask in the movie based on John Steinbeck’s epic novel. That same year he also had major roles in Rebel Without a Cause and Giant, both of which garnered him a great deal of fame and professional recognition. Just as James Dean’s star was rising it was quickly extinguished when he died in a car accident caused by his reckless speeding on September 30, 1955.
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A figurehead for the disaffected youth of 1950s America, James Dean’s style was incredibly simple, yet remains a perpetual benchmark for the art of dressing casually.
Wheeler Ridge, Southern California. It was 3.30pm on September 30th, 1955 and James Dean had just been
issued with a speeding ticket. He was carving up the flat, dusty roads just south of Bakersfield and got clocked at
65mph in a 55mph zone. Just over two hours later, he was dead.
Dean was a proficient racing driver, and had taken delivery of his new Porsche ‘Little Bastard’ 550 Spyder
only nine days prior to his fatal crash, but he would never make the Salinas road race he was entered into later
that week. Only three films into his career, the premature death of a 24-year-old James Dean would shock the world,
and yet ensure his legacy would never fade. As Humphrey Bogart put it, “Dean died at just the right time. He left
behind a legend. If he had lived, he’d never have been able to live up to his publicity.”
Dean was a prodigious acting talent, yet it’s the way he carried himself off screen which set him apart
and marked him out as a figurehead for rebellious youth. He didn’t abide by Hollywood standards of the time and
would live by his own rules. Whilst under contract to Warner Brothers, studio boss Jack L. Warner forbade Dean to
pilot his Triumph TR5 Trophy or his Porsche 550 on the road, permitting him only to race within a closed circuit
environment. That didn't last long. It was his appearance that rubbed some up the wrong way though. Many of the
biggest male movie stars of the '50s - Bogart , Stewart, Cooper , Grant , Gable - came from a generation or two before, and represented ‘old
Hollywood’ in their slick side partings and tailored suits. Yet Dean didn’t care for clothes or outward appearance
and would reportedly show up to his early castings barefoot with safety pins holding together his torn trousers.
Actress Julie Harris recalls another time when she attended a lunch with Dean: “He came without a shirt, dirty from
the set, in his old dungarees.” His dishevelled appearance combined with his emotionally vulnerable screen
performances - such as his portrayal of Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause - ushered in a new era of
masculinity; one that was less polished and far from overtly macho.
Dean’s personal style was inherently casual. He spent much of his youth growing up on his aunt’s farm in
Indiana, so a penchant for functional clothing - as opposed to the suits of his contemporaries - was perhaps a
given. The bright red blouson in Rebel will always be associated with him, but Dean wore a number of other
lightweight jackets that were equally cool yet infinitely more wearable. There was the tan suede college jacket he
wore in the same film, and his leather biker jacket replete with fur collar, that was clearly inspired by his hero,
Marlon Brando . Often worn with Lee 101Z Rider jeans and engineer boots
astride his Triumph, this was one of his finest looks and one that helped to popularise the leather jacket as a
wardrobe staple in the years to come.
Few have worn the humble T-shirt quite as well as James Dean. Prior to the ‘50s, the T-shirt was
considered an undergarment, only to be worn beneath shirting for comfort and never as outerwear. Brando changed that
in 1951’s A Streetcar Named Desire , and Dean continued it on and off screen throughout his short career.
Often plain white and sometimes striped, Dean likely favoured T-shirts for their ease and simplicity, pairing them
with denim, boots or penny loafers, and a cigarette. Always a cigarette. It’s hard to quantify today just how
radical an outfit like this was for a movie star in the '50s, and the emphasis placed on someone in Dean’s position
to act and dress in a certain way was significant. Today, an outfit consisting of jeans and a T-shirt is the norm
but back then it was considered an act of defiance, especially in high society circles. Dean was briefly engaged to
well-to-do Italian actress Pier Angeli, before her mother reportedly called off the wedding because - among other
reasons - she didn’t approve of Dean’s casual attire, which she said wouldn’t be acceptable in Italy.
James Dean didn’t conform. He didn’t wear suits because everyone else did. He didn’t bow down to studio
bosses. When questioned on his ambiguous sexuality, he refused to be categorised, simply stating that he’s “not
going to go through life with one hand tied behind (his) back”. He was an individual. And there are few things more
admirable than that.

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James Dean and his young cousin Markie play with a model car, Indiana, Fairmount, 1955.
Playing drums in the presence of Markie, 1955.
James DEAN signs autographs during Sweethearts Ball at his old high school, Fairmount, Indiana, 1955.
In 1955 James Dean returned to his roots, the town of Fairmount where he was raised and educated. He visits the farm of his uncle Marcus Winslow, and in the dining room reads some poetry by James Whitcomb Riley.
James Dean posing amusingly in a casket in a funeral parlour, seven months before he died, Fairmount, Indiana, 1955.
James Dean posing amusingly in a casket in a funeral parlour, seven months before he died, Fairmount, Indiana, 1955.
A little girl shows James Dean a pheasant head, 1955.
James Dean flying back to California for the shooting of "Rebel Without a Cause," 1955.
James Dean at Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio, New York City, 1955.
James Dean at Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio, New York City, 1955.
James Dean pushing his cousin Markie in his soap box derby racer in the yard, Fairmount, Indiana, 1955.
James Dean in the old school house, Fairmount, Indiana, 1955.
James Dean in midtown, New York City, 1955.
James Dean with Geraldine Page at a bar, New York City, 1955.
James Dean in Fairmount, Indiana, 1955.
James Dean in his apartment on West 68th Street, New York City, 1955.
James Dean with Eartha Kitt, New York City, 1955.
James Dean with his cousin Markie, Fairmount, Indiana, 1955.
James Dean in the office of his agent, Jane Deacy, New York City, 1955.
James Dean in Geraldine Page's dressing room, New York City, 1955.
James Dean talking to the locals, Fairmount, Indiana, 1955.
James Dean in his aunt and uncle's basement, Fairmont, Indiana, 1955.
James Dean and director Nicholas Ray during the filming of "Rebel Without a Cause," California, 1955.
James Dean during the filming of "Rebel Without a Cause," California, 1955.
James Dean spent his youth on the farm of his uncle Marcus Winslow, where he loved to mix with the animals in the barnyard, to explore and perform in the cattle pens and barns, Fairmount, Indiana, 1955.
James Dean in Fairmount, Indiana. 1955.
James Dean in Fairmount, Indiana. 1955.
James Dean during the filming of "Rebel Without a Cause," California, 1955.
James Dean during the filming of "Rebel Without a Cause," California, 1955.
James Dean in his former schoolroom, Indiana, Fairmount, 1955.
James Dean in Manhattan, visiting some of the places he knew when he as a student, New York City, 1955.
James Dean playing bongos at the Sweethearts' Ball at his old high school, Fairmount, Indiana, February 14, 1955.
James Dean with cattle, Fairmount, Indiana, 1955.
James Dean attending a dance class by katherine Dunham, 1955.
James Dean amongst the cattle, 1955.
James Dean Discussing old racing, 1955.
James Dean in the driveway to the farm owned by his uncle, Marcus Winslow in Fairmount, Indiana, 1955.
James Dean acting with Ronald Reagan in a TV drama, 1955.
James Dean during the filming of "Rebel Without a Cause," 1955.

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