James Dean Cause Of Death
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American Icon James Dean’s Death Was Not Only Sudden And Brutal, But Also Incredibly Strange
Bettmann/Getty ImagesJames Dean as Jim Stark in the 1955 motion picture Rebel Without a Cause.
James Dean was one of those rare stars whose persona became more famous than any of his films, and he would only live to see one of those films released. It seemed that just as James Dean’s stardom was on the rise, it had been extinguished. He was just 24-years-old when he died, and indeed, James Dean’s death — however eerie and ill-timed — only cemented his place as an icon.
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James Byron Dean was born in Indiana on Feb. 8, 1931, where he lived for a few years before his father’s work had the small family transferred to California. His mother died when he was nine-years-old.
Dean seemed to always exude artfulness and talent. He played the violin, he tap-danced, and he sculpted. In a statement to his high school principal, Dean expressed what would become one of his most iconic facets: motorcycle:
“My hobby, or what I do in my spare time, is motorcycle. I know a lot about them mechanically, and I love to ride. I have been in a few races and have done well.”
Dean later enrolled at the Junior College of the University of California in 1949 but dropped out at the suggestion of his drama teacher to pursue a career in New York.
After a couple of years doing bit parts and commercials, Dean moved to New York to study under the famous acting director Lee Strasberg in 1951. Over the next few years, he developed his signature (and at the time unconventional) acting technique and landed parts in several television shows and Broadway plays.
His big break finally came in 1955 when he was cast in East of Eden, the adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel. Dean’s largely-improvised performance and his quintessential representation of the restless American youth in the ’50s was widely praised and his path to stardom seemed set.
His meteoric rise to fame could not have predicted James Dean’s death — as sudden and horrific as it was.
Although he had been working acting jobs fairly steadily throughout his twenties, James Dean had never abandoned his other lifelong passion: car racing. The same year East of Eden premiered, Dean participated in both the Palms Springs Road Races and the Santa Barbara Road Races. He had also purchased a brand new Porsche Spyder, which he nicknamed “Little Bastard” and planned to drive in the Salinas Road Race in California.
Bettman/Getty ImagesActor James Dean gives a thumbs-up sign from his Porsche 550 Spyder, the Little Bastard, while parked on Vine Street in Hollywood.
Dean had initially thought to have the Porsche taken to Salinas on a trailer, but at the last minute decided to drive it himself.
On Sep. 30, 1955, the Hollywood star set off for Salinas in Little Bastard, accompanied by his mechanic, Rolf Wütherich. Dean was stopped for a speeding ticket around 3:30 P.M., ate at a diner around 4:45 P.M., then hit the road again. At around 5:45 P.M., Dean noticed a Ford heading towards his car that was preparing to make a left turn at the junction ahead. After Dean supposedly reassured Wütherich, “that guy’s gotta stop, he’ll see us,” the two cars collided head-on.
Wütherich was catapulted from the car and suffered several broken bones.
The Ford was spun down the highway before it came to a stop and its driver, 23-year-old Donald Turnupseed, escaped with only minor injuries.
As for the Porsche, upon impact, it spun in the air before crashing back down to the earth with a sickening crunch and rolling to the side of the road, all the while with James Dean still inside.
John Springer Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty ImagesThe wrecked remains of James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder at the site of the accident.
Witnesses rushed to free him from the crushed metal carcass but were horrified to see how mangled the crash had made him. It’s still unknown why exactly the crash happened, Turnupseed was never charged and eyewitnesses claim Dean had not been speeding despite his previous ticket. Regardless of the circumstances, the Rebel Without A Cause was pronounced dead upon arrival at Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital, shortly after 6 PM.
James Dean’s death only served to solidify his legend and establish his status as a rebellious icon with unseen, perhaps dark, depths.
There was another legend that quickly sprang up around James Dean’s death, this one regarding his beloved Porsche. Fans were quick to point out that Dean had previously filmed a PSA for safe driving, cautioning viewers to “take it easy driving, the life you might save might be mine.” This coincidence on its own was eerie enough, but soon strange incidents were also being reported concerning Little Bastard.
Photo by Warner Bros. courtesy of Getty ImagesJames Dean sits behind the wheel of a sportscar in a still from the documentary movie The James Dean Story.
Although the car itself had been totaled, some of its parts were able to be salvaged and sold off individually. But strange things happened to those people who bought them. The engine was sold to a doctor who was killed in a crash the first time he used it. Another driver was injured when two tires he had purchased from the car blew out simultaneously. The driver of the truck transporting the shell skid off the road and was killed.
Many of the incidents related to the “curse” following James Dean’s death are almost impossible to corroborate (since the individual parts of the Porsche are hard to trace) but there are a couple of eerie coincidences that cannot be so easily dismissed.
One such instance comes firsthand from none other than Sir Alec Guinness himself, who, in a 1977 interview told the strange story of his first and only meeting with James Dean.
The British actor bumped into the American rebel one night in Hollywood the same year of James Dean’s death and Dean proudly showed off his newly purchased Porsche. He declared that it could go up to 150 MPH, although admitting he had not yet even been inside the car.
Guinness recalled how then “Some strange thing came over me. Some almost different voice and I said…Please do not get into that car, because…if you get into that car at all, it’s now Thursday… 10 o’clock at night and by 10 o’clock at night next Thursday, you’ll be dead if you get into that car.”
The bizarre moment passed and Dean shrugged off the warning. Guinness continued that the two went on to have a “charming dinner and he was dead the following Thursday afternoon.”
People still visit the crash site of James Dean’s death and leave tributes that have included alcohol and women’s underwear.
After this look at the story of James Dean’s death, read about some more strange celebrity deaths. Then, check out how Hollywood’s biggest star stood trial for murder. Finally, read all about Bruce Lee’s death.
Gina Dimuro is a New York-based writer and translator.
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He became the icon of cool after only three films: If he hadn't died at the age of 24, James Dean would have turned 90 today.
The defiant look and messy hair are a now well-established part of modern fashion and pop culture. 1950s youth looked up to James Dean as an idol. The charismatic actor played the rebel in life as well as on the big screen. The pain caused by his death was felt across the world by an entire generation.
The defiant look and messy hair are a now well-established part of modern fashion and pop culture. 1950s youth looked up to James Dean as an idol. The charismatic actor played the rebel in life as well as on the big screen. The pain caused by his death was felt across the world by an entire generation.
As a child, James Byron Dean — named after the famous poet by his mother — loved dancing, music and art. When his mother died, his whole world came crumbling down. Dean was sent to live with relatives in the countryside and grew up in a difficult familial situation. His father, strict and unapproachable, lived far away in Los Angeles.
The agony and repressed rage that he embodied in his first movie "East of Eden," were authentic. He had learned his craft in the legendary Actors Studio in New York. But his success wasn't immediate. Dean initially took on bit parts while making ends meet as a table cleaner, parking attendant and cinema usher.
… was his first movie. In 1954, Elia Kazan, Oscar-winning director and one of the hottest names in Hollywood at the time, offered Dean the main role in his upcoming picture — it was the beginning of a promising career. Kazan had discovered the future star in a small theater on Broadway. Dean's character represented an alternative to the rough-edged masculinity often seen in westerns.
It was his leading role in "Rebel Without A Cause" (1955) that gave Dean his breakthrough as an actor (here seen with co-star Natalie Wood). His penchant for improvisation drove the director and his fellow actors crazy but it drove his female audience wild.
The new Hollywood star had more to offer than just his highly authentic style. Privately, he was a keen boxer, had a passion for racing cars and took care of his physical and nutritional health. He could also let his fists do the talking on set when the situation called for it, as seen here in a scene from "Rebel Without A Cause" (1955).
The American epic "Giant" — the third and last movie Dean would appear in — solidified his position as the epitome of cool — and the immortal rebel on the big screen. The movie appeared in cinemas in 1956 after its leading man had already passed away. The picture brought him a posthumous Oscar nomination for best actor.
In 1955, the avid sports car driver bought a new silver Porsche. He had his nickname, given to him by his co-workers, painted on the back of the car — "Little Bastard." Only five such cars of this German brand existed in the USA. But the car's speed would be his downfall — on his way to a car race, James Dean crashed his new vehicle and died.
A cult-like following built up around the deceased actor in the months after his tragic accident. Objects associated with the star, such as his jeans and cigarette box, shot up in value. During the memorial service for him in 1956, fans stormed his grave and took the floral arrangements that had been laid there. Warner Brother's management was inundated with fan mail and love letters for years.
James Dean's image has long been a staple of pop and protest culture. Posters, photos, songs and documentaries about the young rebel are key additions to cultural history. In the 1950s, actor Horst Buchholz was referred to as the "German James Dean." Photographer Anton Corbijn dedicated his movie "Life" (2015) to Dean, which tells the story of a legendary photo reportage.
Although the exact circumstances of James Dean's fatal car accident are unclear, what is certain is that on September 30, 1955, the 24-year-old movie star lost his life and became a timeless cultural icon.
On the day of the accident, Dean was traveling across California with a friend, German mechanic and race car driver Rolf Wütherich. The pair were on their way to a car race — Dean was an avid racing fan.
In the twilight of the early evening, a car coming in the other direction turned in front of his Porsche, cutting him off. Dean, who had already been warned by the police for speeding earlier in the afternoon, was driving too fast and unable to swerve out of harm's way. He hit the other vehicle nearly head-on and died immediately, his neck broken.
Tragic end of a career: James Dean's Porsche after the accident
Wütherich was thrown out of the vehicle but survived. The actor's prized silver Porsche Spyder had been reduced to a pile of scrap metal.
James Byron Dean, born on February 8, 1931, spent his early years on a farm in the US state of Indiana. As a child, he loved art and music, played the violin, made pottery and even tried tap dancing. Yet he had only one dream: to be an actor.
Dean began his acting career in Broadway theater
His family moved to California and his mother died of cancer when Dean was only nine. His father sent him to live with his aunt and uncle in a Quaker household back home in Indiana. Deeply unhappy, Dean sat for hours alone in front of a radio, taking refuge in stories that took him to faraway places. In high school, he became involved in his school's theater group.
Yet the soon-to-be star had an even greater passion: driving. At the time, he was fascinated by motorcycle racing, although he didn't even have his driver's license yet. "My hobby, or what I do in my spare time, is motorcycle," he told his school principal. "I know a lot about them mechanically, and I love to ride. I have been in a few races and have done well."
After high school, Dean moved back to California to live with his father. The cinema industry, movies, and the studios in nearby Hollywood all interested him ardently. In 1949 he enrolled at Santa Monica College in California, choosing to study pre-law at his father's request. However, law wasn't his thing. He preferred instead to take up acting classes and workshops at UCLA in order to major in Drama. But Dean wanted to pursue a more serious acting career and so moved to New York City, feeling magically drawn to the East Coast metropolis.
His first big hit: James Dean (middle) in "East of Eden" (1955)
The reality of being an actor in the megacity was difficult and laborious. Dean caught a break when he landed a spot in the storied "Actor's Studio" of method actor Lee Strasberg, considered the nation's most prestigious acting school at the time. Encouraged, Dean made ends meet by acting in television shows and theater productions.
Dean was given his major role by Oscar-winning director Elia Kazan who cast him as the angst-ridden brother Cal in East of Eden, an adaptation of the 1952 novel by John Steinbeck.
Casting the inexperienced young actor in the film was a big risk for Kazan, but it paid off. Dean dashingly played a young man in America trying to find his own way in the world, and the topic struck a chord with the youth of the time, who were eager to find ways to rebel against authority. The role made him a star overnight, earning him an Oscar nomination.
ames Dean takes a break during filming the filming of "Giant"
Dean saw further success with his second film Rebel Without a Cause (1955) about a sensitive high-school misfit. In 1956 he shot Giant, which further cemented him as a poster child of rebellious youths in the 1950s.
Yet, Dean only lived to see the success of his first film. His accident took place before the second and third films were released. At the age of just 24, he became a posthumous pop-culture icon. His casual, cool way of dressing, haircut and defiant gaze appeared again and again in photography and fashion.
Dean was buried in his home state of Indiana. After his death, the roles he had been scheduled to play were taken over by the young Paul Newman, who, like Dean, had also been influenced by Strasberg's method acting. He too became a star.
The idol for a generation: James Dean
Although Dean died 65 years ago, he has not been forgotten. Today, a small museum in Indiana commemorates the world-famous icon. The intersection where his fatal accident occurred was renamed James Dean Memorial Junction. Decades after his death, fans still place flowers there in honor of the "rebel without a cause."
Adapted from German by Sarah Hucal
Just three movies turned him into a world famous star and cultural pop icon. Then 65 years ago, on September 30, Dean crashed his Porsche and died.
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James Dean Cause Of Death
