Where Did James Dean Died

Where Did James Dean Died
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At 5:45 PM on September 30, 1955, 24-year-old actor James Dean is killed in Cholame, California , when the Porsche he is driving hits a Ford Tudor sedan at an intersection. The driver of the other car, 23-year-old California Polytechnic State University student Donald Turnupseed, was dazed but mostly uninjured; Dean’s passenger, German Porsche mechanic Rolf Wütherich was badly injured but survived. Only one of Dean’s movies, “East of Eden,” had been released at the time of his death (“Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant” opened shortly afterward), but he was already on his way to superstardom—and the crash made him a legend.
James Dean loved racing cars, and in fact he and his brand-new, $7000 Porsche Spyder convertible were on their way to a race in Salinas, 90 miles south of San Francisco . Witnesses maintained that Dean hadn’t been speeding at the time of the accident—in fact, Turnupseed had made a left turn right into the Spyder’s path—but some people point out that he must have been driving awfully fast: He’d gotten a speeding ticket in Bakersfield, 84 miles from the crash site, at 3:30 p.m. and then had stopped at a diner for a Coke, which meant that he’d covered quite a distance in a relatively short period of time. Still, the gathering twilight and the glare from the setting sun would have made it impossible for Turnupseed to see the Porsche coming no matter how fast it was going.
Rumor has it that Dean’s car, which he’d nicknamed the Little Bastard, was cursed. After the accident, the car rolled off the back of a truck and crushed the legs of a mechanic standing nearby. Later, after a used-car dealer sold its parts to buyers all over the country, the strange incidents multiplied: The car’s engine, transmission and tires were all transplanted into cars that were subsequently involved in deadly crashes, and a truck carrying the Spyder’s chassis to a highway-safety exhibition skidded off the road, killing its driver. The remains of the car vanished from the scene of that accident and haven’t been seen since.
Wütherich, whose feelings of guilt after the car accident never abated, tried to commit suicide twice during the 1960s—and in 1967, he stabbed his wife 14 times with a kitchen knife in a failed murder/suicide—and he died in a drunk-driving accident in 1981. Turnupseed died of lung cancer in 1995.
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James Dean was an American actor whose life and career ended far too soon. Most people know that the actor, who had a blossoming passion for auto racing, passed away in a car crash but few know where this crash happened.
At 5:45 PM on 30 September 1955, James Dean died after sustaining injuries in a car crash at the junction of California State Road 46 and California State Route 41, which was a well-known shortcut to Salinas Road Races nicknamed ‘the racer’s road’. Today, a memorial can be found at the crash site.
James Dean’s death devastated his fans, family, and friends and the anniversary of his passing is still celebrated to this day. Let’s take a look under the hood and discover how and where James Dean died as well as the controversy surrounding his death.
On 30 September 1955, James was on his way to participate in an exciting weekend of racing at Salinas Road Races but never made it as he was involved in a tragic collision with another vehicle.
The other car, a white 1950 Ford Tudor, was being driven by a 23-year-old Cal Poly student named Donald Turnupseed. Poor Donald simply did not see the Sypder coming because of the condition presented by the narrow road and setting sun.
On his death certificate, the cause of death is listed as internal injuries, multiple fractures to the upper and lower jaw, two broken arms, and a broken neck. It’s reported that he died in the arms of Bill Hickman.
When James’s death was announced, the showbiz industry was plunged into a state of mourning. His funeral was held on 8 October 1955 and 600 mourners attended the service while an estimated 2,400 fans gathered outside the Fairmount Friends Church to show their respect.
The collision took place at the junction of California State Road 46 and California State Route 41. Witnesses recall seeing the car flipping several times before landing “in a gully beside the shoulder of the road, northwest of the junction.”
Many people who were driving by at the time of the accident pulled their cars over in an attempt to help. One such person was a woman with nursing experience.
This woman, who remains unnamed to this day, went straight to James and tried to help him. Although she apparently detected a very faint pulse in his neck, she was quoted saying “death appeared to have been instantaneous.”
James was extricated from the wreckage and it was discovered that his left foot had been crushed between the brake and clutch pedals.
The young actor was officially declared dead at 6:20 PM at the nearby Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital with his medical report reading “dead on arrival.”
In 2005, the junction was officially declared the ‘James Dean Memorial Junction’, and memorials in his honor are found at the crash site, along the road, and in the nearby area of Cholame.
Just three days after his death, an inquest into the accident occurred as the speed at which James had been driving was contested.
Despite his bad-boy persona, when James started racing he was a stickler for the rules of regular driving and encouraged others to do the same, which made many doubt that the claims he was speeding were true. Shortly before his death, he made a PSA for the National Safety Council.
In the video below, James discusses speeding on a highway is far more dangerous than racing on a track and hauntingly ends the PSA with “Take it easy. Drive. The life you save might be mine.”
In addition to the controversy over his alleged speeding, rumors that James’s car was cursed began circulating. The main cause of the rumor was simple: James knew how to drive.
After the crash, the wrecked car was taken to a salvage yard where it was purchased by another racer, William Eschrich, for parts who sold the remnants to George Barris.
The engine was placed in a Lotus IX, which was in an accident that killed its owner, its tires were placed on a different car and two of them burst simultaneously, the car in which its drivetrain was installed crashed into a tree, and the garage it was being stored in caught on fire for no apparent reason.
Sealing the air of mystery, and adding to the controversy, is the fact that the car supposedly vanished from a sealed boxcar in 1960 despite a massive USD $1 million reward for the remains being on offer
© 2020 Black Sands Media - All Rights Reserved
© 2020 Black Sands Media - All Rights Reserved

It’s painful to bid goodbye, especially to an iconic actor like James Dean . Although he died way back in 1955, many people still ask how did James Dean die?
James Dean died in a car accident while driving his Porsche in 1955.
Here are more details about the actor’s short-lived career and unfortunate car crash:
James Dean was an iconic actor who lived in the early 19th century. He was born on Feb. 8, 1931, in Indiana, United States. He was the only child of his parents.
James and his family moved to Santa Monica, California, where he attended Brentwood Public School and later transferred to McKinley Elementary School. James was very close to his mother, but she died after suffering from uterine cancer when he was nine years older.
After the death of his mother, his father sent James to live with his aunt and uncle in Indiana, where he was brought up in a Quaker home. James was quite popular while in school and also played in the varsity basketball team and baseball.
After he graduated from high school, he moved back to California to live with his dad and his stepmother. He attended UCLA and majored in law but later changed his major to drama. He was picked out to play the role of Malcolm in Macbeth and later dropped out of school to become a full-time actor.
James Dean started his acting with Whitmore’s acting workshop. His first television appearance was for a commercial for Pepsi cola.
After he graduated from high school, he studied drama at UCLA. He worked as a parking lot attendant at CBS studios, where he met his mentor, Rogers Brackett. Many believed that the two were romantically engaged.
He later moved back to New York in 1951, where he was accepted to Actor Studios to study under Lee Strasberg. In 1995, he starred in East of Eden , a film adaptation by John Steinbeck. He also played the role of Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause, along with his co-stars, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo.
His last movie before his death was Giant . He died before the production of the movie got completed. He received an Academy Award nomination and became the only actor to receive more than one Oscar nomination posthumously.
James Dean was an iconic actor back in the mid-19th century. He appeared in several films, and after his death, he became the only actor to receive posthumous awards in history.
On Sept. 30, 1995, James was in his Porsche with his friend Rolf Wutherich when his car collided with a student from California Polytechnic State University, Donald Turnupseed.
According to reports, James Dean was driving too fast and was reportedly warned by the police earlier in the afternoon for speeding.
Donald wasn’t injured as severely as James’s passenger, Rolf. Rolf was severely injured but didn’t die. Unfortunately, James’ life was not spared. According to rumor, James would have survived if the ambulance had a neck brace for his broken neck.
At the time of his death, only one of his movies was released: East of Eden. James was in the middle of making the movie Giant when he died, and the movie was released shortly after his death.
His funeral took place at the Fairmont Friends Church on Oct. 8, 1955, and he was buried in Fairmount Park Cemetery.
Rolf later died from his own car accident, driving while drunk, after stabbing his wife 14 times due to depression after losing James Dean. Donald died from lung cancer in 1995.
James Dean was, and remains, an iconic star, still earning a lot well after his death. When he died, Dean had a net worth of $2 million .
When James first made an on-screen appearance for a Pepsi Cola commercial, he earned $30, which was impressive for that time.
For his role in East of Eden , he earned $1,000 per week. When he played the role of Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause, he gained $10,000. The last movie he acted in before he died was Giant. He earned $21,000 for his role in that movie.
Even after his death, he still has money going to his name. The Dean Foundation Trust earns $3.23 million every year .
© 2020 Black Sands Media - All Rights Reserved
© 2020 Black Sands Media - All Rights Reserved

Though he only released one film before his dying in a car crash, the actor became a lasting figure in pop culture.
© 2022 Biography and the Biography logo are registered trademarks of A&E Television Networks, LLC.
Though he only released one film before his dying in a car crash, the actor became a lasting figure in pop culture.
At the time of his sudden death on September 30, 1955, at age 24, James Dean had starred in only one motion picture released in theaters. He would become a cultural icon to generations and a touchstone for the burgeoning youth movement of the era, due largely to his shocking demise in a car accident that would make international headlines in a pre-digital world, and the subsequent movies that would be released posthumously in which he portrayed inward-looking, disaffected adolescents on the verge of adulthood.
When the word "teenager" was still in relatively new usage, Dean’s brief life — on- and of-screen — and sudden death from injuries sustained in a car accident would come to represent a symbol of modern masculinity in the mid-to-late 1950s, a precursor to the counter-culture movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
“Jimmy represented something that was happening in the States after the Second World War. Until that moment in time, grown-ups — adults — set the style for clothing, set the styles for music, set the styles for everything that was going on,” Dean’s acting contemporary Martin Landau once said of his friend’s cultural legacy.
Born James Byron Dean on February 8, 1931, in Marion, Indiana, his father was a farmer-turned-dentist father who moved his family to Santa Monica, California, where his son attended Brentwood Public School. An only child, Dean’s adored mother died of cancer when he was age 9 and he was sent to live on his aunt and uncle’s Quaker farm. He returned to California after graduating high school, studying theater at the University of California, Los Angeles.
After dropping out of college, the aspiring actor first appeared on television in a Pepsi advertisement followed by uncredited parts in minor Hollywood pictures before heading to New York City in 1951, where he studied at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg . Television roles followed in Danger , Omnibus and General Electric Theater and he appeared on Broadway in See the Jaguar and The Immoralist before Hollywood took notice of his talent and brooding good looks.
Dean on the set of 'Rebel Without a Cause'
Photo: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
Dean was soon cast as Cal Trask in the 1954 film adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel East of Eden . It would be the only film released prior to the actor’s death and for which he would be nominated posthumously for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 1955 Academy Awards. As misunderstood, rebellious Cal, the role foreshadowed Jim Stark, the late-adolescent, angst-ridden character he portrayed in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) alongside Natalie Wood , which would become a teen favorite of the era and forever be identified with the image and legacy of Dean, the tragic movie star.
Fearing he would be typecast as an angry, rebellious teen, Dean’s next role was as a rags-to-riches Texan ranch hand in Giant (1956), co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson . It would be his final film and would garner him another posthumous Academy Award nomination, making him the only actor ever to be nominated twice following death .
It was soon after wrapping shooting on Giant that Dean returned to his other love – motorsport, in which he first competed professionally prior to filming Rebel Without a Cause . With reported ambition of one day competing in the Indianapolis 500 race, Dean’s financial success from East of Eden had allowed him to purchase a Triumph Tiger motorcycle and Porsche 356 speedster, the latter he traded in on the more powerful convertible Porsche 550 Spyder.
German Porsche-trained mechanic Rolf Wütherich encouraged Dean to drive the Porsche from Los Angeles to Salinas to get a feel for the new automobile, rather than tow it on a trailer behind the Ford station wagon in which he originally planned to make the journey. Dean was ticketed for speeding at 3:30 p.m., just over two hours before his untimely death.
Dean was killed when the 550 Spyder he was driving collided with a Ford Tudor sedan along then-U.S. Route 446 near Cholame, California. The Ford, driven by 23-year-old Cal Poly student Donald Turnupseed, was turning at an intersection when the two cars hit almost head-on, resulting in massive damage to Dean’s Porsche. The actor died almost instantly while his passenger, Wütherich, was badly injured but survived.
His left foot crushed between the clutch and brake pedal, Dean’s neck was broken and he suffered massive internal injuries. Along with Wütherich, he was transported to the Paso Robles War Memorial hospital 28 miles awa
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