Why Did James Dean Die
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Though he only released one film before his dying in a car crash, the actor became a lasting figure in pop culture.
Author:
Colin Bertram
Publish date:
Sep 28, 2020
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 away where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 6:20 p.m. As well as a broken neck, both his arms were broken, he had fractures of the upper and lower jaw and massive internal injuries. Wütherich suffered a fractured jaw, fractured hip and body lacerations. Turnupseed received only minor injuries and after being interviewed by attending California Highway Patrol officers at the scene, was released.
An inquest into the crash in the days following found Dean at fault due to speeding, though a 2005 article in the Los Angeles Times cited an attending Highway Patrol Officer who recalled the wreckage and position of Dean’s body indicated a speed around 55 mph, not the 90 mph that had been widely reported.
Following the tragic collision, rumors spread over the years and decades that Dean had not really died but was living a secret, hidden life; that he was a closeted homosexual; that the Porsche in which he was driving on that fateful day was cursed. Alongside such rumors, the myth of Dean — the man and the actor — only grew as the years passed. “An actor must interpret life,” Dean once said. On screens and in photographs he remains forever on the cusp of adulthood, a representation of anti-establishment teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, an enduring representation generations have looked to as an interpretation and projection of their own inner lives.
Colin Bertram is a writer and editor specializing in entertainment and news journalism.
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Einstein and Dean died the same year.
James Dean's death had the greater impact. There are people from foreign countries who still make pilgrimages to the site of the accident.
During the filming of Giant he made an anti-speeding ad for the California highway patrol. which gave him a speeding ticket shortly before the accident.
Dean was driving a Porsche Super Speedster in the same area where he was filmed in East of Eden.
If you drive defensively you soon come to realize that one of the hardest things to avoid is some car that leaves their side of the road at the last minute. He was hit head-on a
Einstein and Dean died the same year.
James Dean's death had the greater impact. There are people from foreign countries who still make pilgrimages to the site of the accident.
During the filming of Giant he made an anti-speeding ad for the California highway patrol. which gave him a speeding ticket shortly before the accident.
Dean was driving a Porsche Super Speedster in the same area where he was filmed in East of Eden.
If you drive defensively you soon come to realize that one of the hardest things to avoid is some car that leaves their side of the road at the last minute. He was hit head-on at a combined speed of over 100mph.
Would James Dean have become the new Brando if he hadn't died in 1955?
What movie was James Dean making when he died?
What happened to James Dean's car after his death?
Do you think James Dean faked his death in 1955? If so, how do you think he did it?
He died in a car crash on September 30th 1955. It was near Cholame California. A car in the opposite lane crossed the center line and Dean tried to avoid it but they crashed pretty much head on. He had a broken neck among other injuries and was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital.
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To add to Sarah Johnson's answer:
This is a photograph of the spot (taken by my father in law).
The actual spot where it happened is in that field, the junction has been changed to make it safer.
Here's a Google Map: James Dean death site
Would James Dean have become the new Brando if he hadn't died in 1955?
What movie was James Dean making when he died?
What happened to James Dean's car after his death?
Do you think James Dean faked his death in 1955? If so, how do you think he did it?
Was James Dean gay or was it just an act to get what he wanted?
Was James Dean destined for other movies before he was killed?
What was the age of James Dean when he died?
Who is the James Dean of our generation?
Why does the world still remember James Dean?
Was the death of James Dean and Accident?
Did James Dean have cigarettes put out on him?
Would James Dean have become the new Brando if he hadn't died in 1955?
What movie was James Dean making when he died?
What happened to James Dean's car after his death?
Do you think James Dean faked his death in 1955? If so, how do you think he did it?
Was James Dean gay or was it just an act to get what he wanted?
Was James Dean destined for other movies before he was killed?
What was the age of James Dean when he died?
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Why Did James Dean Die
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