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News was filtering through to Hollywood on the evening of September 30th, 1955. The cast of Giant were all together watching a private viewing of the film. Elizabeth Taylor recalled the moment: "Suddenly the phone rang. I heard him (George Stevens) say, 'No. My God. When? Are you sure', and he kind of grunted a couple of times and hung up the phone. He stopped the film and turned on the lights, and stood up and said to the room, 'I've just been given the news that Jimmy Dean has been killed'. There was an intake of breath. No one said anything. I couldn't believe it; none of us could. So several of us started calling newspapers, hospitals, the police, the morgue. After maybe two hours the word was confirmed. Then everybody drifted out to their cars to go home. It was about nine o'clock at night; the studio was deserted. As I walked to my car, I saw a figure coming through the lights down one of the little side-streets. It was George getting into his Mercedes. We looked at each other and I said, 'I can't believe it George. I can't believe it' and he said, 'I believe it. He had it coming to him. The way he drove he had it coming to him.' "

In New York, Natalie Wood was rehearsing for a television show:

"The night he was killed I was having dinner with a lot of his friends - Sal Mineo, Dick Davalos, Nick Adams. We were talking about Jimmy's lifestyle and Nick ventured the opinion that Jimmy wouldn't live till thirty. We pooh-poohed the idea. Later when we finished eating, Nick and Sal walked me to my hotel. I was still under age then with a studio chaperone, and it was she who heard the news. She told Nick and Sal and asked them not to say anything to me because I had an early call the next day and she wanted me to sleep. So they left rather abruptly. Next morning the chaperone had to tell me because down in the lobby the newspapers hat it on all the headlines. I didn't believe it I think I stood at the window staring out for a long time. I went to work in a state of shock."

The Porsche had collided with a big black and white Ford sedan driven by a Californian polytechnic student, Donald Gene Turnupseed. Turnupseed escaped with a bruised nose, whilst Dean, his body torn open on the steering wheel was not quite so fortunate. There were no vital signs. He was officially dead. It took seven minutes to extract the body from the wreckage. Sandford Roth stood by taking photographs. The verdict was accidental death, and there would be no charges against Turnupseed. But there would have been some made against Dean had he lived. He was clearly guilty of contributory negligence.

Jane Deacy drove to Los Angeles to break the news to Winton Dean. Winton was the only direct heir because Jimmy had not written out a will. Meanwhile, Warners thought the death detrimental to the box-office potential of their soon-to-be-launched Rebel Without a Cause, and tried to cancel the premier. Their theory was that 'nobody would come to see a dead star'. As Giant opened in New York on October 10th the following year, the 48-page press book gave no indication that the person who had played Jett Rink had died. Both films would find great success, and the talents of James Dean forever praised as he evoked the submerged pain of the teenagers of the 1950's.

The fanfare and the rumours took leaps and bounds. Police were forced to keep a night and day guard on the cemetary in Fairmount where Dean was buried. Rumours were ripe that his body had been stolen, and many distressed fans armed with spades were eager to find out the truth. Others firmly believed that he hadn't died. A witness at the crash maintained that the dead body was not Dean's, but Weutherich's. This was added to reports of others who claimed that the person wearing the red jacket (Dean?) was in the passenger seat. The death car was exhibited privately around Los Angeles. Fans were charged 25 cents to see it, 50 cents to touch the bloodstained steering wheel. The car was later broken up and its pieces sold as souvenirs. Close friends of Dean's who had photographs or any of his belongings were hounded by erratic fans desperate for a tangible momento.

The Winslows in Fairmount were pressed for information 24 hours a day. To this day people return in droves simply to look at the house. Three thousand people had attended his funeral, and later chiselled bits off the gravestone as souvenirs. The following year with Rebel and Giant launched worldwide, England served out an Academy Award to the dead star.

In 1957, The James Dean Story was patched together by George W. George, Robert Altman and Stewart Stern. It included unused clips from East of Eden, and many rare photographs. Strangely, at a time when people were feverish for footage of Dean, the film was not a success.

Dean's future had seemed so full of promise. For MGM he was to play the part of New York boxer Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me, and the part of Billy the Kid in The Left-Handed Gun (both went to Paul Newman).

James Dean had illuminated the 50's with a new and liberated image of the male screen hero. He professed that all was not possible, and redefined strength as tolerance of others weaknesses, and of accepting one's own. As Judy tells Jim in Rebel Without a Cause: ". . . being Plato's friend - that's being strong", and later the distinction between male and female is invisible as she tells him: "your lips are soft . . ." Dean's characters voiced their innermost feelings without running the risk of seeming less than manly. The premature wisdom was not so much rebellious as a reaction against the synthetic strong and silent he-men heroes that Hollywood felt the need to serve up.

The aftermath stretch into rock 'n roll as the frontrunners of that art form paid homage in their way to Dean and very often dressed like him. No other film star has impressed so many young people. In the heart of modern art with Andy Warhol, the morbid influence upon 19-year old mass murderer Charles Starkweather, and into the early 1970's when British rock group Mott the Hoople dedicated an entire L.P. to him. James Dean's appeal was not restricted. And, strangely, his death. Had it glamorised his image? Had he lived, would he be so revered? And if endurance really is the prime quality in screen stars, why should someone who only made three films be remembered at all? Eternally a teenager, James Dean would now be over fifty. A young actor who knew Jimmy in New York remembered: I used to see him and one of the spectacular things about him was that he always looked so different in real life than he did on the screen. I couldn't have been more astounded when I saw East of Eden and this magic creature appeared, because HE DIDN'T LOOK LIKE THAT! I just never saw him look like that. He was never pulled together. He was generally quite filthy-dandruff, and the whole scene. But really bad. He looked, I'd say older than thirty."

James Dean worshipped and reached for immortality. He got what he wanted.
 

What if Donald hadn't turned left...

THE DATE IS SEPTEMBER 30TH.. 1955 THE TIME IS APPROX 4.40 IN THE AFTERNOON. THE SUN IS FAST DISAPPEARING IN A LANDSCAPE THATS FLAT AND UNINTERESTING. THE MONOTONY BROKEN ONLY BY THE HIGHWAY CUTTING THROUGH THE BLEAK SCENE. HIGHWAY 46.

A WHITE PORSCHE 'SPYDER' SNAKES ALONG HIGHWAY 46 CARRYING JIMMEY DEAN AND HIS GERMAN-BORN MECHANIC ROLF WEUTHERICH. ROLF HAS FALLEN ASLEEP BESID JIMMY. THEY HAVE BEEN DRIVING ALMOST CONTINUOUSLY NOW FOR 12 HOURS, WITH ONLY A COUPLE OF STOPS FOR EATS AND A LEG-STRETCH.

JIM IS DRIVING WITHOUT HIS GLASSES..... HERE IN THE FRONT SEAT OF HIS PORSCHE (DUBBED IRONICALLY, "THE LITTLE BASTARD"), HE IS UNDOUBTEDLY BEGINNING TO FEEL HIS OWN BRAND OF MONOTONY AS THE ENDLESS BAND OF BLUE-GREY CONCRETE AND IT'S BORDER OF LOW SCRUB TREES, UNFOLD ON EITHER SIDE. ONLY THE OCCASIONAL PASSING AUTO THAT LOOKS UNUSUAL, QUALIFIES FOR HIS ATTENTION, AS THEY APPROACH, APPEAR OPPOSITE, AND THEN CONTINUE ON PAST ON THEIR RESPECTIVE JOURNEYS.

THEN, AND WITHOUT WARNING A CAR BREAKS THE NORMAL PATTERN AND BEGINS TO TURN OFF THE HIGHWAY ONTO A SECONDARY ROAD LEAVING JIMMY'S CAR EXPOSED BROADSIDE TO IT DIRECTLY IN HIS PATH. ROLF WOKE AS HE NOTICED THE SUDDEN CHANGE IN SPEED. JIMMY WAS SHOUTING IN DISBELIEF AT THE CAR NOW AT RIGHT ANGLES TO HIM. "HE MUST SEE US" ......... "WHAT IS HE DOING???? ........... THEN ......... WHUMP!!!!

ROLF WEUTHERICH WAS THROWN CLEAR OF THE WRECK ONTO THE GRASS SIDING, SERIOUSLY INJURED. DEAN WAS NOT AS LUCKEY HE LAY MOTIONLESS, PUSHED FOREWARD AGAINST THE STEERING WHEEL, SUSTAINING MASSIVE INTERNAL INJURIES .... DEAD!!!! ..................!

THE OWNER OF THE FORD SALOON WHICH HAD JUST COLLIDED FATALLY WITH JIMMY STAGGERED OUT THE PASSENGER DOOR, DAZED, BEWILDERED, BUT WITH NOTHING MORE SERIOUS THAN SUPERFICIAL CUT AND BRUISES. HIS NAME WAS DONALD TURNIPSEED. DONALD HAS SINCE SAID HE DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE A CAR COMIN' TOWARDS HIM, AN ALMOST INCREDIBLE STATEMENT, WHICH WAS LATER EXPLAINED AWAY BY FAILING LIGHT, COUPLED BY THE MERGING OF THE MONOTOND COLOURED PORSCHE WITH ITS BACKGROUND. OTHERS MAINTAIN IT WAS DUE TO JIMMY NOT HAVING HIS GLASSES ON, COMBINED WITH FATIGUE AND OVER ANXIOUSNESS TO ARRIVE AT HIS DESTINATION.

HOWEVER, ALL THE THEORIES AND SUGGESTIONS AS TO WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT ACTION, THE FACT IS DEAN DIED ON IMPACT ON FRIDAY 30TH. SEPT., 1955 WITH DONALD'S CAR!

THAT, AS EVERYONE WHO KNOWS DEAN'S STORY IS THE WAY HE WENT OUT. IN RETROSPECT, THE ONLY WAY. SO JIMMY BECAME AN ACCIDENT STATISTIC, ONE OF APPROXIMATELY 38,500 PEOPLE WHO WOULD DIE WITHOUT APPARENT GOOD REASON ON AMERICA'S ROADS IN 1955.

BUT WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO JIMMY AND HIS CAREER, HAD HE BEEN ALLOWED TO CONTINUE ALONG HIS NATURAL PATH, AND ALIVE TODAY, ALBEIT PAST MIDDLE AGE. PROBABLY HE WOULD HAVE CRUMPLED UNDER THE ATTRACTIONS OF BIG STAR STATUS AND COLOSSAL SALARIES AS WITH MOST OF HIS CONTEMPORIES - NEWMAN, MCQUEEN AND EVEN HIS ONE TIME IDOL BRANDO.

INTERISTINGLY, NEWMAN, WHO WAS CONSIDERED IN THE EARLY '50'S TO BE AS GOOD AS DEAN, WENT ON TO FILL THE ROLES HE LEFT VACENT AFTER HIS DEATH AND WHICH HE INTENDED DOING, AS ROCK GRAZIANO, THE N.Y. BOXER IN "SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME", AND ALSO THE ROLE OF BILLY THE KID IN PENN'S "THE LEFT HANDED GUN". OBVIOUSLY JIMMY WOULD HAVE BROUGHT HIS OWN INTERPRETATIONS TO THESE CHRACHTERS, AND NO DOUBT HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IF ONLY ON THE STRENGTH OF "EDEN", "REBEL", AND "GIANT", BUT IT'S EVEN MORE INTERESTING TO CONTEMPLATE WHERE THESE SUCCESSES WOULD HAVE FURTHER LED HIM.

IF ONE WERE TO LOOK AT SAY, NEWMAN'S FILMS AFTER "GUN", AS THEY WERE RELEASED - HE MADE FILMS OF YAWANING QUALITY I.E. "RALLY ROUND THE FLAG, BOYS" ('58), "CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF" ('59), "THE YOUNG PHILLIDELPHIANS" ('59), "EXEDOUS" ('61) YOU WOULD NOT BE IMPRESSED WITH HIS PARTICULAR GRAPH!! ALTHOUGH LOOKING THROUGH HIS FILMS NOW AS A WHOLE YOU CAN SEE CERTAIN FILMS HE MADE WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN VEHICLES FOR HIM "THE HUSTLER" ('62), "HUD" ('63), "COOL HAND LUKE" ('67) AND POSSIBLY "HOMBRE".

DEAN ALSO EXPRESSED A WISH TO PLAY HAMLET, NOT IN THE TRADITIONAL OLIVIER FASHION, BUT IN AN INTERPRETATION MORE 'LOOSE' AND "AMERICAN" (POSSIBLY A DESIRE, PERHAPS, NOT TO BE OUTDONE BY BRANDO'S MUCH ACCLAIMED PERFORMANCE AS ANTHONY IN "JULIUS CEASER"). IT IS ALSO FASCENATING TO DRAW PARALLELS AND COMPARISONS BETWEEN THE CAREERS OF SAY THE EVERGREEN BRANDO OR MARTIN SHEEN , DE NIRO, NICHOLSON OR BRUCE DERN, WHO WHILE NOT BEING NECESSARILY DEAN'S OR EVEN LOOK-ALIKES, CAN NONE THE LESS, GIVE US A GLIMPSE OF WHAT JIMMY MIGHT HAVE ACHIEVED, OR DIRECTION HE MIGHT HAVE TAKEN, OR MORE IMPORTANTLY - WHAT WE WOULD HAVE LIKED HIM TO DO.

THERE IS ALSO THE POSSIBILITY GROWN SO DISSILLUSIONED BY, THE CASH, LIGHTS, PUBLICITY ETC. THAT HE COULD HAVE BECOME A RECLUSE IN THE CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD TRADITION, OR EVEN WORSE, IN THE TRAGI-HOWARD HUGHES MOLD I CONSIDER THE LATTER A REAL POSSIBILITY. NOTE, IN HINDSIGHT, THE PIC ON THE NEXT COL. "DEAN OR HUGHES?" THE PHYSICAL LIKENESS HE ACHIEVED TO HUGHES IN HIS MAKE-UP AS JETT RINK AGEING IN "GIANT". [A REFERENCE TO A VERY HUGHES-LIKE PICTURE LATER IN THE ARTICLE]

AS ONE READ OF HUGHES PRE-OCCUPATION THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE WITH HYGINE UNTIL IT FINALLY BECAME THE OBSESSION WHICH RULED HIM, WE CAN ALSO NOTICE IN DEAN, CERTAIN CHRACHTERISTICS ABOUT HIS PRIVATE HABITS WHICH COULD LEAD TO SIMILAR CONCLUSIONS.

THIS WAS, QUITE SIMPLY, HIS APPARENT ATTRACTION TO THE SUBJECT OF DEATH!!... OR MORE NOTICEABLY HIS ATTENTION TO OTHER MORE FAMOUS TRAGIC DEATHS, LIKE ROBERT CAPA, A PHOTO JOURNALIST (WHOM DEAN NEVER MET) .... WHO HAD BEEN KILLED WHILE SHOOTING IN VIET-NAM AFTER ACCIDENTALLY STEPPING ON A LANDMINE. DEAN OBTAINED A COPY OF ONE OF CAPA'S MOST WELL KNOWN PICS (OF A LOYALIST IN THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR BEING SHOT) AND RECORDED ON THE DATE ON THE BACK "DOAI THAN, AFTERNOON, MAY 25TH, 1954".

HE ALSO ATTACHED IMPORTANCE TO THE DEATHS OF BULLFIGHTERS MANOLETE AND MEJIAS, AND ITALIAN GRAND PRIX RACING DRIVER ALBERTO ASCARI.

WHETHER THIS "NOTING OF DEATHS" IS A MORBID / HUGHES CHARACHTERISTIC OR MERELY NOTING THE PASSING OF SOMEONE HE ADMIRED IS OPEN TO THE INDIVIDUAL INTERPRETATION, BUT ...... MAYBE ...........!!!

ON THE MORE POSITIVE SIDE HIS KNOWN ACTIVITIES INCLUDED THE DESIRE TO DIRECT. SOON HE WAS ALSO INTO PHOTOGRAPHY (STILLS), SCULPTING, WRITING, PIANO LESSONS AND HIS BIGGEST INTEREST GRAND PRIX RACING DRIVING.

HE WAS TYPICALLY DETERMINED TO EXCELL IN ALL OF THESE FIELDS. I THINK HE FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO BE ACCOMPLISHED IN ALL THESE SUBJECTS, AS BASICALLY HE WAS NOT WILLING TO SPEND THE NECESSARY TIME TAKEN TO MASTER THEM.

HOWEVER, WHAT HE LACKED IN DEDICATION TO A SUBJECT WAS MADE UP IN SHEER ENTHUSIASM, AND DRIVE. AS EVIDENCE OF THIS, ON THE SUBJECT OF ACTING, DEAN SAID, "I KNOW I WANT TO BE AN ACTOR, BUT THAT ISN'T IT, THAT'S NOT ALL." "JUST BEING AN ACTOR, OR A DIRECTOR, EVEN A GOOD ONE, ISN'T ENOUGH. "THERE'S GOT TO BE SOMETHING MORE THAN THAT!!"

IN FACT JIMMEYS SCREEN IMAGE WAS CREATED FROM, FED, AND FINALLY DESTROYED BY HIS OWN DESPAIRING PURSUIT OF WHATEVER VISION HAD BEEN FOLLOWING HIM SINCE HIS CHILDHOOD DAYS, A VISION HE ALWAYS BELIEVED HE WOULD ONE DAY BE ABLE TO HARNESS AND POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND.

GIVEN WHAT WE NOW KNOW TODAY OF DEANS EVENTUAL PERSONA, WE CAN SEE HE FINALLY DID ACHIVE THIS AIM. IF ONE IS TO TAKE HIS CAREER'S POSSIBLE COURSES AFTER HIS DEATH, IT IS PURE SPECULATION AND IT IS PERHAPS BEST THAT VISION AND REALITY IN THE FORM OF DONALD TURNIPSEED FINALLY COINCIDED FOR THIS BRIEFIST POSSIBLE MOMENT AT THAT LEFT WEST BOUND ON HIGHWAY 46!!!!

Bibliography

1956 - JAMES DEAN (William Bast)

Ballantine Books, New York. (paperback)

Authoritive and romantic recollections by one who knew Dean better than most, but hardly a landmark in English literature.

1962 - REBEL (Royston Ellis)

Consul Books, London. (paperback)

Cover depicts unshaven Dean looking suitably 'gone'.

1960's (early) - THE IMMORTALIST

First paperback edition (it went through several reprints).

Unread, but apparently quite impressive. Cover by Warhol.

1974 - JAMES DEAN: A SHORT LIFE (Venable Herndon)

Futura Publications Ltd. 49 Poland Street, London W1A 2LG. (paperback).

No surprises here, but not as unworthy as critics claim.

1975 - JAMES DEAN: THE MUTANT KING (David Dalton)

Dell Publishing, 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10017. (paperback)

The definitive Dean book, which cannot be praised too highly. Excellent research, lengthy (but worthwhile) reading.

1975 - JAMES DEAN - A BIOGRAPHY (John Howlett)

Plexus Publishing Ltd. 31a Valetta Road, London W3 7TQ. (large paperback)

Worthy and updated account of Dean, with impressive collection of photos.

1978 - JAMES DEAN REVISITED (Dennis Stock)

Penguin Books, 625 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022 (hardcover)

Pictorial account of Dean's life. Underwhelming text, but the shots are a treasure.

Except for the Howlett and Dalton Books, the above collection is out of print.

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