50th Anniversary of the Death of James Dean

"Dream as if you'll live forever, Live as if you'll die today." -James Dean

With that quote we will pay our respects to a 24 year old actor and legend that was tragically killed in a car accident on September 30 1955.

The Facts:

James Dean was driving his Posche Spyder to a race in Salinas, California. It was September 30, 1955. At 3:30 that afternoon, Dean had received a speeding ticket for going 65 in a 45 mile zone.
A few minutes after dusk, and Dean and Rolf Wutherich, his friend and mechanic, were headed to Paso Robles to spend the night before the race. Donald Turnupseed, driving a Ford sedan, tried to make a left turn off Highway 41, north onto Highway 466.


Just before the impact, Dean remarked to Wutherich that the other vehicle was bound to see them, that it had to stop. It did not stop. The autopsy said James Dean died of a broken neck and other injuries, either immediately or shortly after being extricated from the Porsche. Wutherich was thrown clear but badly injured. Turnupseed had only minor injuries.

At this time of year at 5 pm, every year people stand at the intersection and see what Dean couldn't, the portion of the road he was traveling on is completely blind to a person making a left onto it because to the position of the sun, the guy never saw him coming...



Crowds gather at the spot where Highway 41 and Highway 466 (now 46) meet outside Cholame California (near Paso Robles), Some dressed in Poodle Skirts others looking just like Dean did in his films, while others claim to have seen his ghost hitch hiking up the road from the accident...Ok and the person I transported down there for the 40th anniversary to deposit her COUSINS ASHES in the exact spot of the collision...In the land of FREAK SHOWS this one rates 5 STARS on the FARNHAM METER..



James Dean was buried in his hometown of Fairmount Indiana and laid to rest in the Winslow family plot in Park Cemetery, Fairmount, is a short distance from the farm on which he grew up.

Funeral services were held at the Fairmount Friends Church on October 8, 1955.

James Dean's ironic PSA for Driver Safety, done to settle a speeding ticket can be watched HERE. In it Mr. Dean tells young kids to "drive safely and that the life you might save, could be his"...

WEBCASTS FOR ALL THE JAMES DEAN ANNIVERSARY ACTIVITIES CAN BE SEEN HERE.

And the actual intersection has its OWN website right HERE.