James Dean

:This article is about the actor James Dean. You might also be looking for Jimmy Dean.

Death

Dean had become friends with fellow auto enthusiast and multi-millionaire Lance Reventlow, one of the last people to speak to Dean when they met on their way from Los Angeles to an auto race in Salinas, California. A few hours later Dean was driving his Porsche 550 Spyder west on highway 466 (later 46) near Cholame, California when a car driven from the opposite direction by 23-year-old Cal Poly student Donald Turnupseed, attempting to take the fork onto highway 41, crossed into Dean's lane without seeing the very low-slung, topless silver-grey Porsche in the twilight. The two cars hit almost head on. According to a story in the Oct 1, 2005 edition of the Los Angeles Times{{ref|crashspeed}}, California Highway Patrol officer Ron Nelson and his partner had been finishing a coffee break in Paso Robles when they were called to the scene of the accident, where they saw a heavily-breathing Dean being placed into an ambulance. His mechanic Rolf Wutherich had been thrown from the car but survived with a broken jaw and other injuries. Dean was taken to Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 5:59PM, aged twenty-four.

Related Topics:
Lance Reventlow - Salinas, California - Porsche 550 Spyder - Cholame, California - Cal Poly - Los Angeles Times - California Highway Patrol - Paso Robles

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Contrary to reports of excessive speed which persisted decades after his death, Nelson said "the wreckage and the position of Dean's body indicated his speed was more like 55 mph (88kph)." Turnupseed received a gashed forehad and bruised nose, was not cited by police for the accident and died of lung cancer in 1995. While completing Giant, Dean had recently filmed a driving safety announcement targeted at teenaged drivers. "The life you save," he had said in conclusion, "may be mine."

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