Although I have visited as many places as I could in my travels where I knew James Dean had been, this post is going to focus on my trip to Cholame, the place where James Dean was killed 60 years ago this year. Cholame is an unincorporated community in San Luis Obispo County, California. James Dean's ghost is said to have been seen replaying that fateful event.
James Byron Dean was born in Marion, Indiana on February 8th, 1931. Jimmy lost his mother at the age of nine, and his father, being unable to care for a young son, sent him to live with his aunt and uncle, the Winslows. A Quaker home, the Winslows lived on a farm in Fairmount, Indiana, and cared for Jimmy as if he was their own son.
Jimmy performed well at school, and decided to move to California after graduating to attend Santa Monica College to major in law. He transferred to UCLA and changed his major to drama. In 1951, he dropped out of UCLA to pursue a full-time acting career.
Following successful theatre performances and small parts on television shows, in 1953 director Elia Kazan gave Jimmy the role of Cal Trask in Steinbeck's "East of Eden". He went on to portray the quintessential rebel, Jim Stark, in Nicholas Ray's film "Rebel Without A Cause", opposite Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo. Giant, which was released after Jimmy's death, saw him in a supporting role next to Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson.
Jimmy was the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and he remains the only actor to have received two posthumous acting awards. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him the 17th-best male actor.
In 1954, Jimmy became interested in motor racing. He purchased various vehicles after he completed filming East of Eden, including a Triumph Tiger T110 and a Porsche 356. Prior to starting the filming of Rebel Without A Cause, he competed in his first professional race in Palm Springs. He did very well in the race. A month later he raced at Bakersfield, where he finished first in his class. With ambitions to race in the Indianapolis 500 shelved due to his busy schedule, and all other racing barred by Warner Brothers while he filmed Giant, Jimmy's final race was on May 30th, 1955, in Santa Barbara.
On September 30th, 1955, Jimmy was scheduled to race in Salinas, California. He was accompanied by Rolf Wutherich, the Porsche mechanic sent from Germany to assist Jimmy with his newly-purchased Porsche 550, a car named "The Little Bastard" by Jimmy. Photographer Sanford Roth and stunt coordinator Bill Hickman followed Jimmy's Porsche in another car. It had been Wutherich's idea to drive the Porsche from Los Angeles to Salinas to help break the new car's engine in.
Travelling on California State Route 466 (now 46), at the junction with California State Route 41, a 1950 Ford Tudor, travelling at high speed, driven by 23-year-old student Donald Turnupseed, turned in front of Jimmy's car. Unable to stop, the Porsche hit the side of the Ford and ended up at the side of the highway. Donald Turnupseed exited his car with only minor injuries. Mechanic Rolf Wutherich was flung from the car, while Jimmy was trapped inside the mangled Porsche. He sustained numerous fatal injuries, including a broken neck. At the scene, a witness with nursing training detected a weak pulse, but Jimmy was pronounced dead on arrival at the Paso Robles Memorial Hospital.
Roth and Hickman arrived ten minutes after the accident, and Hickman was said to have helped extricate Jimmy from the Porsche wreckage. It's said that Jimmy died in Hickman's arms in the ambulance. Wutherich had a broken jaw and other minor injuries. Wutherich later developed severe psychological problems as a result of the accident, suffering depression, suicidal tendencies and alcoholism. In July 1981 Wutherich, intoxicated at the wheel, crashed his car and died after having to be extricated from the wreck.
Though an original inquest suggested that Jimmy had been speeding, it was later revealed that he had, in fact, been doing the speed limit of 55 miles per hour.
James Dean was buried in Park Cemetery in Fairmount, Indiana. His grave is less than a mile from where he grew up on his uncle and aunt's farm.
Beside the Jack Ranch Cafe, about a mile from the accident scene, is the James Dean Memorial Sculpture. Erected in 1977, the sculpture is composed of stainless steel and is around a Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus Altissima). The project's benefactor was a Japanese businessman, Seita Ohnishi. It is said that Seita Ohnishi also purchased the last photographs taken of James Dean by Sanford Roth at the accident scene.
On September 30th, 2005, the junction where James Dean was killed was dedicated as the 'James Dean Memorial Junction' as part of the official commemoration of the 50th anniversary of his death.
Leading up to James Dean's death, there had been a series of strange coincidences. Two weeks prior to his death he recorded a National Safety Council commercial, speaking the line, "Remember, drive safely, the life you might save might be mine". On the day of his death, Hickman had warned Jimmy to stop speeding, and he had also received a speeding ticket prior to the accident.
There have been many reports of a spectral Porsche replaying the events of the accident at the junction where it occurred.
James Dean's Porsche, "The Little Bastard", was said to be cursed. Fresh after the accident, it was decided that the car would be taken around to local high schools to teach students about the dangers on the road. However, when the Porsche was near Salinas, the vehicle transporting it was involved in a serious accident. The driver was thrown from the truck, and the Porsche rolled off the truck and crushed him to death. Nonetheless, the car was popular and it was taken on tour. At one of the displays, the car broke three bolts mysteriously and crushed the legs of a fifteen-year-old boy. Next, the car snapped in two and fell from the truck that was transporting it, causing a fatal accident. When the engine and drivetrain from the car were sold to two different men, one was killed in a car accident and the other was seriously injured. Two of the original unharmed tyres were sold, and they both later blew out, causing the new owner to lose control of his vehicle. Later, a garage storing the car went up in flames, destroying everything but the car itself, and thieves trying to steal parts of the car were injured. In 1960, the then-owner placed the Porsche in a sealed boxcar to transport it from Florida to California. The boxcar arrived sealed, but the Porsche was gone.
What I can say about visiting Cholame and the place where James Dean died is that I was overwhelmed by a sense of sadness. There is a feeling of something wonderful having been lost in that place. Though I considered visiting the place where James Dean died as a sort of homage to him, it actually made me come away wishing I hadn't gone there. I like to imagine James Dean, happy, with a laconic smile as he drives away in his car.
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