Our Beloved Rebel — James Dean

I’m from Indiana and was in college at the time of James Dean’s amazing portrayal of Cal in East of Eden. I was still there as a Senior at the time of his death and my place of birth is less than 20 miles from his grave. I was a huge fan partially because of my admiration of John Steinbeck and of East of Eden. 25 years after his death, I attended a legal conference in the Canary Islands and had a layover in Madrid. I went out alone late at night to find a bar that also had music and food and found a late night classical music bar popular with university students. I was sitting alone and one of the students asked to join me. When he discovered I was an American he told the others to come join us. They wanted two things: to practice their English and to talk about James Dean and his movies. The next two hours proved to be much more interesting and enjoyable than my legal conference had been. Fortunately, their English was better than my Spanish. It remains a wonderful memory for, that night, I felt “love-bombed” with friendship.

The Ford Sedan gets a mention but not the driver - for the record it was 23-year-old California Polytechnic State University student Donald Turnupseed, who survived.

I was 15 when he died. He was the teenagers idol. We saw all his movies. It was a Great shame to loose him so young. His sultry looks and quiets ways made us love Him more. Guess. He was also wild ! Adrenaline junky for car racing. Rest in peace Handsome,sexy man. You left us to soon. God bless

I have a wall of pictures that I display in his honor.

Ilias Tsiabardas, He died 2 1/2 years before I was born. I wish he lived to the ripe, old age. If still alive, he would have been 93. He was such a gorgeous, talented actor!

He was killed by a Spyder!

I was 10 years old when he died ,I so his films many times Over the years ,Very sad to die at his prime age 😪

I was only 2 when he died but I remember hearing how he died at a very young age. I'm pretty sure my mom and her girlfriends were fans.

We named our car club in grand junction Colorado after him- The Rebels” members displayed a a plague on the car …

I was a teenager, but my mom was a fan before I knew about him! We watched all 3 of his movies together at the drive in movie theater.

I was a teenager when he died. So affected by his death. He had such potential.. so sad

I adored him. His death affected me immensely.

Great Actor. Loved him

He died I remember so well,reading the Sunday’s news paper over my dads shoulder I screamed in he ear,he jumped and yelled at me.It was 29 days later I was married.😱👵🏻

He was a fantastic actor ❤️

Lynne Mills, Donald Turnupseed, the other driver had minor injuries and hitchhiked to his family home. Apart from the inquest ,a couple of weeks later Turnupseed never spoke about the crash for the rest of his life and became a near recluse in his private life He refused all interview requests and photograph opportunities.He died in 1995 aged 63, of lung cancer.

He was a very interesting actor, with a very unusual personality. He was very charismatic and attractive. It was a real drama for all when he died.