Even though he come along in just three movies , James Dean is one of the most iconic moving-picture show champion of all time , due , in part , to his unseasonable death . Dean was just 24 when he died , succumbing to trauma sustained in an infamous car wreck in Cholame , California , in 1955 .
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Despite his beloved status , you wo n’t recover Dean ’s grave at Hollywood Forever , Forest Lawn in Glendale , or any other of the Tinseltown cemeteries known for their A - leaning clientele . After the crash , Dean ’s body was place home to Fairmount , Indiana . The diminutive town—1.5 straight miles and less than 3000 resident physician — was overwhelmed whenmore than 2000mourners prove up to pay their respect at the closed casket funeral .
Stacy Conradt
Of course , more than 60 years later , Dean ’s legend lives on — and so does the caption of the purportedly cursedPorsche Spyderhe was driving at the meter of the stroke .
Dean was warned about the car , which he called “ Little Bastard , ” soon after he purchased it with his paycheck fromGiant(1956 ) . In fact , Alec Guinness liked to tell people about his premonition that Dean would be dead a week after receiving the Porsche :
Eartha Kittsaidshe also monish " Jimmy " that the Spyder would kill him ; he told her to chill out with the “ voodoo ” stuff and nonsense .
After policy had settled up on the crash , William F. Eschrich purchased the wrecked car for$1092 . He remove some of the salvageable parts , then allegedly sold the residue to fame elevator car customizer George Barris . In his bookCars to the Stars , Barrisclaimedthat even in its totaled state , Little Bastard managed to do a fortune of price . Here are just a few of the incidents he recounted :
Of course , Barris was known to embellish the truth , so it ’s hard to say how factual any of those things really are . Snopes did somediggingand found that a Troy McHenrydiddie in a motorcar crash while drive a Porsche Spyder in 1956 , but whether that cable car contained Little Bastard ’s engine is unknown .
What is roll in the hay , however , is that Barris eventually contract with the National Safety Council toexhibitthe Porsche at car shows around the state to emphasize the need for safe drive . The car had been at one of these shows in Miami and was being shipped back to Los Angeles when it mysteriously disappeared in 1960 . More than 50 years later , Little Bastard still has n’t resurface .
