30 Vintage Photos
James Dean looking cool and cooler needing ice in the 1950s.
James Dean was the coolest guy in Hollywood during his brief career but even he needed to pick up some ice to keep his food and drink cold. Here he’s doing just that at the West Texas Ice Co., an ice house that may have been in or near Marfa, the Texas town where the 1956 film Giant was filmed. Giant turned out to be Dean’s last movie and he did not live to see its release, as he died September 30, 1955, in a car accident. On that fateful day, Dean was driving his 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder west on route 466 near Cholame, California, when he suffered a head-on collision with an eastbound vehicle; he was taken by ambulance to the Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. James Dean appeared as leading actor in just three films — Rebel Without a Cause (1955), East of Eden (1955) and Giant — but his legacy as one of Hollywood’s coolest dudes looms large.
James Dean was the coolest guy in Hollywood during his brief career but even he needed to pick up some ice to keep his food and drink cold. Here he’s doing just that at the West Texas Ice Co., an ice house that may have been in or near Marfa, the Texas town where the 1956 film Giant was filmed. Giant turned out to be Dean’s last movie and he did not live to see its release, as he died September 30, 1955, in a car accident. On that fateful day, Dean was driving his 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder west on route 466 near Cholame, California, when he suffered a head-on collision with an eastbound vehicle; he was taken by ambulance to the Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. James Dean appeared as leading actor in just three films — Rebel Without a Cause (1955), East of Eden (1955) and Giant — but his legacy as one of Hollywood’s coolest dudes looms large.
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