On This Day: The day Hollywood lost James Dean

He was 24 years old, had appeared in just one released starring film and was already becoming the face of a generation.

Then, on September 30, 1955, James Dean climbed into his Porsche and headed towards a motor race in California.

He never arrived.

A Hollywood career cut short

Dean was driving his new Porsche 550 Spyder towards Salinas when he collided with another car at an intersection near Cholame, California, at about 5.45pm.

He was killed in the crash.

What happened next turned an emerging young actor into a Hollywood legend.

Only East of Eden had been released when Dean died. Rebel Without a Cause arrived less than a month later, followed by Giant in 1956.

Dean received posthumous Academy Award nominations for both East of Eden and Giant, becoming the first actor nominated posthumously for an Oscar.

His image — the hair, white T-shirt, jeans and that unmistakable brooding stare — endured long after a career that had barely begun.

The day a great engineering feat was celebrated

On September 30, 1935, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the enormous Hoover Dam.

Built during the Great Depression, the project employed thousands of workers and transformed the Colorado River into a major source of hydroelectric power and water for the American southwest.

The dam remains one of the most recognisable engineering landmarks in the United States.

Born on this day

Hollywood star Angie Dickinson was born on September 30, 1931.

Dickinson became a major screen presence in films including Rio Bravo and the original Ocean’s Eleven, before finding another generation of fans as Sergeant Pepper Anderson in Police Woman.

And Fran Drescher, forever associated with Fran Fine and that unmistakable voice in The Nanny, was born on September 30, 1957.

Do you remember?

Were you a James Dean fan, and which do you remember best: East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause or Giant?