20th century car crashes that claimed the lives of celebrities

It is no exaggeration to say that the history of land vehicles began with the invention of the wheel. But times are changing, the pace of life is accelerating, and now we can’t do without cars, they have become indispensable, with their help we can quickly cover distances and reach hard-to-reach destinations.

However, cars often play a fatal role.

In our selection of the largest car accidents of the 20th century, in which famous people died.

UPD: Dear readers, due to a strange misunderstanding in this post, we forgot to talk about the unconditionally main celebrity for us - Viktor Tsoi. But in the near future we will publish a separate post dedicated to our rock star.

(Total 12 photos)

1. The famous American dancer Isadora Duncan became a victim of a terrible accident. The founder of the so-called “free” dance, an extremely liberated bohemian star, seduced the poet Sergei Yesenin, who had already achieved popularity at that time, and even became his wife for two years in the early 1920s. The actress has also written several philosophical books dedicated to demonstrating a woman's independence through dance.

2. In 1927, a 50-year-old dancer was vacationing in Nice. One day, she put on her favorite red scarf (shortly before those events, Duncan ideologically “accepted” communism) and decided to ride on the new Bugatti, which she was just starting to master. In a moment, Isadora was dead - a scarf caught in the spokes of a spinning wheel strangled her.

The tragic and at the same time ridiculous death of Isadora Duncan was previously preceded by a car accident that took the lives of two of her children.

3. Actor James Dean became a superstar with just three films - East of Heaven, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant, which were released the year he died. In these pictures, the young actor presented a complex image of a person with mental anguish, stammering speech and awakening sensuality. James Dean is the only actor to have received two posthumous Oscar nominations. The tragic death, legends and myths that shrouded his life created a cult status for his personality.

4. On September 30, 1955, James Dean, along with mechanic Rolf Wütherich, drove a sports Porsche 550 "Spyder" to a place where he was planned to participate in auto racing. Dean was driving along US Route 466 (later renamed State Route 46) near Holam, California, when a black-and-white 1950 Ford Custom Tudor, driven by a 23-year-old Cal Poly student Donald Thornpsid, turned at the fork onto State Route 41, crossing the path of Dean's car without noticing him. The two cars collided almost head-on. Rolf Wütherich was seriously injured. James Dean died en route to the hospital without regaining consciousness.

5. French writer Albert Camus was one of the few followers of the literary style later called existentialism. A Nobel Prize winner and a humanist by conviction, in his work he struggled with the fatal absurdity of life and even received the nickname “Conscience of the West” during his lifetime.

The famous author of the most popular works had many plans for the future, but they were not destined to come true due to an accident that happened on the way to Paris.

6. On January 4, 1960, the writer and his family were driving a French car Facel Vega II. At some point, the car lost control and flew off the road. Camus died instantly, his wife and daughter managed to survive.

7. Jayne Mansfield was one of those sexy blondes who were admired by the strong half of humanity in the middle of the last century. Because of her resemblance, she was often compared to Marilyn Monroe, and when the main sex symbol of the era was gone, the 20th Century Fox film studio appointed Jayne Mansfield to her role.

8. June 28, 1967 Jane went on a road trip to New Orleans. The driver, her boyfriend and three children were with her in the Buick Electra. At about 2 am, their car collided with a truck, being completely under the truck. The three adults in the front seat were killed instantly, while the children in the rear seats of the car were fortunately only slightly injured.

Jane's life was tragically cut short at the age of 34.

9. The fate of the mother of the current Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert, Grace Patricia Kelly was full of bright events. The reference beauty Grace managed to make the wildest dreams of many girls on the planet come true: to become a famous actress and marry a prince, or rather a monarch.

10. It would seem that nothing boded trouble, but on a sunny day on September 13, 1982, Princess Grace was driving a Rover P6 3500 V8 car, in which her daughter Stephanie was also. Suddenly, the princess had a stroke, she lost consciousness, and the car fell off a mountain cliff.

Luckily, Stephanie managed to survive the accident, but her mother died in intensive care the next day.

11. On the night of August 31, 1997, in a car accident that occurred in an underground tunnel under Alma Square in Paris, the "People's Princess" Lady Diana died.

12. The reason for this "car crash of the century" is still not entirely clear, there are a number of different versions: the driver was intoxicated, the need to escape at speed from the persecution of the paparazzi, as well as various conspiracy theories. The only surviving passenger of the Mercedes S280, bodyguard Trevor Rhys Jones, who was severely injured, lost his memory and cannot provide the investigation with any information about the accident.