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 Celebrities rarely die of old age in their own bed,
surrounded by loving family and friends. They are more likely to be taken away
in the prime of their life, lost to some terminal illness or meeting their
tragic end in an accident or a car crash. From «the Queen of Hearts» Princess
Diana and fashion designer Nicolas Trussardi to the rebel icon James Dean and
photography guru Helmut Newton, car crashes can be blamed for many celebrity
deaths.
August 31, 1997 will be remembered as the day of
the
tragic death of Princess Diana of Wales: 36-year-old Diana, her
boyfriend billionaire
playboy Dodi al-Fayed and their driver were killed in the car accident.
While
speeding to escape paparazzi, the car carrying Diana, al-Fayed, her
bodyguard
and a driver crashed in a Paris tunnel, killing all but the bodyguard.
According to Dodi's father, billionaire Mohammed Al Fayed, the car crash
was set
up by the British intelligence service.
Lady Diana was not the only beautiful car crashed
royal
who was mourned by the people around the globe. Fifteen years prior to
the
Paris tragedy, in 1982, the Princess Grace of Monaco, the former
successful
Hollywood actress happily married to Prince Rainier of Monaco, lost
control of
her car while driving on a hilly Monaco road. It veered off the road and
rolled
down a cliff side, injuring the princess and her daughter Stephanie.
Stephanie
recovered, but Princess Grace died the next day. It was later determined
that
the princess probably suffered a minor stroke while driving, causing the
accident.
Author Margaret Mitchell lived nearly all her life
in
Atlanta, the setting of a famous scene from her novel Gone With the
Wind. On
August 11 of 1949 she was crossing an Atlanta street on her way to the
theater
when she was hit by a speeding cab. She died of her injuries five days
later.
James Dean is probably the best known actor with a
brilliant life cut short at such a young age. He was a race-car
aficionado who
actually drove in a few auto races in 1955. He was killed in a 30
September
1955 highway wipeout in his new car, a Porsche Spyder.
While travelling to a race in Salinas, California, Dean saw a Ford
turning left
up ahead. «He sees us, he'll stop», Dean's last words were spoken to his
ride-along mechanic. The crumpled ball of tin foil that once was Dean's
car was
sent on a tour of high schools to warn kids about dangerous driving,
then
disappeared, never to resurface. In a spooky irony, 24 year old James
Dean made
a public safety announcement to promote safe driving shortly before his
death.
Another early-morning accident killed actress Jayne
Mansfield. The bleached-blonde celebrity was driving from Biloxi,
Mississippi
to New Orleans around 2:00 am on 29 June 1967, rushing to make a talk
show
appearance in New Orleans the next morning. Mansfield was in the front
seat
with her lawyer Sam Brody and a chauffeur when their car ran into the
back of a
truck that was spraying for mosquitoes. Mansfield, Brody and the
chauffeur were
killed; her three children, riding in the back seat, survived.
Falco, a classical music prodigy who turned to pop
music and had hits with Rock Me Amadeus and Body Next to Body (featuring
Brigitte Nilsen), died in a traffic accident in 1957 in Austria. He was
40.
The Austrian-born singer and songwriter suffered a severe head injury
when his sport utility vehicle collided with a bus as he was pulling
onto a
highway Friday evening near the resort of Puerto Plata. He died at a
Puerta
Plata hospital. Police detained the bus driver, but no charges have been
filed.
Police said Holzel was vacationing at the resort, one of the most
popular
tourism destinations in this Caribbean country, especially among
Europeans.
In 1999, another car accident made the headlines:
the
legendary Italian designer Nicolas Trussardi, who turned the Trussardi
brand
into one of the symbols of Italian fashion, lost control of his car. He
crashed
his car on the way home near Milan, went into a coma and did not
recover. According
to some experts, his life could be saved if he had used a safety belt,
which he
never did. Nicolas Trussardi was only 56.
In 2004, the fashion world lost another luminary:
the
legendary fashion photographer Helmut Newton who had been closely
collaborating
with Vogue for decades and was famous for his portraits of many
Hollywood
celebrities and supermodels, died in a car crash in California. While
leaving a
parking lot at the Chateau Marmont Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in Los
Angeles, he
lost control of his Cadillac and crashed into a wall. An hour later, the
famous
photographer died in hospital.
In April 2007, Hollywood film director Robert Clark
died
in a car crash in California. Clark was known for his direction a number
of box
office hits, such as A Christmas Story, Murder by Decree, Rhinestone,
Porky's,
Black Christmas.
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