Few Hollywood stories are as chilling and strangely credible as the one involving Alec Guinness and James Dean. This is the tale of a chance meeting, a prophetic warning, and a tragic crash that would immortalise Dean and haunt Guinness for decades. The narrative centres around a silver Porsche 550 Spyder, nicknamed the “Little Bastard,” and a premonition that proved to be tragically accurate.
A Chance Encounter in Hollywood
It was September 23, 1955. Alec Guinness had just arrived in Los Angeles after a long flight from Copenhagen. Exhausted but hungry, he agreed to have dinner with actress and screenwriter Thelma Moss. Their search for a restaurant was repeatedly thwarted, first by dress codes (Moss was wearing trousers), and then by a lack of available tables.
They were turning away from Villa Capri, a popular Italian spot in Hollywood, when Guinness heard “running, sneakered feet” behind them. A young man caught up and offered them seats at his own table. “You want a table?” he asked. “Join me. My name is James Dean.” Guinness, already an Oscar-nominated actor for The Lavender Hill Mob, didn’t recognise the rising star. At that point, only East of Eden had been released; Rebel Without a Cause and Giant were still to come.
Dean led them toward the restaurant, but before they entered, he turned into a nearby car park. “I’d like to show you something,” he said. There, wrapped in cellophane and tied with a ribbon, was a silver Porsche 550 Spyder. “It’s just been delivered,” Dean said. “I haven’t even driven it yet.”
The Warning
The car’s appearance struck Guinness. “It looked sinister,” he later wrote in his memoir Blessings in Disguise. When he asked how fast it could go, Dean replied, “She’ll do a hundred and fifty.”
Guinness later said a strange impulse came over him. He warned Dean not to get in the car. Guniness even gave a time frame for his warning: “By this time next Thursday, you’ll be dead,” he said.
~ Alec Guinness, Blessings in Disguise (1985)
Dean brushed it off, and they had dinner. A week later, Dean was dead.
The Fatal Drive
On September 30, 1955, James Dean set off for a race in Salinas, California. With him was his mechanic, Rolf Wütherich. Stuntman Bill Hickman followed them in a station wagon towing a trailer. Dean had planned to tow the Porsche, but Wütherich insisted he drive it to get used to the handling.
Just outside Bakersfield, Dean was pulled over and issued a ticket for speeding. It didn’t seem slow him down. As they approached the junction of Route 466 and Route 41, a Cal Poly student named Donald Turnupseed made a sudden left turn in front of Dean’s Porsche. The impact was nearly head-on.
James Dean was pronounced dead on arrival at Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital at 6:20 p.m. Wütherich survived, as did Turnupseed. The Porsche was declared a total loss — but its story was far from over.
Guinness’s Reflection
In a 1977 interview with Michael Parkinson, Alec Guinness confirmed the story. He emphasised that he’d never had a similar experience before or since. Guinness never claimed to be psychic, nor did he repeat the story often. But when he did, he was visibly affected. Known for his grounded demeanour and scepticism of superstition, Guinness once dismissed Star Wars — where he played Obi-Wan Kenobi — as “fairy tale rubbish.” Yet one moment, one warning, stayed with him.
1977 BBC Interview: Alec Guinness (2:41 minutes)
Rebel Without a Cause was released just weeks after Dean’s death. Giant followed the next year. With only three major films to his name, Dean became a posthumous icon forever frozen in time as the brooding, rebellious youth of 1950s America.
The Rise of a Legend
The premonition added a layer of mystique to his legacy. Alec Guinness’s account wasn’t dismissed as tabloid fodder; it was taken seriously, precisely because Guinness himself was not prone to exaggeration or fantasy. If anything, he was given to understatement.
The Curse of the Little Bastard
Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder, “Little Bastard”, would go on to earn a reputation as one of the most cursed cars in Hollywood history. After the crash, Dr. William Eschrich bought the car for parts. He installed the engine in his Lotus IX which he crashed at the Pomona sports-car races. Eschrich lent the suspension parts to Troy McHenry, who had them installed in his own Porche 500 Spyder. Tragially McHenry was killed in the same race when his car hit a tree.
The self-styled “King of Kustoms”, George Barris, claimed to have bought the rest of the wreck and promised to rebuild it. But even in its ruined state, it’ continued to cause’s said to have caused accidents, injuries, and eerie incidents wherever it went. The legend of “Little Bastard” grew, fueled by the tragic death of its original owner and the prophetic warning that heralded it.
🔗 Coming Soon: The Curse of Little Bastard – What Happened After the Crash
Conclusion – A Moment That Echoes in Time
The story of Alec Guinness and James Dean is more than a Hollywood anecdote. It’s a moment where fate, intuition, and tragedy collided. Whether you believe in premonitions or not, the facts remain: Guinness warned Dean not to drive the car. Dean laughed it off, and a week later, he was dead.
In the world of celebrity folklore, few tales are as haunting — or as well-documented — as this one. We will explore the fate of “Little Bastard” in an upcoming post.
References:
1. Find a Grave Memorial for Donald Gene Turnupseed: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10990655/donald_gene-turnupseed
2. WikiTree profile of Donald Gene Turnupseed: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Turnupseed-3
3. Genealogy.com forum post confirming Turnupseed’s Cal Poly enrollment: https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/turnipseed/257/
4. Alec Guinness memoirs, *Blessings in Disguise* (Goodreads): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/605385.Blessings_in_Disguise
5. Alec Guinness memoirs, *Blessings in Disguise* (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/Blessings-Disguise-Alec-Guinness/dp/0394552377
6. Alec Guinness memoirs, *Blessings in Disguise* (Google Books): https://books.google.com/books/about/Blessings_in_disguise.html?id=y-wVifHr58EC
7. California Death Index for Donald Turnupseed (via Ancestry): https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5180/
8. Parkinson Interview (1977) – Alec Guinness warned James Dean one week before his death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb0Gawxw80g&t=2s