On Sunday, while the rain poured down, I was cruising the Internet and headed on over to Find A Death. The site is run by Scott Michaels, who runs the Dearly Departed tours out in Los Angeles. Every once in a while, I’ll go spend the day on the site – guess that makes me a Death Hag – to learn on a famous or infamous person died. On this visit, I ran across the piece on Donald Turnupseed.
I know what you’re thinking: Who is Donald Turnupseed and why is James Dean mentioned in the headline?
I’ll answer both:
Donald Turnupseed is the unfortunate man who literally changed James Dean’s life into death. He was the driver of the car that Dean hit on that fateful night where a brilliant young actor was called to the stage in the sky.
Mr. Turnupseed passed away back in 1995 according to the article. And, here’s the best part – he never publically discussed the accident. Never.
Doesn’t that seem strange in this day and age? Can you imagine someone NOT using his fifteen minutes of fame? Nowadays, a guy will stand in line at a coffee shop with Brad Pitt and will discuss it on every talk show out there. Okay, maybe, that’s a little bit of a stretch. But, look at how long we paid attention to Joe the Plumber.
I guess my whole point is that sometimes, I wish things could be like that again. Yeah, I know, if they were, I wouldn’t have much about which to blog. But, maybe, I would.
R.I.P. Mr. Turnupseed.