It's easy to forget just how much is at stake when we sit behind the wheel of a car. From daredevils
to musicians to royals, these are some of the most famous people killed in automobile accidents.
Grace Kelly was only 52 years old when her car veered off a roadway in the mountains of Monaco
near Monte Carlo. The former Hollywood actress made her film debut in 1951's Fourteen Hours,
and she quickly became an in-demand star in the likes of the 1952 western High
Noon. She then became a favorite of director Alfred Hitchcock,
appearing in his films Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief.
Kelly wasn't long for Hollywood life, though, as she left the movie scene shortly after the
release of her final film, 1956's High Society. She married Prince Rainier III
of Monaco after meeting him several years earlier at the Cannes Film Festival. Now
known as Princess Grace, she moved with her new husband to his home country.
On September 13, 1982, Kelly was driving with her 17-year-old daughter Stephanie
when the princess suffered a stroke and lost control of her car. Stephanie survived her
injuries, but her mother died the following day at a local hospital.
Paul Walker began his career in front of the camera when he was just a toddler,
appearing in a diaper commercial. After making several small appearances on various TV shows,
he broke through with a memorable role in the 1999 football flick Varsity Blues. His star
quickly rose from there, as he appeared in the likes of The Skulls, Joy Ride,
and She's All That. And soon enough, he landed the role he will forever be best known for:
Brian O'Conner in The Fast and the Furious franchise. He was in the midst of production
on Furious 7 when he was killed in a horrific car crash on November 30, 2013.
Walker was a passenger in a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT,
driven by his friend, Roger Rodas. The two had just left an event for Walker's charity,
Reach Out Worldwide when Rodas lost control of the vehicle. The crash that ensued killed
both Walker and Rodas, with the former's death attributed to both the trauma from the wreck
and from the fire that erupted a minute afterward. Walker was only 40 years old.
"Things are gonna be different now."
Grammy Award-winning musician Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes gained fame as a member of R&B
sensation TLC. Beginning in 1991, the trio utilized Lopes' uncanny rapping skills,
pairing them with the vocal stylings of Rozonda Thomas and Tionne Watkins. But
topping the Billboard charts and winning multiple awards weren't the only things keeping TLC in the
headlines. Lopes' off-stage behavior was the stuff of legend, culminating in her 1994 arrest
for arson. The charges stemmed from her setting the mansion she shared with former NFL player
Andre Rison ablaze, earning Lopes a sentence to a halfway house and lengthy probation.
On April 25, 2002, Lopes was killed when the van she was driving in was involved in a head-on
collision on a country road in Honduras. She was on vacation in the Latin American country,
a spot where she regularly went to relax. In the van with Lopes were seven other passengers,
including three members of the new band Egypt. TLC's manager Bill Diggins told CNN that Lopes
was killed instantly, and she was the only one who died in the tragic accident. She was only 30.
James Dean is an iconic star of the 1950s who still has a hold on the popular imagination
several decades after his death. After more than a dozen TV appearances in the early part of the
decade, he broke through and achieved stardom after being cast in the 1955 film East of Eden.
This led to his starring role in Rebel Without a Cause the same year. With fame now firmly in his
grasp, the young actor would sadly only have a short amount of time to revel in his glory
before dying in an accident that cut short what could have been a long and prosperous career.
"You're tearing me apart!"
Dean had recently purchased a new Porsche Spyder before the crash that took his life
on September 30, 1955. He was known for driving at excessive speeds, and he'd just been issued
a speeding ticket hours before the wreck when he was driving through Bakersfield,
California. His vehicle crashed into a Ford Tudor, driven by 23-year-old Donald Turnupseed.
Turnupseed and Dean's passenger were both injured but survived.
Turnupseed made a left turn in front of Dean's car as Dean was approaching an intersection. Accounts
by eyewitnesses vary, with some maintaining that Dean wasn't speeding at the time of the
crash. The setting sun possibly caused the silver Porsche to melt into the horizon,
making it difficult for Turnupseed to see Dean's vehicle. Dean was only 24.
The hit MTV series Jackass made stars out of several of its cast
members. Their hilarious and often painful antics elevated or sank,
reality TV to a whole different level. One of the most popular members was bearded legend,
Ryan Dunn. He was known to take on stunts that the others weren't brave enough — or
dumb enough — to do. But as bulletproof as he was on the set, he wasn't impervious to death.
On June 20, 2011, Dunn was reportedly driving at 132 miles per hour when his Porsche 911 GT
crashed, coming to a stop in a wooded area well off the road. The vehicle was then engulfed in
flames, killing both Dunn and his passenger, 30-year-old Zachary Hartwell. The West Goshen,
Pennsylvania Police Department noted that Dunn's blood alcohol level was .196,
well over the legal limit. Dunn was also reportedly drinking before the
accident at a local bar in the town of West Chester. He was only 34 years old.
"We've gotten away with, like, so much life-threatening,
crazy stuff, you just can't imagine us actually not surviving something."
Blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield made her film debut in the 1955 schlock noir flick Female
Jungle. She mostly portrayed herself as sexy and aloof, but according to film critic Roger Ebert,
her screen and public personas were in reality the creation of press agents. As Ebert put it in 1967,
"The role she chose for herself was created by others before she came
to Hollywood to play it. Mae West was probably the original. Marilyn
Monroe was probably the best and Jayne Mansfield was always a carbon copy."
Regardless of who was the original, Mansfield had numerous roles in films as the dumb but sexy
blond until her career began to peter out in the early 60s. In 1967, she was working as a regular
performer at a New Orleans nightclub. On the evening of June 29, she left in a vehicle owned
by the Gus Stevens Dinner Club, driven by Ronald Harrison. Her boyfriend Samuel Brody was on board,
as were three of Mansfield's young children that she had with her ex-husband Mickey Hargitay.
When Harrison approached, a thick fog of chemicals was being emitted from a large
truck that was spraying to kill mosquitos. It was dark, and he was probably unable to see the
rear lights from the truck due to the chemical fog. So he slammed the vehicle into its rear,
killing himself, Brody, and Mansfield. The children were all injured as well,
though they survived. Mansfield was just 34 years old.
If you were alive and forming memories on August 31, 1997, you surely remember
where you were when the news broke that Princess Diana was in a horrific accident.
"Diana, Princess of Wales, has in fact been killed in that car accident."
She was traveling in Paris with her companion Dodi Fayed and a bodyguard when their driver Henri
Paul lost control of the car and crashed into a support column. Paul was reportedly speeding to
evade members of the paparazzi who were pursuing Diana and Fayed with cameras in tow. Paul tried to
swiftly maneuver the vehicle into a tunnel, but he lost control and struck the support. The car
flipped over, killing Fayed and Paul instantly. Efforts made by a medical team to keep Diana alive
at a local hospital were unsuccessful. Her death was announced at 5 AM local time. She was only 36.
Diana was laid to rest a week later on September 6. During her procession to Westminster Abbey,
hundreds of thousands of mourners lined up to pay their respects while her coffin was
being transported. During the funeral, Sir Elton John gave a memorable performance of
his song "Candle in the Wind," vaulting that 1973 hit back to the number one spot on both
the U.K. and U.S. Billboard charts. Proceeds from the sale of the single
were donated to the various charities that Diana had advocated for during her
life. It's estimated that 2.5 billion people watched her funeral globally.
With a wild mane of hair and a memorably melodic voice, Marc Bolan was the driving force behind the
English glam rock band, T. Rex. Their 1971 album Electric Warrior debuted at number two on the
U.K. charts before leaping to the top spot for six weeks. The band never had a subsequent release as
powerful as that one, but they continued to record and tour until Bolan's untimely death in 1977.
Bolan reportedly never learned to drive during his lifetime. His ex-wife, June Child,
claimed that she tried to teach him while the two were together in the early 70s,
but the singer wasn't having it. In 1977, he was the passenger in a Mini-GT driven
by his then-girlfriend Gloria Jones. Also onboard was the couple's 20-month-old son,
who was riding in the back seat. Jones lost control of the car in what the BBC called a
"notorious accident blackspot." The car hit a fence and a tree, breaking her jaw
and killing Bolan, ending his life after just 29 years. Their child was thankfully unharmed.
After the wreck, Jones left the U.K. for her native United States. She was later
summoned to appear before the courts on charges of being unfit to drive,
but she managed to avoid the court appearances by staying in the U.S.
"It's very sad, but I like where he is now."
Before he gained fame as a raucous comedian, Sam Kinison was a traveling preacher in the 1970s. The
son of a minister, he pursued this passion after teenage years wrought with juvenile mischief. He
ultimately left his preaching in Chicago in 1977 to pursue his dream of becoming a standup comic.
He headed to Houston, where he was soon recognized as one of the city's most well-known performers.
Known for his jokes and observations on taboo topics, Kinison was also iconic
for his trademark scream. He was quickly becoming a favorite in the comedy world,
with the track "Wild Thing" from his second standup album Have You Seen
Me Lately garnering a Grammy nomination in 1988. Off stage, he was known to be a heavy
drinker and drug user, with his addiction taking its toll on his personal life.
Sadly, Kinison left the world before much of what he could have accomplished came
to fruition. He was killed on April 10, 1992, when a 17-year-old behind the wheel of a truck
smashed into the car Kinison was driving with his wife. He was still alive right after the
crash — before he lost consciousness, his brother reportedly rushed to his aid and heard him say,
"Why now? I don't want to die."
Kinison was only 38.
Austrian pop sensation Falco, born Johann Holzel, didn't have a ton of hits in America,
but there was one that became a staple of Best of the 80s playlists. In 1986,
his single "Rock Me Amadeus" made it all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Before that monster hit, Falco was already a major success throughout Europe and Japan.
His 1982 release "Der Kommissar" made the top of many European music charts,
as many non-German speakers found themselves singing along to a hit that wasn't in their
native tongue. Though he never had another hit as big as "Rock Me Amadeus," he continued to
record albums and tour, selling more than 60 million records worldwide.
On the afternoon of Friday, February 6, 1998,
Falco was killed after the Jeep he was driving crashed into a passenger bus.
The accident happened while the singer was vacationing in the Dominican Republic town
of Puerto Plata . He was still alive right after the crash when he was rushed to the hospital with
a broken leg and head injuries, but he died after being admitted. He was 40 years old.