Rebel Without a Cause curse
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The Rebel Without A Cause Curse is a supposed curse attached to the movie Rebel Without a Cause, released in 1955.
The idea that the cast was in some way "cursed" is a superstition based on these facts: four of the stars of the movie died in ways that can be characterized by the credulous as mysterious or tragic. It is not clear that this particular film actually differs from others in the number or nature of the deaths of those who acted in it.
The movie made its stars instantly famous teen idols, but some of the main actors who participated in it started dying shortly afterwards, making some people suggest the notion of a 'cursed movie'.
Those who believe in the curse point to these four deaths:
- James Dean - died in a car crash the year of the movie at age 24
- Natalie Wood - dead after a drowning accident 26 years after the movie
- Sal Mineo - stabbed to death at age 37, 21 years after the movie
- Nick Adams - committed suicide 13 years after the movie.
The movie had a total cast of thirty-nine actors, of whom at least four were still living in 2004, fifty-one years after the movie was finished.
Some other movies and television series have been dubbed as cursed over the years. One of them, The Conqueror, starring John Wayne, has a stronger claim than most others for a "curse". Shot in St. George, Utah, the movie location was downwind of Nevada open-air nuclear testing. The movie's producer, Howard Hughes, had a considerable amount of dirt from the location shooting trucked back to Hollywood for reshooting some scenes. Several cast members, including Wayne, eventually died of cancer. Radiation exposure, however, while unhealthy, is not a curse.
See also: Poltergeist curse.