Rebel Without a Cause curse

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 deaths 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 instant 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 32 years after the movie
Sal Mineo - stabbed to death 37 years after the movie
Nick Adams - committted suicide 13 years after the movie.

The movie had a total cast of thirty-nine actors, of whom at least four are still living in 2002, forty-nine 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 Nevadan open-air nuclear testing. Several cast members, including Wayne, eventually died of cancer. Radiation exposure, however, while unhealthy, is not a curse.