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James Dean's Leather Jacket

Currency:USD Category:Memorabilia Start Price:5,000.00 USD Estimated At:20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
James Dean's Leather Jacket
<B>James Dean's Leather Jacket.</B></I> A handsome black leather motorcycle jacket with blue lining and Dean's nickname, "Little Bastard," embroidered on the inside under the collar. Both the jacket and the nickname were given to Dean by stuntman Bill Hickman (who helped stage the legendary car chases in <I>Bullitt</B></I> and <I>The French Connection</B></I>). A close friend of Dean's, Hickman often drove the actor's Ford station wagon that towed his famed Porsche 550 Spyder, also nicknamed “Little Bastard”, and advised Dean on his driving technique. "In those final days, racing was what he cared about most," Hickman once said. "I had been teaching him things like how to put a car in a four-wheel drift, but he had plenty of skill of his own. If he had lived he might have become a champion driver. We had a running joke, I'd call him Little Bastard and he'd call me Big Bastard." Hickman, with photographer Sanford Roth in the passenger seat, was driving the station wagon and trailer a short distance behind Dean on the day of his fatal accident, and was the first person on the scene. As legend would have it, Hickman rescued the jacket from the car after the wreck, preventing it from being lost or stolen. The jacket is in Excellent condition with mild overall wear from having been worn and broken by Dean, and is enclosed in a 39" x 43" display case along with a plaque and b&w 8" x 10" photo of the actor. <I>Accompanied by COA from Hollywood Prop Supply.</B></I> <BR><BR><B>Important notice