The actor died in a car crash 60 years ago

He was, according to the brief obituary he earned in TIME, the “most promising young cinemactor of 1955.” But that career was famously cut short on Sept. 30 of that year, when James Dean died “in a collision as he sped along a darkening highway in his silver Porsche Spyder sports car to enter a road race one week after he completed work in a new film, Giant; near Paso Robles, Calif.”

The untimely death—he was 24—made Dean even more of a celebrity than he had been, and lent a portentous air to every mile he drove that day in his supposedly cursed Porsche.

Among the haunting images of that day is the photograph above. One of the last known pictures of the star alive, it was taken at a gas station in the Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles, as Dean fueled up en route to the race he never made.

Former Irish President Mary McAleese revealed she has contemplated leaving the Catholic Churchbecause of their opposition to gay rights and the ordination of female priests.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic newspaper, McAleese, whose son Justin is gay, said she was “ashamed” of the Church’s attitude toward gay rights and women’s right, attitudes she feels are still championed by the current Pope Francis.

“I am ashamed, frankly, of my church’s failure to be a champion of gay rights and of women’s rights. I am ashamed of my church’s involvement historically in anti-Semitism,” she said.