George Reeves
_Biography |
subject_name=George Reeves |
image_name=GeorgeReeves.jpg|
image_caption=George Reeves|
dead=dead |
date_of_birth=
January 5,
1914 | place_of_birth=
Woolstock,
Iowa | date_of_death=
June 16,
1959Death by gunshot, officially ruled suicide, doubts persist | place_of_death=
Beverly Hills,
Los Angeles,
California}}
George Bessolo Reeves (b.
George Keefer Brewer to Don Brewer and Helen Lescher) (
January 5 [ Reeves' Mausoleum plaque erroneously lists his birthdate as "1/6/1914", or 6 January 1914. A variety of sources (such as FindaGrave[1]) assert that his actual birthdate was 5 January 1914.],
1914 –
June 16,
1959) was an
American actor, best known for playing the role of
Superman on the
television series
Adventures of Superman in the
1950s.
Reeves' film career began in 1939. He was featured in minor roles, such as being cast as one of
Vivien Leigh's suitors in the initial scene of
Gone With the Wind. In 1942 he won acclaim for his part in
So Proudly We Hail!.
Although he received critical praise for his early successes in Hollywood, when
World War II was declared his career was interrupted by military service. Despite the belief that later being typecast as Superman put his career in a slump, many now believe that the war really gave his career a nearly fatal blow. Reeves enlisted in the
United States Army Air Forces and appeared in war training films. Reeves found leading parts lacking after the war and, at one point, he was forced to earn a living digging septic systems.
|
George Reeves as Superman |
Then Reeves was offered the role of
Superman in a television series. At first he was reluctant to take the role. Like many actors, he considered television to be unimportant and thought that few would see his work. He was astonished when he became a national celebrity. He became so well known that he was often forced to do personal appearances as Superman. This was always embarrassing for the actor because he pointed out that many children would often test his super powers by physically assaulting him. In one instance, a youngster came up to him with a loaded gun and said that he was going to shoot bullets off Superman's chest! Though Reeves was said to have been deeply saddened by the strong identification between him and Superman, he still tried to take the responsibility of being a role model for children seriously, even going so far as to quit smoking and making it a rule not to appear in public with his girlfriends. According to fellow co-star
Jack Larson, "'George Reeves wanted to be
Clark Gable, not a children's hero"'.
Reeves first appeared as the Superman character in 1951 in a theatrical feature called
Superman and the Mole Men. It was effectively a pilot for the TV series, whose regular episodes began filming soon after, during 1951 and 1952. That film was edited down to a two-part episode for the TV series, retitled
The Unknown People. The original film was seldom seen after its initial release, but it is on the DVD of the first season which was released in the fall of 2005.
The Superman TV series
Adventures of Superman was broadcast in first-run from the fall of 1952 through the spring of 1958, a total of 104 episodes. In addition, Reeves appeared as Superman in a Government short film, entitled "Stamp Day for Superman." In this, Superman's job was to catch some crooks and tell kids why they should invest in government bonds. Reeves also appeared as Superman in an episode of
I Love Lucy in 1956. During the course of the series, Reeves stood up for
Noel Neill, who had played Lois Lane in the
Kirk Alyn serials, when she replaced
Phyllis Coates, during her first days with the series when he felt the director was being too harsh with her, and he defended
Robert Shayne (who played Police Inspector William "Bill" Henderson) when Shayne was accused of being a radical in the 1950s and in danger of losing his job.
After the series went off the air, Reeves found himself so
typecast as Superman that it was difficult for him to find other roles and this was said to have deeply saddened him. One famous but incorrect example sometimes cited is that he was upset when his scenes in the classic film
From Here To Eternity were all cut after a preview audience kept yelling "Superman!" whenever he appeared. Director
Fred Zinnemann, screenwriter
Daniel Taradash, and various crew members have all stated for the record that every scene written for Reeves's character was shot and that every one of those scenes is part of the film as released. Nothing of Reeves's work was cut, and director Zinneman even made clear that there was no preview screening, nor were there post-release cuts. Everything in the first draft of the script featuring Reeves's character is still present in the final product as seen in 1953 and as seen today. However, a TV version of "From Here To Eternity" completely omits George Reeves and some key story line scenes. Despite the falsity of this particular rumor, Reeves did indeed find it almost impossible to obtain roles outside the Superman character, and his career reached the point where he did wrestling matches. By this point in time, his alcohol addiction had worsened even further. His good friend
Bill Walsh, a producer at Disney Studios, gave Reeves a role in what would be the actor's final feature film,
Westward Ho the Wagons (
1956). In that film, Reeves's face was altered with a false beard -- presumably to prevent easy recognition of the famed face of Superman.
In the early morning hours of
June 16 1959, three days before a planned wedding to
Lenore Lemmon, Reeves went to bed after a long night with guests. Shortly thereafter, a shot rang out, and he was found dead in his bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head. From the moment police arrived, the case was treated as suicide as all the guests concluded there could be no other explanation. An official inquiry concluded that the death was indeed
suicide. His disbelieving mother employed Private Investigator Jerry Geisler to conduct an investigation of his own, thereby postponing the cremation of the body for 3 years. However, both Geisler and Reeves' mother died before any substantial new evidence could be discovered.
With suicide the official verdict, much speculation resulted as to whether it was because of Reeves' "failed career". It was also noted that he had suffered a concussion in an auto accident shortly before his death, leading some to suspect that his mental health had been compromised. These facts are recounted in Gary Grossman's 1976 book,
Superman: Serial to Cereal. At that time, suicide was the predominant presumed cause of death, and various reasons were cited to justify or explain it.
Controversy
Many problems still persist with the suicide theory, such as bullet holes found in the bedroom walls and throughout the living room (where the guests were), bullet casing found underneath Reeves' body, the gun left between his legs, police not being called for 30-45 minutes after the death and the fact that almost no one who knew Reeves can quite bring themselves to believe that he killed himself.
Many people find it hard to believe that Reeves shot himself, as his life seemed to be getting back on track, right up until his death. In 1958, he seemed to give up drinking, only having a glass of champagne at parties, and the producers of
Adventures of Superman agreed to revive the series with two seasons' worth of episodes to begin airing in early 1960. He had also ended his affair with
Toni Mannix, an actress and wife of studio mogul Eddie Mannix, and, as stated, he and Lemmon were going to be married within three days. That same month, he had signed a five-motion-picture deal with
Paramount Pictures, and he was being courted to play the doomed detective Milton Arbogast whose curiosity leads him to his fate in
Alfred Hitchcock's
Psycho.
Had he lived until the next day, June 17, he would have fought light-heavyweight boxing champion
Archie Moore, and, considering his successful wrestling career in the 1940s, Reeves would not have turned down his shot at fame. These facts of what might have been for Reeves strongly contradict the theory that he killed himself for being typecast as Superman, because with the new, bright future for him in sight, it would be unlikely for him to commit suicide. Not surprisingly, the planned continuation of the
Adventures of Superman television series was cancelled after his death.
In the book
DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes, Reeves' co-star Noel Neill is quoted as saying the cast of Superman were ready to do a new series of the still-popular show. (This squares with statements in the Grossman book.) If Reeves was depressed, evidence suggests this would have been due to the compulsive telephone calls he was receiving from his ex-partner and then-wife to MGM bigshot, Toni Mannix. This may have been having a less than desirable effect on his impending wedding to Lenore Lemmon. Lemmon has taken responsibility for the bullet holes in the bedroom, attributing them to herself "fooling around" with the gun earlier in the evening. However, no fingerprints whatsoever were found on the pistol.
Reeves left his entire estate to Toni Mannix, much to Lenore Lemmon's devastation. Her statement to the press read, "Toni got a house for charity, and I got a broken heart", referring to the charities that both she and Reeves worked tirelessly for.
Both Noel Neill and
Jack Larson (
Jimmy Olsen in Superman) maintained that Reeves was murdered, even generating publicity for the case in the late 1980s. However, a 1998 edition of
USA Today featured Larson changing his position on the case. After the death of his longtime friend Toni Mannix, he did not want her memory tarnished by any bad press. (Larson has given various and conflicting opinions on this question over the years. In the Grossman book, he was quoted as having accepted that it was suicide.)
The 1996 book
Hollywood Kryptonite, by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, discusses the doubts by friends and relatives and the forensic evidence as to whether suicide was even physically possible (subsequent investigations show that the gun would have to have been held a few inches from the head when the incident occurred), whether the shooting was properly investigated by police, and alternative theories. It is a fact that during autopsy his hands were immediately washed and never checked for any gun powder or residue. The book makes an argument for Reeves having been the target of a "hit" due to having spurned a long-time lover with mob connections, also claiming that the previous car accident was also an attempted hit. There are groups supporting the re-opening of the murder investigation.
Lenore Lemmon maintains that Reeves killed himself due to his "failed career" and his alleged inability to find more work. Lemmon's version of events is the only one in existence, with no official list of exactly who was present in the house at the time of the shooting. According to Lemmon, those present were Carol Von Ronkle, William Bliss and Robert Condon. Some suggest Reeves and Lemmon's relationship was quite volatile, with them often being seen in public arguing. Lenore Lemmon left California the day after Reeves' death, never to return. She has never explained why she waited so long after the death to call the police. None of the other houseguests ever gave a public testimony.
A new movie is currently in production, entitled
Hollywoodland, that dramatizes the investigation of Reeves' death.
George Reeves married actress Ellanora Needles in 1940. They had no children and were later divorced.
In 1987, singer-songwriter
Don McLean wrote, composed and performed a song dedicated to Reeves called "Superman's Ghost." The song's refrain goes: "I do not wanna be like old George Reeves, stuck in a Superman role. I've got a long way to go in my career, and some day my fame will make it clear that I had to be a Superman." At another point in the song, the lyrics go: "I flew to the coast where Superman's ghost lay shot on the bedroom floor. He said, 'Look out for TV, it crucified me -- but it can't crucify me no more.'"
Out of all the actors who portrayed Superman as an adult (as opposed to
Superboy and other variations), Reeves was the oldest to put on the tights for the first time at 37 years, 322 days.
Christopher Reeve was the youngest at 26 years, 15 days. (Figures based on their respective films' opening dates.)
Comedians sometimes made fun of the Superman portrayal by Reeves.
Jay Leno once noted that he stood proudly upright when bullets were shot at his chest, but ducked when the criminal then threw the empty gun at him. ("You could put an eye out with that thing!")
Reeves is played by
Ben Affleck in the film
Hollywoodland, about his death and the following investigation.
Because of the similar surnames, people sometimes surmise that George Reeves is related to
Christopher Reeve, an
actor who would later portray Superman on the big screen. The similarity is coincidental: the two are not related, as the last names differ in spelling. George Reeves changed his last name from Brewer when entering show business.
Nor is there any known relation between George Reeves and the following public figures, often erroneously associated with him:
*
Steve Reeves, actor/
bodybuilder from the same era, who played
Hercules in several films.
* Richard Reeves, also known as Dick Reeves, character actor who appeared in several "Superman" episodes.
*
Keanu Reeves, actor.
*
Haunted Hollywood*
Hollywoodland*
George Reeves tribute and the Superman TV episodes ...*
