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The actors were poorly paid, and even after Reeves received a raise after trying and failing to leave the show after three seasons, he found himself struggling for money, unable to get the roles he really wanted, and taxed for time given the all-consuming nature of his Superman commitments. He was inundated with menacing silent phone calls at all hours of the morning and someone even abducted his beloved dog Sam. On June 15, George and Leonore had gone out to a rather boozy dinner, to celebrate the upcoming marriage. November 5, 2022. in Arts, Culture, News. Many, though, believed the investigation had been rushed and this may have been a case of homicide. A long Broadway run followed, before a national tour and a movie version. Like so many men of his generation, the war derailed his life plans. In reality, George Reeves life was a far cry from that of his heroic television counterpart. Alcohol, narcotics and depression are a red light warning sign for suicide, and with little other evidence available to them to suggest otherwise, its not hard to see why the Police came to this conclusion. The findings of a second autopsy, conducted at Giesler's request, were the same as the first, except for a series of bruises of unknown origin about the head and body. Rather than being seen as the hunky superhero who had proven himself as a leading man, Reeves was worried that the role would forever make him the kids beloved Superman in the eyes of the world and of casting directors. George Reeves from "Superman" had a mysterious death that saw him die from a single gunshot wound to the head. If anything, it seemed like Reeves career was on the up. No charges were ever brought against anyone in connection to the case. This is the house, and home, that Superman actor George Reeves lived and died in. During the second season, Reeves appeared in a short film for the Treasury Department entitled Stamp Day for Superman, in which he caught the villains and told children why they should invest in government savings stamps. Later that year, he was assigned to the U.S. Army Air Forces and performed in the USAAF's Broadway show Winged Victory. 1. Tall and chisel jawed, Reeves was the perfect choice to play the all American hero in the syndicated television show the Adventures of Superman. From 1952 to 1958 he starred in 104 episodes, but by the late 50s it had declined in popularity and it was put into hiatus after its sixth season. After Gone with the Wind was filmed, Reeves returned to the Pasadena Playhouse and was given the lead role in the play Pancho. While many of Reeves friends doubted the suicide verdict, Jack Larson, who played cub reporter Jimmy Olsen in the show, always accepted that his friend took his own life. The death was quickly ruled a suicide, but several of those near and dear to the actor believed there was no way he would have killed himself. George Reeves was born George Keefer Brewer in Iowa in 1914five months into his parents' marriage. She also hired private investigators to investigate his death. After his death, it was revealed that he left everything to Toni, which could have been an oversight given he and Lemmon had only been together six months, or it could have been a big middle finger. It was to be his final feature film appearance. Those guests were neighbour Carol Van Ronkel, her lover Robert Condon, and another neighbour, William Bliss. Reeves spoke out about these difficulties in a 1958 Evening Star article frankly titled No Work for Superman. When asked why he took the role, he said simply, I was hungry. But after six years, he was having a hard time pushing his career forward. [17], However, Reeves was inspired by So Proudly We Hail! Later, Reeves's mother,[12] who was of German descent, moved to California to stay with her sister. No scandals were too big to be neutralised by Eddie, from covering-up Clark Gable accidently killing actress Tosca Roulien, to tracking down and buying up every copy of a porn film starring Joan Crawford. Toni, a former showgirl and starlet in the early talkies, married MGM studios enforcer Eddie Mannix in 1951. In 1957, the producers considered a theatrical film Superman and the Secret Planet. He was born in Woolstock, Iowa but eventually moved to Galesburg, Illinois after his parents separated. According to Larson, Reeves also said he would feel better about the role if he knew he had any adult fans but never learned that Adventures of Superman had adult fans even during its original broadcast run.[17]. A month later, having uncovered no evidence contradicting the official finding, Giesler announced that he was satisfied that the gunshot wound had been self-inflicted and withdrew.[41][39]. Lemmon moved into his house, and they were to be married on June 18. Had Reeves really shot himself three times? Gina Dimuro is a New York-based writer and translator. In the early morning hours of June 16, 1959, George Reeves, who was the first to make the superhero an icon when he played the titular role in the inaugural TV series, was found dead in his bedroom, naked with a bullet through his head. Stalk It: George Reeves former home is located at 1579 Benedict Canyon Drive in Beverly Hills. Henderson, Jan Alan, Speeding Bullet, M. Bifulco, 1999; Helen Roberta Lescher Brewer Bessolo (18921964) - Born in Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois, US. And was Eddie, a man suspected of killing his first wife Bernice Fitzmaurice, behind the bullet to the head that ended the actors life? The producers wouldnt give me a job. It all seemed so simple. No photos of the body were taken and the crime scene was not properly searched or dusted for prints. Reeves was apparently scheduled to marry Lemmon on June 19 and then spend their honeymoon in Tijuana. [40], Reeves' mother thought the ruling premature and peremptory, and retained attorney Jerry Giesler to petition for a reinvestigation of the case as a possible homicide. He had recently been involved in a serious affair with a married woman, Toni Mannix, before dumping her for his high-society fiancee, leaving Mannix devastated. He appeared in a pair of outdoor thrillers with Ralph Byrd. Catalog; For You; Globe. Mannix, who had ties to the mob, had him whacked due to the affair. Coates had become a mutual friend of both her Superman co-star and Tony Mannix. Reeves usually had an open door policy, but not after midnight. The series went on the air the following year, and Reeves was amazed at becoming a national celebrity. According to the statements given to the police (statements that were no doubt slurred), Reeves came down to ask them to be quiet, they convinced him to stay for a drink, and then he stomped his way back upstairs. Wikimedia CommonsReeves played opposite Vivien Leigh as one of the Tarleton twins in Gone With the Wind. Reeves reportedly never saw his father again. Considering her temperament, it does not seem out of the question she may have started waving Reeves pistol about whilst having a drunken argument with her prospective husband. Reeves initially had no autopsy and his body was swifted embalmed. Had the actor been placed on the bed some time after he was shot? As portrayed in films such as Hollywoodland and Hail Ceasar, Eddie had an array of thugs, bent cops, private eyes and mobsters on the payroll. [17] He was drafted in early 1943. Michael Hayde firmly believes that George Reeves was murdered. The story told by those there that night is full of holes, the evidence perplexing and poorly handled. On the night of June 15th, 1959, Reeves and Lemmon went out to dinner and the two reportedly drank a great deal. The police also found two gunshot holes in the carpet as well as the one in the ceiling that they traced to the wound in Reevess head, yet the witnesses claimed to have only heard one shot that night. George Reeves former residence is rather small, especially by Hollywood standards. Even outside of the world of comic books, bullets sometimes do funny things, and that was certainly the case in the death of George Reeves. Sprawled naked on his bed, Reeves had been shot in the head after a late night party at his house. A few minutes later a shot was heard and the foursome ran upstairs. George Reeves (born George Keefer Brewer in 1914) began his Hollywood career in a variety of bit parts in the late 1930s, including a small role in the epic film Gone with the Wind, and worked . The first photo above looks into the living room from the backyard. The . Others suggested that Eddie Mannix, rumored to have Mafia ties, ordered Reeves killed.[43]. According to partygoers, one of the guests raced upstairs to find Reeves lying across his bed, the life snuffed out of him by a bullet in the head. gruesome and unsolved murder of the Black Dahlia. His body was later cremated and interred at the Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, which I blogged about during my Haunted Hollywood theme last year. And so, almost forty years later, we are left wondering. The costume Reeves donned as Superman on TV. Its a plane! Climbing Back Up Almost immediately after the case was closed, questions about the truth began to arise. He is best known for portraying Superman in the television series Adventures of Superman (1952-1958). Reeves death was the first in what would come to be a string of tragedies surrounding the role, in what would come to be known as the Superman curse. He had a string of B-list movies after that, and was slowly working his way up to leading man status when bombs dropped on Pearl Harbor. If you are lucky enough, the homeowners may allow you to tour the home's grounds and possibly the interior as well. The mystery surrounding the death of George Reeves, the original Man of Steel. Mannix was devastated by the rejection, made all the more humiliating for the fact Reeves had moved Lemmon into a house in Los Angeles she owned. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records 19381946, dated March24, 1943, Speeding Bullet, 2nd Ed, by Jan Alan Henderson, p. 151. And George Reeves was not unable to find work, he was not broke, he was not a suicidal depressed person. Los Angeles Police Department Death Report, June 26, 1959. It was also widely believed that Toni, to whom Reeves bequeathed his entire estate, may have shot him in a jealous rage after hearing news of his engagement, or that her husband, E.J. If he had really fallen backwards onto a freshly ejected shell case it should have been hot enough to have burnt his skin, yet no such marks were evident at the autopsy. In June 1951, Reeves was offered the role of Superman in a new television series[23] titled Adventures of Superman. After all, it was she who had made the early morning phone call to Coates, before anyone outside of Reeves home could have known about his death. She even commissioned a second autopsy, which concluded that Reeves was possibly murdered. His relatives believed he was murdered, and disputed the official ruling of suicide. According to Condon, Lemmon was in an combative mood that night, and had made somewhat of a scene in the restaurant. Leonore Lemmon fled to New York right after Reeves died--but first emptied his house of liquor bottles and $4,000 in traveler's checks. >> George Reeves's death, and there are very interesting questions >> supporting the various theories. (Reeves and Crane both dyed their hair red to portray the Tarleton twins.) George Reeves was born George Keefer Brewer in Woolstock, Iowa, the son of Don Brewer and Helen Lescher (his death certificate erroneously lists his birthplace as Kentucky). If this was the case, then clearly he had not fired the gun himself, and another party was involved. George Reeves' Ghost. On 16 June 1959, George Reeves retired to his bed at 12, after going out for dinner with his fianc, Leonore. Regardless of the plausibility of these theories, its likely that the identity of whoever fired the bullet that killed the Man of Steel will remain a mystery. Released from his Warners contract, he signed a contract at Twentieth Century-Fox but was released after only a handful of films. George Reeves' Former Home Another location that has long been woven into the fabric of Hollywood lore is George Reeves' former Benedict Canyon bungalow, where in the early morning hours of June 16th, 1958 the Adventures of Superman star was found dead from a single gunshot wound to the head. Reeves knew the show could potentially be popular, but it was almost because of that that he was reticent to take it on. If it was Reeves that pulled the trigger then in all likelihood it was because he had had enough of his life, for whatever reason. The producers looked elsewhere for a new star.[25]. This was before news of Reeves death had gotten out, and it always remained a mystery to Coates how Mannix could have known Reeves was murdered unless she was party to it. (1956), in which Reeves wore a beard and mustache. All of the conspiracy theories surrounding Reevess death would eventually be played out on the big screen in 2006s Hollywoodland, but they boil down to three scenarios. [31] However, Reeves and his partner failed to find financing, and the film was never made. George Reeves Born George Keefer Brewer in Woolstock, Iowa in 1914, the boy who would become Superman moved around a lot. The police also appeared to be behaving in a careless manner. This is however not the case as it it the guest bedroom that faces the street. Reeves's film career began in 1939 when he was cast as Stuart Tarleton (albeit incorrectly listed in the film's credits as Brent Tarleton), one of Vivien Leigh's suitors in Gone with the Wind. Reeves then apologized, and the group sat around talking. Reeves fit the rugged requirements of the roles and, with his retentive memory for dialogue, he did well under rushed production conditions. A funeral was held on Wednesday, June 30. The police ruled his death a suicide, but rumors quickly surfaced that Reeves was. When George Reeves died in 1959, the death was quickly considered to be one that was self-inflicted. Vacio and Neill accompanied him in duets.[30]. Was he responsible, on behalf of his wronged wife, for the misfortunes that had befallen Reeves in the run up to his death?