And George Reeves was not unable to find work, he was not broke, he was not a suicidal depressed person. So I figured this was the perfect time to do so and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there last weekend. Last edited on 17 February 2023, at 06:25, Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "The Death of George Reeves The Original Superman", "The Life and Tragic Death of 'Superman' Star George Reeves Plus the Actor in his Own Words", "7 super things you might not know about George Reeves", "11 Homes That Are Haunted by Dead Celebrities", "Was Superman star George Reeves a suicide or murder victim? Reeves would frequently bemoan the role he felt so trapped in, with particular disdain reserved for the crude and repetitive scripts that often required little more of him than to turn up at the end and have the villains bullets bounce off his chest. Two, Eddie Mannix killed the actor in revenge for upsetting his wife. While he returned unscathed, he struggled from that point forward to get his career back on track. How do we create a person's profile? The . However, many of his friends and colleagues believe the actor was murdered, his death the stormy culmination of a tangled love life. However, rumors suspect that there was foul play involved in his passing. Its a plane! Reeves death was quickly ruled a suicide, but some facts of the case appear to be murky at best. Reeves initially had no autopsy and his body was swifted embalmed. 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. Like an optical illusion, from one angle the details clearly show a man who, in a moment of distress, made a tragic decision. At approximately 1:20 AM, Reeves excused himself, and went upstairs to bed. 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. According to publicist Edward Lozzi, who had befriended Toni during her last years as a widow in Beverly Hills, what she had done weighed heavily on the now elderly Mannix. At this time, Reeves and his mother moved from Iowa to Ashland, Kentucky, to stay with relatives for a time[10] and then to her home of Galesburg, Illinois.[11]. Those guests were neighbour Carol Van Ronkel, her lover Robert Condon, and another neighbour, William Bliss. Some after his death said it was a profound depression and frustration with his career that led to the night in question. The Mysterious Death of Superman George Reeves It wasn't Kryptonite that killed Superman. Catalog; For You; Globe. In a wild turn of events, the alleged problem with this situation was not the affair itselfjilted husband Eddie had his own liaisons outside of the marriage and allegedly had no problem with his wifes relationship with Reeves. Lemmon stayed awake and about thirty minutes later three friends dropped by for a visit. He was lucky to escape with head injuries that required him to take powerful painkillers right up until the night he died. however to this day there is an air of mystery surrounding Reeves' death. Would the actor, generally described as an ordinary, straightforward kind of guy, really have killed himself in a house full of guests, especially choosing to do so naked - highly unusual in suicides? Reeves's career as Superman had begun with Superman and the Mole Men, a film intended both as a B-picture and as the pilot for the TV series. It was purchased for the actor at a cost of $12,000 by his longtime lover, MGM Vice-President E.J. It is located in a fairly modest area, even though the asking price in 1995 was $625,000. Includes the ability to log visits, view logs, save and filter offline Waymarks and use beautiful offline maps! George went to bed at 12:30 AM. Reeves reportedly never saw his father again. Forty-five minutes later, the police were called. All too often it is those closest to someone who takes their own life who can least understand it. For instance, Lemmon and her friends pulled a Conrad Murray by failing to call the police until about thirty minutes after discovering the body, and each seemed to have a differing account of the evening due to their inebriated states. The death of the original Superman is one of those American mysteries that may never fully add up. They had no children and divorced 10 years later.[16]. Dubious witness statements and the examination of the crime scene by the Los Angeles Police led to the official inquiry conclusion that the death of Reeves's was suicide. Coates had become a mutual friend of both her Superman co-star and Tony Mannix. What raised eyebrows regarding Reeves' death is that he was found naked in his bedroom by his guests during a small gathering at 1:59 a.m.; his guests waited 45 minutes to call police; detectives found additional bullet holes in the floor of his bedroom; bruises were found on Reeves' body; shell casings were discovered in strange locations; and a 'See thereI told you so! However, these were never investigated and Giesler strangely refused to work on the case any longer. In 1959, however, negotiations began for a renewal of the series, with 26episodes scheduled to go into production. After all these years, what happened that night at 1579 Benedict Canyon remains obscure and controversial. Not the comic book character, of course, but the man who personified the "real" Superman for an entire generation of television fans. Bessolo actually died March 4, 1944, at age 51, when his adopted son was well into his movie career. Learn about George Reeves death and the true story behind the Hollywoodland movie starring Ben Affleck as TV's Superman. In 1952, the struggling ABC Network purchased the show for national broadcast, which gave him greater visibility. At around1 am, William Bliss and Carol Van Ronkel came by for an impromptu meeting. Walker's property became known as "Houdini's House." Shortly after Houdini died on Halloween . Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/GettyThe death of the original Superman is one of those American mysteries that may never fully add up. The police had never checked Reeves fingers for residue to see if he pulled the trigger nor did they count the number of bullets remaining in the gun. Character: . George Bessolo Reeves lived in a modest house in Benedict Canyon in Los Angeles, California up until the time of his death on June 15, 1959. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and gave Reeves the distinction of appearing in two "Best Picture" films. You can watch George Reeves Kelloggs Corn Flakes commercial by clicking above. 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. 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. She was absolutely terrified of going to hell", Lozzi told the LA Times. Nobody wanted me to work at all. 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. All three bullets had been fired from the weapon found at Reeves' feet, though all witnesses agreed they heard only one gunshot, and there was no sign of forced entry or other physical evidence that a second person was in the room. 2 min read. She and Eddie had used his underworld connections to have Reeves killed. EXPLOSIVE new forensic evidence reveals Superman actor George Reeves didn't commit suicide he was murdered and a GLOBE investigation has uncovered the sordid truth behind the "perfect crime" and sinister cover-up of nearly 60 years! In 1927, Frank Bessolo adopted George at aged 13, as his own son, and the boy took on his stepfather's last name, becoming George Bessolo. They found George Reeves upstairs on his bed, with a Luger between his feet and a bullet hole in his head. Wikimedia CommonsReeves played opposite Vivien Leigh as one of the Tarleton twins in Gone With the Wind. So when George Reeves spurned his long term mistress for a younger model, she did not take it lying down. Many, though, believed the investigation had been rushed and this may have been a case of homicide. Three bullet holes were found in the bedroom, all caused by the Luger that was found resting between the victim's legs. Gene LeBell was there at George's house the morning before George died, training George. I have been researching a full-scale The Suspicious Death of George Reeves. In 1960, Reeves was awarded a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard for his contributions to the TV industry. If Mannix was trying to extinguish the Man of Steel, its unlikely she pulled the trigger that night at 1579 Benedict Canyon. Actors Alan Ladd and Gig Young were reportedly skeptical of the official determination. The following is taken from the official autopsy report: Exactly what happened that night was never fully resolved, due to varying drunken accounts. At his funeral, he was laid to rest in the same suit that he wore on the TV show as "Clark Kent." And they call me Superman!). Quick Description: The actor George Reeves house where TV's "Superman," was found dead of a head gunshot wound on June 16, 1959. It is located in a fairly modest area, even though the asking price in 1995 was $625,000. George Reeves was born George Keefer Brewer in Iowa in 1914five months into his parents' marriage. Jack Larson and Noel Neill both remembered Reeves as a noble Southern gentleman (even though he was from Iowa) with a sign on his dressing room door that said "Honest George, the people's friend". Noel Neill was quoted as saying that the cast of Superman was ready to do a new series of the still-popular show. A script was commissioned from David Chantler, who had written many of the TV scripts. The house was bought in the early 1950's for $12,000. A detective examines the mysterious death of George Reeves, the star of the television series Adventures of Superman (1952). Sprawled naked on his bed, Reeves had been shot in the head after a late night party at his house. After Gone with the Wind was filmed, Reeves returned to the Pasadena Playhouse and was given the lead role in the play Pancho. George Reeves' Home. Its impossible to ever know whats truly going on in someones head, especially on a night of heavy drinking, but it did seem that Reeves was taking steps to fix his situation. Shortly after they arrived, Reeves came downstairs to find out what the commotion was. Born George Keefer Brewer in 1914 in Woolstock, Iowa to Helen Lescher and Don C. Brewer, young George would grow up in Ashland, Kentucky and later in Pasadena California where his sister also lived. If this was the case, then clearly he had not fired the gun himself, and another party was involved. The suicidal can become very adept at hiding their inner turmoil from their loved ones. When the police did arrive, they found no sign . Twentieth Century-Fox loaned him to producer Alexander Korda to co-star with Merle Oberon in Lydia,[17] a box-office failure, after which he freelanced, looking to find work in westerns. [26] He was reportedly making $5,000 (about $50,000 in today's dollars) per week, but only while the show was in production (about eight weeks each year). [1] [2] His death at age 45 from a gunshot remains controversial. More sinister still, did Eddie Mannix, a man whose job it was to make Hollywood scandals go away, pull some of his underworld strings and hire a hitman to erase the man who had so grievously upset his wife? To the left in the photo is a den. To the right is the den and through the living room to the left you find the stairs leading to the guest room and adjoining bathroom which overlook the street. Attempting to showcase his versatility, Reeves sang on the Tony Bennett show in August 1956. He starred in a number of two-reel short subjects and appeared in several B-pictures, including two with Ronald Reagan and three with James Cagney (Torrid Zone, The Fighting 69th, and The Strawberry Blonde). Larson also thought the prospective return of the Adventures of Superman had filled the actor with dread, Anyone who thinks another season of Superman wouldn't depress George didn't know George, he said. His death was officially classified as. Had the jilted older woman taken things one step too far and shot Reeves in a jealous rage? At the beginning of his life, George Reeves was a Midwesterner by birth but, as he grew older, he made his way out to California with his mother. In the early morning of June 16, 1959, George was found dead . She also hired private investigators to investigate his death. A shot was heard. [13] His Gone with the Wind screen credit reflects the change. Climbing Back Up Almost immediately after the case was closed, questions about the truth began to arise. George Bessolo Reeves lived in a modest house in Benedict Canyon in Los Angeles, California up until the time of his death on June 15, 1959. His personal life was not all red carpets and champagne. The 45-minute delay in getting help, in this scenario, was the time it took for her and her house guests to cover up the murder. In the 1950s the actor, George Reeves was best known for his portrayal of Superman in the television series, Adventures of Superman. He died instantly and fell backwards, his feet still hungover the bed and his back on the mattress. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results George Azer Reeves (1914 - 1945) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days. 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. [19][20][21], Discharged at the war's end, Reeves returned to Hollywood. Reeves and Sherman impressed the casting director by performing seven pages of script in a single take without pause. In reality, George Reeves life was a far cry from that of his heroic television counterpart. Carol lived in the neighborhood. Mother Victoria Alice Mason. Its a bird! Reeves had options for making a living, but those options apparently all involved playing Superman againa role that he was not eager to reprise at age 45.