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. George Reeves hit the television jackpot when he landed the dual role of Clark Kent/Superman in the television series The Adventures of Superman. 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. Reeves and Toni Mannix split in 1958 and Reeves announced his engagement to society playgirl Leonore Lemmon. Mannix died in 1983 at the age of 77--her husband Eddie had died in 1963. There was no doubt that he had enjoyed a few libations that evening, but even drunk it stretches the imagination that someone would strip before committing suicide. However, Superman producers offered him a salary increase, and he returned to the series. George Reeves' Home. Except for the second season, the Superman schedule was brief (13 shows shot two per week, a total of seven weeks out of a year), but all had a "30-day clause", which meant that the producers could demand their exclusive services for a new season on four weeks' notice. George Reeves former residence is rather small, especially by Hollywood standards. The report made by the Los Angeles Police states, "[Reeves was] depressed because he couldn't get the sort of parts he wanted." Was it true she was heard to say He is going to shoot himself, after Reeves had left the party to go back to bed? She died in 1989. Reeves died at the age of 45, from a gunshot wound to the head. Army. The following is taken from the official autopsy report: Exactly what happened that night was never fully resolved, due to varying drunken accounts. How he came to meet this grisly end is a story as disputed and controversial today as it was when the scandal rocked Hollywood at the height of the actor's fame. Eddie Mannix wasnt just a heavy in Hollywood, he was also rumored to have mob connections. 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. It was a bullet to the head. In the home of actor George Reeves, people frantically handed somebody else their martini glass and then tried to wake the naked couple in bed, though the police wouldn't be called for nearly an hour.Earlier that evening, Reeves and his fiance had gotten into an argument at a restaurant or two and, despite planning to wed in only four days' time, Reeves reportedly wanted . In reality, George Reeves life was a far cry from that of his heroic television counterpart. The home is currently a private residence but photos can be easily taken from the street. Show more. On the night of June 15th, 1959, Reeves and Lemmon went out to dinner and the two reportedly drank a great deal. Reeves died of a gunshot wound to the head in the upstairs bedroom of his home at 1579 Benedict Canyon Drive[34] in Benedict Canyon between 1:30 and 2:00a.m. on June 16, 1959, according to the Los Angeles Police Department report. Nevertheless, the end of his iconic role reportedly hit him hard and at 45, typecast, unemployed and overweight, he found himself reduced to appearing in commercials and celebrity boxing matches. And George Reeves was not unable to find work, he was not broke, he was not a suicidal depressed person. Advertisement. 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. Sandrich felt that Reeves had the potential to become a major star, but unfortunately died while Reeves was still in uniform. When George Reeves died in 1959, the death was quickly considered to be one that was self-inflicted. The film suggests three possible scenarios: accidental shooting by Lemmon, murder by an unnamed hitman under orders from Eddie Mannix, and suicide. Had Reeves gotten cold feet about their supposed wedding, or been caught on the phone to Toni Mannix? The producers wouldnt give me a job. Superman was dead, and there were no heroes coming in to save the day. I don't know what happened to George. I was depressed, and I accepted instantly that he had committed suicide, Larson told Unsolved Mysteries in 1995. If anything, it seemed like Reeves career was on the up. However, many of his friends and colleagues believe the actor was murdered, his death the stormy culmination of a tangled love life. The recent feature film, "Hollywoodland" is about this questionable death of a popular celebrity. [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. However, these were never investigated and Giesler strangely refused to work on the case any longer. 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. 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. However, many of his friends and colleagues believe the actor was murdered, his death the stormy culmination of a tangled love life. 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. At around 1.20am, a bad tempered Reeves had admonished the trio for their noise, before returning upstairs. Contraversy continues. . [17] He was drafted in early 1943. Another Superman stage show was scheduled for July[32] with a planned stage tour of Australia. September6, 1892 was the daughter of George Christian Lescher and Eliza Jane McKenzie, she died in a Pasadena hospital on June 18, 1964. The house where George lived is fairly modest for the area, but the asking price in 1995 was $625,000. The mystery surrounding the death of George Reeves, the original Man of Steel. Had she even pulled the trigger herself? As more and more time passed between acting jobs paying less and less, Reeves was reduced to appearing in a low-budget serial produced by Sam Katzman, The Adventures of Sir Galahad, and taking a second job digging cesspools. 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]. Upon hearing of George's demise, he went to the house and the . In contemporary news articles, Lemmon attributed Reeves' alleged suicide to depression caused by his "failed career" and inability to find more work. The police arrived within the hour. And was Eddie, a man suspected of killing his first wife Bernice Fitzmaurice, behind the bullet to the head that ended the actors life? Hes going upstairs to shoot himself, she explained to the other guests, who then heard a sound from upstairs. To unravel the murky fate of TVs first superhero we must return to the early hours of June 16, 1959. According to legend, the house at 1579 Benedict Canyon Drive in Los Angeles where actor George Reeves died of a gunshot wound to the head early in the morning of June 16, 1959 is haunted. The actor had no burn marks on his hands or face - how had he shot himself in the head with a pistol without leaving powder burns? When George Reeves, who had achieved international fame by playing Superman for five years on TV, was found dead by gunshot in 1959, the death was officially recorded as a suicide. Like an optical illusion, from one angle the details clearly show a man who, in a moment of distress, made a tragic decision. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and gave Reeves the distinction of appearing in two "Best Picture" films. The windows above the living room are the windows to George's bedroom. They married on September 22, 1940 in San Marino, California, at the Church of Our Savior. Lemmon and Reeves had a stormy relationship but, at least according to her, were engaged to be married. He freelanced, appearing in five Hopalong Cassidy westerns before director Mark Sandrich cast Reeves as Lieutenant John Summers opposite Claudette Colbert in So Proudly We Hail! Reeves was transferred to the Army Air Forces' First Motion Picture Unit, where he made training films. Three bullet holes were found in the bedroom, all caused by the Luger that was found resting between the victim's legs. Great article tho. By midnight on the night of June 16, 1959, only Lenore and writer Robert Condon were still at his house with him. Reeves found himself unemployable. Peterson as saying: "Miss Lemmon blurted, 'He's probably going to go shoot himself.' 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. A gentle man in real life, given to moods, he was despondent because "everyone thought of him as Superman, not as an actor" and now that the show was no longer shooting, he couldn't get a job. But there were a few details that didnt quite make sense. The world was shocked to learn that famed Superman actor, George Reeves, had been found dead in his home of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Many believe that the ghostly appearances by the actor lend credence to the idea that he was murdered. "Actress to Wed." Philadelphia Inquirer, September 18, 1940. Coates had become a mutual friend of both her Superman co-star and Tony Mannix. A classically trained actor who already had some impressive credits to his name, including the 1939 classic Gone With the Wind, Reeves was reluctant to take on the role because in televisions early days, it was considered to be a rather undignified medium that was far inferior to film. The Mysterious Death of Superman. First, Reeves was found naked. The suicidal can become very adept at hiding their inner turmoil from their loved ones. George lived at 1579 Benedict Canyon Drive, in the Beverly Hills area. Si quieres personalizar tus opciones, haz clic en Gestionar configuracin de privacidad. 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. Witnesses in the house who behaved a little oddly but heard the whole thing. Present in the house at the time of the incident were Leonore Lemmon (who had been Reeves's fiancee at the time), William Bliss, writer Richard Condon, and Carol . But it was Reeves who brought the flying Man of Steel to widespread popularity, at least on the screen. Bud Collyer had voiced the Man of Steel on the radio from 1940 to 1951, and Kirk Alyn played the role in two 15-part movie serials that ended in 1950. The house where actor George Reeves, TV's "Superman," was found dead of a gunshot wound on June 16, 1959. [13] The Bessolo marriage lasted 15 years, ending in divorce, with the couple separating while Reeves was away visiting relatives. He was contracted to Warner Brothers at the time, and the actor's professional name became "George Reeves" and his GWTW screen credit reflects the change. Sprawled naked on his bed, Reeves had been shot in the head after a late night party at his house. Los Angeles Police Department Death Report, June 26, 1959. Inexplicably, the shell casing was found underneath Reeves body. Immediately after completing it, Reeves and the crew began production of the first season's episodes, all shot over 13 weeks in the summer of 1951. Then check out 48 photos that capture vintage Hollywood. 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. 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. Honorary pallbearers included Alan Ladd and Gig Young. . He was cremated in Ohio, and ashes given to his mother, who then died in 1964. (1942), a war drama for Paramount Pictures. George Reeves had a reasonably successful film career (including a small part in Gone with the Wind) when he took the role of Superman in Superman and the Mole Men, a feature film. He got angry at them for being very loud. After breaking up with his wife, Reeves had engaged in a three-year affair with actress Toni Mannix, who was married to a notorious fixer for MGM Studios. Reeves and Leonore Lemmon. She sounded very disturbed and was hyperventilating as she rasped, The boy is dead. Look! Multiple gunshot suicides are rare, so if these shots were contemporary to Reeves death, it seems unlikely he was the shooter. Lemmon had called them after she and her party guests had found Reeves dead in his bedroom. Over the years, occupants of the house have been plagued by not only the sound of a single gunshot that echoes in the darkness, but strange lights, and even the apparition of George Reeves George Reeves was born George Keefer Brewer in Iowa in 1914five months into his parents' marriage. Reeves's film career began in 1939 when he was cast as Stuart Tarleton (incorrectly listed in the film's credits as Brent Tarleton), one of Scarlett O'Hara's suitors in Gone with the Wind. 1. It is located in a fairly modest area, even though the asking price in 1995 was $625,000. Reeves death was quickly ruled a suicide, but some facts of the case appear to be murky at best. The night of Reevess death, the actor was at home with his fiance Lenore Lemmon, along with the writer Robert Condon, who had been staying with them. Walker's property became known as "Houdini's House." Shortly after Houdini died on Halloween . Later that year, he was assigned to the U.S. Army Air Forces and performed in the USAAF's Broadway show Winged Victory. Separated from his wife (their divorce became final in 1950), Reeves moved to New York City in 1949. to put his budding acting career on hold and enlist in the U.S. In 1983, the publicist sat by her bedside during her last hours, and knowing she was the last person on earth to know the truth, confessed all to her priest. Newspapers and wire-service reports quoted LAPD Sergeant V.A. Following the path so many women have taken throughout Hollywood history, Reeves turned to directing, producing, and writing when he couldnt get the roles he wanted. Reeves then apologized, and the group sat around talking. Reeves was extremely intoxicated when he died, and also pumped full of painkillers to treat the injuries he received in his recent car accident. Had the usually diligent actor neglected to maintain his prized Jaguar properly or was this, as some have suspected, a murder attempt by Toni Mannix? That night she received a disturbing phone call. On June 16, 1959, actress Phyllis Coates was woken up around 4:30 a.m. by a very strange phone call. Both would later commit suicide . But the strange death of Superman is not a parlour game. Info Share. "According to Lemmon, the only people in the house that night, in addition to George and herself, were Carol Von Ronkle, William Bliss, and writer Robert Condon. Besides, the gun was not a revolver and it was quite evident whether it was chambered or not. They had no children and divorced 10 years later.[16]. It may have seemed like an open and shut case: Man found upstairs, gun on the floor, a single bullet wound in his head. Reeves head and hands showed no signs of gunshot residue or powder burns. One variation on this theory is that Reeves accidentally shot himself playing a game of Russian Roulette. Their relationship was full of booze and bickering. 1959: Los Angeles police arrive at the home of 45-year-old actor George Reeves, famous for his role as TV's Superman, and find him naked and dead of a gunshot wound to the head. He starred in a number of two-reel short subjects and appeared in several B-pictures, including two with future president of the United States Ronald Reagan and three with James Cagney (Torrid Zone, The Fighting 69th, and The Strawberry Blonde). 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. 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. Reeves' friend Rory Calhoun told a reporter "No one in Hollywood believed the suicide story." Entering the house from the street side, you walk into the living room. 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 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN (1951-1957) - unknown actor (left) with George Reeves as "Superman." The Day Superman Died, George Reeves Death House 6,369 views Feb 16, 2019 159 Dislike Share Save Michael Thompson's Hidden In Plain Sight 688 subscribers In this video I visit the house where. November 5, 2022. in Arts, Culture, News. The first half of the show was a Superman sketch in which Reeves and Neill performed with LeBell as a villain called "Mr. Kryptonite" who captured Lois Lane. The police also appeared to be behaving in a careless manner. Another rumor was that a car was heard speeding away from the house as well. Even if the actor had not placed the gun to his head at point blank range, as is usual in suicides, it should have left some obvious marks on his forehead. ", Death of Superman may not have been a suicide, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Reeves&oldid=1139854102, Credited erroneously onscreen as playing Brent Tarleton (see above), This page was last edited on 17 February 2023, at 06:25.