They had no children and divorced 10 years later.[16]. He was found dead in his bedroom at 1:59 a.m. on June 16, 1959 in his modest home in Los Angeles' Benedict Canyon. Is there any truth in the persistent rumours that Reeves was murdered? Multiple gunshot suicides are rare, so if these shots were contemporary to Reeves death, it seems unlikely he was the shooter. It was during this fallow period that he was approached about playing the role that would come to define his life. Everyone involved decided that it had been a suicide. 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. Reeves established his own production company and conceived a TV adventure series called Port of Entry, which would be shot on location in Hawaii and Mexico. The night George Reeves died; who was in the house? - Lee Saylor ", 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. Three shots were fired in the room: two on the floor and one in Reeves' 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). This is the house, and home, that Superman actor George Reeves lived and died in. As Reeves returned to his room, Lemmon bizarrely began providing some morbid commentary. Reeves and Toni Mannix split in 1958 and Reeves announced his engagement to society playgirl Leonore Lemmon. As far as Reeves was concerned, one has to wonder if he had any regrets. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Were Hollywood's police force keeping a lid on the truth to protect Tinseltown from another scandal? Robert (Bobby) was writing a book about boxer Archie Moore. For some reason Reeves had contorted his head so it was tilted upwards at the point of firing, as the bullet was found embedded in the ceiling. and im so curious to know,is it true or not?cause if it is true..wow it is the scariest thing ive ever heard. [13] His Gone with the Wind screen credit reflects the change. While it's true that Reeves depressed at the time of his death, there were some inconsistencies at the crime scene that raised some red flags not only back then but still to this day. George Reeves Death, Hollywoodland Movie - Pics of Toni Mannix, Eddie A noise echoed: See, hes opening the drawer to get the gun. Then a shot: I told you, hes shot himself.. The official ruling was suicide. Hard drinking and hard partying, she gave as good as she got, and had the dubious distinction of been the first woman to be thrown out of New Yorks famous Stork club for fist fighting. Conspiracy theories abound and Reeves death has remained the stuff of Hollywood legend for over five decades since. Its Superman! The iconic intro blazed into American households on Sept. 19, 1952. George Reeves - Biography - IMDb Whilst highly speculative, some corroboration to this comes from Reeves own Lois Lane, actress Phyllis Coates. Michael Hayde firmly believes that George Reeves was murdered. Photo by ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty ImagesPhyllis Coates and George Reeves in The Adventures of Superman. 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. Reeves initially had no autopsy and his body was swifted embalmed. Around one in the morning they were joined by two of the neighbors, at which point Reeves, who had already been in bed, stomped downstairs to yell at his guests. Many felt that Reeves was tired of being known as Superman, and that he killed himself out of anguish. When his mother moved to California to be with her sister, it was said Reeves never saw his father again. Reeves and Sherman impressed the casting director by performing seven pages of script in a single take without pause. Larson had suffered a similar career downturn to Reeves after series was cancelled, and like his Superman co-star had struggled to break free of the typecasting associated with such an iconic role. [31] However, Reeves and his partner failed to find financing, and the film was never made. Reeves usually had an open door policy, but not after midnight. George Reeves died of a gunshot wound to his head in the upstairs bedroom at his home in Benedict Canyon. George Reeves' Cause Of Death: These Are The Myths Surrounding - MSN Was Superman star George Reeves a suicide or murder victim? But she was also suffering from alzheimer's at the time of her death, and may have confused fact with the many fictions that had long circulated about the death of her former lover. Everyone involved is now dead, and little or no evidence from the crime scene remains. In the documentary Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman, Jack Larson said that when he first met Reeves, he told him that he enjoyed his performance in So Proudly We Hail! It is sometimes easy to get caught up in the mystery of George Reeves demise, the different theories and suspects. Tac -- George Reeves' Home Gina Dimuro is a New York-based writer and translator. Faster than a speeding bullet! Mysterious death of Superman star George Reeves and long - mirror He was getting work as a director, and he had agreed to do another season of Superman, in which he would also direct quite a few episodes of. There's a general belief that Toni Mannix bought the house, but his name Miss Lemmon then made the statement, He is going to shoot himself. Shortly, they heard a dresser drawer being opened upstairs, and Miss Lemmon commented, He is getting the gun out now, and he is going to shoot himself. Moments later, a shot was heard, and they ran upstairs to see what happened. 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. When Officers Johnson and Korby entered the . Besides, the gun was not a revolver and it was quite evident whether it was chambered or not. Despite the questions that remain to this day, no real investigation was ever mounted. Piecing Together The Circumstances Of George Reeves - TheFashionBall Reeves was born five months into their marriage (the reason Reeves's mother subsequently claimed a false April birth date for her son, something he was unaware of until . Army. He died in June of 1959, not 1958. They divorced 10 years later and had no children. Advertisement. Los Angeles Police Department Death Report, June 26, 1959. 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. If you are lucky enough, the homeowners may allow you to tour the home's grounds and possibly the interior as well. The night Superman died and an enduring mystery was born. George Azer Reeves 1914-1945 - Ancestry George Reeves Real name: George Keefer Brewer, George Bessolo. If anyone could put the heat on Superman it was Eddie. Later that year, he was assigned to the U.S. Army Air Forces and performed in the USAAF's Broadway show Winged Victory. 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. Is her confession credible? Robert Condon, a writer interested in writing a biography on George, stayed in the house. Reeves began acting and singing in high school and continued performing on stage as a student at Pasadena Junior College. Not the comic book character, of course, but the man who personified the "real" Superman for an entire generation of television fans. Reeves, who took his acting career seriously and had parts in Gone with the Wind and From here to Eternity, always had mixed feelings about his fame as Superman. [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. 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. If anything, it seemed like Reeves career was on the up. George Reeves - Biography On the night of his death the pair had gone for dinner with writer Richard Condon, who was staying with the couple whilst he worked on a biography of Archie Moore, the prizefighter Reeves had been due to fight in a celebrity boxing match later that year. SUPERMAN MURDER SOLVED! [15] They married on September 22, 1940, in San Gabriel, California, at the Church of Our Savior. Despite these suspicions, the Los Angeles Police Department officially ruled the death a suicide, on little more than a cursory investigation. [18] He was assigned to the U.S. Army Air Forces and performed in the USAAF's Broadway show Winged Victory. He was 45 years old. According to commentaries on the Adventures of Superman DVD sets, multiple scripts were filmed simultaneously to take advantage of the standing sets; for example, all the "Perry White's office" scenes for three or four episodes would be shot the same day and the various "apartment" scenes would be done consecutively. Walker's property became known as "Houdini's House." Shortly after Houdini died on Halloween . At 45 and craving more serious work, the prospect of yet again trudging around the country in tights and cape, as children threw stones at him and teenagers challenged him to fights, may have become too much bare. That night she received a disturbing phone call. A script was commissioned from David Chantler, who had written many of the TV scripts. In June of 1959, things started to look up for George. [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). But unable to find work, perhaps George felt he had little choice but to return to a part that clearly caused him much anguish. But from another, the death of George Reeves looks a lot like murder. November 5, 2022. in Arts, Culture, News. 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]. The police arrived within the hour. She also kept his shaving utensils and lotions, and even built an altar in the house with a crucifix, candles and an 11-by-14 photograph of Reeves. 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 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. The house was bought in the early 1950's for $12,000. 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. She also hired private investigators to investigate his death. The events surrounding his death have been the subject of much conjecture ever since. George Reeves hit the television jackpot when he landed the dual role of Clark Kent/Superman in the television series The Adventures of Superman. George was dressed in a gray Clark Kent Suit from the tv show and his body was taken to Gates/Kingsley/Gates on Sepulveda. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and gave Reeves the distinction of appearing in two "Best Picture" films. The official verdict was that Reeves had committed suicide, the weight of his troubles having become too much for him to bear. When the police did arrive, they found no sign . In June 1951, Reeves was offered the role of Superman in a new television series[23] titled Adventures of Superman. But all was not well behind the scenes in Metropolis. In reality, George Reeves life was a far cry from that of his heroic television counterpart. 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. Entering the house from the street side, you walk into the living room. [33] Reeves had been made a "Kentucky Colonel" during a publicity trip in the South, and the sign on his dressing room door was replaced with a new one that read "Honest George, also known as Col. Reeves", created by the show's prop department. Reeves had also hoped to direct a low-budget science-fiction film written by a friend from his Pasadena Playhouse days, and he had discussed the project with his first Lois Lane, Phyllis Coates, the previous year. She even commissioned a second autopsy, which concluded that Reeves was possibly murdered. Was his role to distract the house guests and facilitate the entry of a hitman to do away with Reeves? On June 16, 1959, Reeves was found dead in his bedroom from a gunshot wound to the head. Both would later commit suicide . She had prepared the meal for Reeves and guest Robert Condon, a writer who was there to do an article on Reeves and his upcoming bout with Archie Moore. 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. When they returned home, they continued to kick back the alcohol until around 12:30 p.m., at which point Reeves retired to his bedroom. Shortly after they arrived, Reeves came downstairs to find out what the commotion was. How Did George Reeves Die? - Historic True Crime According to the Argus observer, "George Reeves, 45, was found dead in his upstairs bedroom of this house . He performed on live television anthology programs, as well as on radio, and then returned to Hollywood in 1951 for a role in a Fritz Lang film, Rancho Notorious.[22]. At around1 am, William Bliss and Carol Van Ronkel came by for an impromptu meeting. The windows above the living room are the windows to George's bedroom. gruesome and unsolved murder of the Black Dahlia. According to Kashner and Schoenberger (A Talent for Genius), however, unanswered details about Reeves's demise shroud what in truth was foul play. According to Condon, Lemmon was in an combative mood that night, and had made somewhat of a scene in the restaurant. This theory centres around the mysterious WIlliam Bliss, a stranger to both Reeves and Leonore Lemmon, whose presence in the house that night has never been adequately explained. And how had the fatal bullet ended up in the ceiling whilst the shell rested underneath his body? 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. CleverJourneys: American Crime Chronicles Two Los Angeles police officers arrived at 1579 Benedict Canyon at almost 3 a.m., June 16, 1959. Suicide or murder? Reeves a Hollywood victim - TODAY.com 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. 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. Jack Larson, who died at 87 on Sunday, was a gifted writer and gay man whose talents and personal struggles were overshadowed by his role as . Other evidence that casts doubt on this scenario is the lack of burn marks on Reeves back. If his death was suicide Reeves must have held the gun with his right hand, although this in itself is suspicious as the actor had injured his right hand in an automobile accident a few weeks prior to his death. (The punchline: Ricardo, do you mean to say that youve been married to her for 15 years? 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.