The film suggests three possible scenarios: accidental shooting by Lemmon, murder by an unnamed hitman under orders from Eddie Mannix, and suicide. 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. Mother Victoria Alice Mason. Noel Neill was quoted as saying that the cast of Superman was ready to do a new series of the still-popular show. 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 windows above the living room are the windows to George's 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 Was his role to distract the house guests and facilitate the entry of a hitman to do away with Reeves? 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. On the night of June 15th, 1959, Reeves and Lemmon went out to dinner and the two reportedly drank a great deal. The story told by those there that night is full of holes, the evidence perplexing and poorly handled. He is best known for portraying Superman in the television series Adventures of Superman (1952-1958). After all these years, what happened that night at 1579 Benedict Canyon remains obscure and controversial. 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. It is sometimes easy to get caught up in the mystery of George Reeves demise, the different theories and suspects. The actor was discovered laying face up on his bed, naked, with a single gunshot wound to his right temple and a .30 caliber Luger on the floor in between his lifeless feet. 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. The Mysterious Death of Superman. 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. 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. Copyright (c) 2023 Groundspeak, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. Location: California, United States Date Posted: 1/12/2010 6:55:33 PM As TVs original Superman, George Reeves was the ultimate hero to millions of children. Entering the house from the street side, you walk into the living room. 'See thereI told you so! He looked forward to working with So Proudly We Hail! I don't know what happened to George. A noise echoed: See, hes opening the drawer to get the gun. Then a shot: I told you, hes shot himself.. There were also bruises on Reeves head and body. Flickr CommonsThe costume Reeves donned as Superman on TV. The night George Reeves died; who was in the house? - Lee Saylor Reeves began acting and singing in high school and continued performing on stage as a student at Pasadena Junior College. Its Superman! The iconic intro blazed into American households on Sept. 19, 1952. 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. 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. On 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. Newspapers and wire-service reports quoted LAPD Sergeant V.A. 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 . Superman had been cancelled and Reeves had struggled to find the serious work he craved. George lived at 1579 Benedict Canyon Drive, in the Beverly Hills area. September6, 1892 was the daughter of George Christian Lescher and Eliza Jane McKenzie, she died in a Pasadena hospital on June 18, 1964. The subsequent police report seem to accept the whole story at face value. 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. 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? It seems the dark secret haunted her for the rest of her life. [38] The bullet that killed Reeves was recovered from the bedroom ceiling, and the spent shell casing was found under his body. I was depressed, and I accepted instantly that he had committed suicide, Larson told Unsolved Mysteries in 1995. He was able to play against type and starred as a villainous gold hunter in a Johnny Weissmuller Jungle Jim film. Reeves was extremely intoxicated when he died, and also pumped full of painkillers to treat the injuries he received in his recent car accident. After the war, Reeves returned to Hollywood. Was Superman murdered? The mysterious death of George Reeves Tragic Hollywood; Beautiful, Glamorous, And Dead - Facebook The gun fell to his feet and the shell was found underneath him. Not the comic book character, of course, but the man who personified the "real" Superman for an entire generation of television fans. 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. Was Superman star George Reeves a suicide or murder victim? They found George Reeves upstairs on his bed, with a Luger between his feet and a bullet hole in his head. They married on September 22, 1940 in San Marino, California, at the Church of Our Savior. These roles did little to advance Reeves's career, and his contract with Warners was dissolved by mutual consent. Everyone involved is now dead, and little or no evidence from the crime scene remains. Around 1, two friends came by for a visit. Separated from his wife (their divorce became final in 1950), Reeves moved to New York City in 1949. [1][2], His death at age 45 from a gunshot remains controversial. Next, read about the gruesome and unsolved murder of the Black Dahlia. George Reeves' Ghost. He is best known for portraying Superman in the television series Adventures of Superman (19521958). And then there were the bruising and other marks on Reevess body. Bessolo actually died March 4, 1944, at age 51, when his adopted son was well into his movie career. Despite these suspicions, the Los Angeles Police Department officially ruled the death a suicide, on little more than a cursory investigation. Two people who might have had strong motives were Toni and Eddie Mannix. After hearing a gunshot, they waited 45 minutes before calling the police. [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. Catalog; For You; Globe. The issue was that Reeves eventually broke Tonis heart when he called it off to begin a relationship with the woman who would become his fiancee, Lenore Lemmon. The planned revival of Superman was apparently a small lifeline. Reeves was dressed in one of his characters Clark Kent suits for the funeral, which took place two weeks later, on June 30th, 1959. 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. 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. At approximately 1:20 AM, Reeves excused himself, and went upstairs to bed. Reeves new girlfriend, who had since moved in, was a New York socialite named Leonore Lemmon, with whom he was rumored to be engaged. Authorities ruled it a suicide, but was it? '"[29], Reeves, Noel Neill, Natividad Vaco, Gene LeBell, and a trio of musicians toured with a public-appearance show from 1957 onward. All was not well behind the scenes in Metropolis. 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. Los Angeles Police Department Death Report, June 26, 1959. The house was bought in the early 1950's for $12,000. 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. 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. George Reeves' Death Remains Shrouded In Mystery To This Day Reeves would later recall the impact Sandrich's death had on his career. George Reeves from "Superman" had a mysterious death that saw him die from a single gunshot wound to the head. Died in House - George Reeves, TV's "Superman" Suicide or | Facebook 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. 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. 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. Witnesses in the house who behaved a little oddly but heard the whole thing. . On 16 June 1959, George Reeves retired to his bed at 12, after going out for dinner with his fianc, Leonore. The mystery surrounding the death of George Reeves, the original Man of Steel. TV 'Superman' George Reeves Still Haunts Home Where He Died Although the power of the studios was waning by the 1950s, its possible Eddie Mannix still wielded enough influence to fix George Reeves at his wifes behest. The official ruling was suicide. They got home around 11 p.m. A couple hours later, Carol Van Ronkel and William Bliss stopped by for a drink. 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. A funeral was held on Wednesday, June 30. Her devastation at been rejected by her boy had pushed her to the ultimate reprisal. During the dinner, they had argued. Stalk It: George Reeves former home is located at 1579 Benedict Canyon Drive in Beverly Hills. In the 1950s the actor, George Reeves was best known for his portrayal of Superman in the television series, Adventures of Superman. 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. Like an optical illusion, from one angle the details clearly show a man who, in a moment of distress, made a tragic decision. On June 15, George and Leonore had gone out to a rather boozy dinner, to celebrate the upcoming marriage. In 1960, Reeves was awarded a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard for his contributions to the TV industry. Reeves' friend Rory Calhoun told a reporter "No one in Hollywood believed the suicide story." She and Eddie had used his underworld connections to have Reeves killed. The show was a smashing success, drawing huge audiences each episode. 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]. At around1 am, William Bliss and Carol Van Ronkel came by for an impromptu meeting. "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. 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. 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. George Reeves - Wikipedia The house where George lived is fairly modest for the area, but the asking price in 1995 was $625,000. Inside the Mysterious Death of George Reeves, the Original Superman I remember watching Superman on tv, George Reeves Kelloggs Corn Flakes CommercialFilmed in his Home, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), I blogged about during my Haunted Hollywood theme last year, 1579 Benedict Canyon Drive in Beverly Hills. In 1952, the struggling ABC Network purchased the show for national broadcast, which gave him greater visibility. George Reeves - Biography Who killed Superman? The sinister true story behind the death of George His personal life was not all red carpets and champagne. June 16, 1959: George Reeves, Superman, Felled by Speeding Bullet Reeves himself believed Mannix was behind the succession of sinister events that dogged Reeves in the run up to his death, including silent midnight phonecalls and the kidnapping of his beloved Schnauzer Sam. However, many studios were slowing down their production schedules, and some production units had shut down completely. Shortly after they arrived, Reeves came downstairs to find out what the commotion was. Since a 9mm Luger generally ejects its shells to the right, it's hard to conceive what position the actor must have been in when he fired for it to have ended up underneath him. [17], Released from his Warner contract, he signed a contract at Twentieth Century-Fox but was released after only a handful of films, one of which was the Charlie Chan movie Dead Men Tell. It was purchased for the actor at a cost of $12,000 by his longtime lover, MGM Vice-President E.J. He was inundated with menacing silent phone calls at all hours of the morning and someone even abducted his beloved dog Sam. Were Hollywood's police force keeping a lid on the truth to protect Tinseltown from another scandal? According to the autopsy report, Reeves had taken his .30 caliber German Luger pistol, placed it near his right temple and pulled the trigger. 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. Reeves mother refused to believe her son had killed himself and hired famous Hollywood lawyer Jerry Giesler to investigate further. If anything, it seemed like Reeves career was on the up.