George Reeves

At 45 years old, George Reeves has this physical status:

George Reeves (born George Keefer Brewer, 1914-1959) was an American actor.

He is best known for his appearance as Superman in the 1950s television series Adventures of Superman; the official finding was suicide, but others suspect him of accidental shootings.

Early life

George Keefer Brewer, a nephew of Donald Carl Brewer and Helen Lescher, was born in Woolstock, Iowa, on January 5, 1914. Reeves was born five months into their marriage, but the couple divorced soon after Reeves' birth. Reeves and his mother migrated from Iowa to Ashland, Kentucky, where they briefly stayed with relatives before heading to Galesburg, Illinois.

Reeves' mother, who was of German descent, moved to California later to live with her sister. According to the federal census of 1927, she had met and married Frank Joseph Bessolo by 1927. Helen Schultz married Reeves' father in 1925. According to reports, the Reeves never saw his father again. Frank Bessolo adopted George at the age of 13, as his own son, and the boy took on his stepfather's last name, becoming George Bessolo. The Bessolo marriage lasted 15 years before separating when Reeves was away visiting relatives. When he returned, his mother told him that his stepfather had committed suicide. Reeves did not know for several years that Bessolo was still alive, according to biographer Jim Beaver. Bessolo died on March 4, 1944, at the age of 51, when his adopted son was well into his film career.

As a student at Pasadena Junior College, Reeves began acting and singing in high school and then performed on stage.

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Acting career

Reeves encountered Ellanora Needles, granddaughter of circus magnate John Robinson, while doing acting at the Pasadena Playhouse. They married in San Gabriel, California, on September 22, 1940, at the Church of Our Savior. They had no children and divorced ten years later.

Reeves' film career began in 1939 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. It was a minor role, but it was still a film's opening scene starring Fred Crane and Jane Crane. (Reeves and Crane all dyed their hair to look like the Tarleton twins) Reeves returned to the Pasadena Playhouse and was given the lead role in the play Pancho after Gone with the Wind was shot. This part led to him being hired by Warner Brothers. Warner's nickname was changed to George Reeves, according to him. The change is represented on his Gone's Windscreen credit. Several films on his Warner deal were produced and released during Gone With the Wind's debut and later publication, but not in his fifth film debut.

He appeared in several B-pictures, including two with future President Ronald Reagan and three with James Cagney (The Strawberry Blonde)). These positions did not advance Reeves' career, and Warners' deal was terminated by mutual consent.

He was fired from his Warner film job after just a few films, one of which was the Charlie Chan film Dead Men Tell. After a box-office setback in Lydia where he freelanced, looking for jobs in westerns, twentieth Century-Fox loaned him to producer Alexander Korda to co-star with Merle Oberon. Teddi Sherman introduced him to her father, producer Harry Sherman, who asked Reeves to conduct a screen test with Teddi for the Hopalong Cassidy films. Sherman and Reeves impressed the casting director by completing seven pages of script in a single take without pause. Reeves appeared in five Hopalong Cassidy westerns before being cast as Lieutenant John Summers opposite Claudette Colbert in So Proudly We Hail! (1942), a war drama for Paramount Pictures, which landed Reeves for two films in a year.

However, So Proudly We Hail! He decided to put his budding acting career on hold and enlist in the United States Army. In early 1943, he was first drafted in early 1943. He was sent by the US Army Air Forces and appeared in the USAAF's Broadway show Winged Victory. A national tour and a movie version were released after the long Broadway run. Reeves were then moved to the Army Air Force's First Motion Picture Unit, where he produced training films.

Reeves returned to Hollywood after being dissatisfied at the end of the war. Many studios were sloweding down their production plans, though some manufacturing units had completely closed down. Ralph Byrd appeared in two of outdoor thrillers. Reeves were reduced to appearing in Sam Katzman's "The Adventures of Sir Galahad" and doing a second job digging cesspools as time went by. Reeves fit the roles' demanding demands, and they did well under rushed factory conditions, thanks to his retentive memory for dialogue. In a Johnny Weissmuller Jungle Jim film, he was able to play against type and starred as a villainous gold hunter. Reeves and his wife were divorced in 1950 (their divorce was final), and they emigrated to New York City in 1949. He appeared on live television anthology shows, as well as on radio, and then returned to Hollywood in 1951 for his role in a Fritz Lang film, Rancho Notorious.

In 1953, Reeves played Sergeant Maylon Stark in From Here to Eternity. The film received the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Reeves was given the honor of appearing in two "Best Picture" films.

In June 1951, Reeves was cast as Superman in a new television series called Adventures of Superman. He was initially reluctant to take the role because, like many actors of his time, he felt television was unimportant and that few people would see his film. The half-hour films were shot on tight deadlines; at least two shows were produced every six days. Multiple scripts were shot simultaneously to make the most of the standing sets, according to commentaries on the Adventures of Superman DVD sets; for example, all the "Perry White" scenes from three or four episodes would be shot on the same day, and the various "apartment" scenes would be shot sequentially.

Reeves' career as Superman began with Superman and the Mole Men, a film that was intended both as a B-picture and as the pilot for the TV series. Reeves and the crew started filming of the first season's episodes right after completion, which lasted more than 13 weeks in 1951. The series went on air the next year, and Reeves was ecstatic to be a national celebrity. The struggling ABC Network bought the program for national broadcasting in 1952, giving him more exposure.

Members of the Superman cast were forbidden from doing any other duties that might interfere with the show. Except for the second season, the Superman program was short (13 shows shot two per week, a total of seven weeks out of a year), but the producers did have a "30-day guarantee" that allowed them to request their exclusive services for a new season on four weeks' notice. This prevented long-term involvement in big films with long schedules, stage plays that could result in a long run, or some other serial film.

Reeves, on the other hand, received more money from personal appearances. He had a passion for his youth fans and took his role as a role model. He quit smoking in the cigarette aisles where children could see him and eventually stopped smoking. He kept his personal life private. Nevertheless, he had a professional affair with Toni Mannix, the wife of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer general manager Eddie Mannix, eight years his senior.

Jack Larson, a former soldier of Reeves, said he told him that his appearance in So Proudly We Hail was one of the best he had ever seen. According to Larson, Reeves said that if Mark Sandrich had not died, he would not be involved in "this monkey suit." According to Larson, he might feel better about the role if he knew there were adult followers, but he didn't know that Adventures of Superman had adult followers even during its initial broadcast run.

Reeves appeared in one-shot TV anthology films and two feature films, Forever Female (1953) and Fritz Lang's The Blue Gardenia (1953), but by the time the series was broadcasting nationally, he found himself in those roles.

Reeves worked tirelessly with Toni Mannix to raise funds to combat myasthenia gravis. In 1955, he served as the national chairman for the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation. Reeves appeared in a Treasury Department short film titled Stamp Day for Superman, in which he encountered the criminals and told children why they should invest in government savings stamps.

Reeves was dissatisfied with his pay and the show's one-dimensional character after two seasons. He was 40 years old and wanted to resign and continue his education. The producers had to look elsewhere for a new star.

Reeves founded his own production company and created Port of Entry, a television adventure film that would be shot on location in Hawaii and Mexico. Reeves wrote the pilot script himself. However, Superman creators promised him a salary increase, and he rejoined the show. According to reports, he was earning $5,000 (roughly $50) per week, but only during the show's run (about eight weeks a year). Reeves was never able to get funding for the project, and the exhibition was never held.

In 1957, the developers considered a theatrical film Superman and the Secret Planet. David Chantler, who had written several of the TV scripts, was given a script. However, in 1959, talks for a revival of the series started, with 26 episodes scheduled to be produced. By mid-1959, contracts were signed, costumes were redesigned, and new teleplay writers had been assigned. According to Noel Neill, the Superman cast was ready to perform a new series of the still popular show.

Reeves was given a prominent role in Westward Ho the Wagons by his good friend Bill Walsh, a Disney Studios producer. Reeves wore a beard and mustache in 1956, a popular time in the United States. It was to be his last film appearance. Reeves appeared on the Tony Bennett show in August 1956, attempting to demonstrate his versatility. In 1957, he appeared as Superman on "Lucy and Superman." Ben Welden, a character actor, appeared with Reeves in the Warner Bros. days and has appeared on Superman frequently. "Superman was no longer a problem to him after the I Love Lucy show," he said. I know he loves the role, but he used to say, "Here I am, wasting my life."

Noel Neill, Noel Neill, Natividad Vaco, Gene LeBell, and a trio of musicians performed with a public-appearance exhibition from 1957 to 2008. The first half of the program featured Reeves and Neill as a villain in a Superman sketch in which LeBell played as "Mr. Kryptonite" who captured Lois Lane. Kent then rushed offstage to return as Superman, who came to the rescue and confronted the evil one. Reeves came out of costume as himself, performing and accompanying himself on the guitar during the second half of the performance. He was accompanied by Vacio and Neill in duets.

Reeves and Toni Mannix split in 1958, and Reeves revealed their marriage to society playgirl Leonore Lemmon. According to reports, the Reeves were supposed to marry Lemmon on June 19 and then spend their honeymoon in Tijuana. He pleaded with colleagues, columnists, and his mother of his financial difficulties. The planned revival of Superman seemed to be a small lifeline. With his first Lois Lane, Phyllis Coates, the previous year, Reeves had also hoped to produce a low-budget science-fiction film written by a friend from Pasadena Playhouse, and he had discussed the project. However, Reeves and his partner were unable to find financing, and the film was never produced. With a planned stage tour of Australia, another Superman stage show was also scheduled for July. Reeves had options for making a living, but those choices were clearly not keen to return to Superman again — a role that he was not keen to reprise at age 45.

Even though Jack Larson and Noel Neill were from Iowa, they both remembered Reeves as a hero Southern gentleman with a sign on his dressing room door that said, "Honest George, the people's friend." During a publicity trip in the South, Reeves was made a "Kentucky Colonel," and the show's prop department had replaced him with a new one that read "Honest George" instead of Col. Reeves. In Gary Grossman's book about the show, there is a snapshot of a smiling Reeves and the sign.

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