What is it about George Reeves that enthralls us almost five decades after his death? Why is this man a constant conversation piece? Why do people care? Is it because of the last image of Superman, or is there something more? 

The future Superman, George Keefer Brewer was born on January 5, 1914 to Helen (Lescher) and Don C. Brewer in Woolstock, Iowa, a small rural farm community.

The Brewer’s marriage only survived a short while and Helen with young George in tow soon relocated several times before finally settling in Pasadena, California where she would meet and marry Frank Bessolo. When George was thirteen, Frank adopted him and gave him his name. They had a strong relationship, but when George was 15, Helen, for reasons not quite clear, once again found herself in divorce court. It was devastating to young George.

After graduating from high school in 1932, George attended Pasadena Community College, where he took an interest in fencing and boxing. However, at the insistence of his mother, he abandoned a career as a pugilist in favor of honing his skills as an actor.

George pursued acting at the world famous Pasadena Community Playhouse. It was here, along with such future cinematic luminaries as Victor Mature and Robert Preston, that George developed his range of talent that would serve him well playing in a wide variety of roles.

It was during this same period that George would meet a lovely actress studying at the Playhouse named Ellanora Needles. The two eventually married in the fall of 1940. They appeared together in one of the early Hopalong Cassidy films Leather Burners where she was billed as Shelley Spencer. The marriage was only to last nine years.

In 1939 George was signed by Warner Brothers and loaned out to MGM and given the small but highly visible role of one of the two Tarleton Twins in David O’Selznic’s historical blockbuster Gone With The Wind, arguably the most famous film ever produced in Hollywood. It was decided a name change was in order and George Bessolo became George Reeves.

George would go on as a “B” unit actor for Warner Brothers in such offerings as Ride Cowboy Ride, Espionage Agent, The Monroe Doctrine, Smashing the Money Ring and On Dress Parade. In the period between 1940-1943, George appeared in 36 films ranging from comedies to westerns and dramas.

The break out role for George Reeves came in 1943 in the Paramount production of So Proudly We Hail which earned the young actor excellent reviews. As the author’s of Behind the Crimson Cape: The Cinema of George Reeves” Jan Alan Henderson and Steve Randisi state, “A true triumph for producer-director Mark Sandrich and Paramount Pictures, the film garnered no less than four Oscar nominations.”

Sandrich was so impressed with George’s performance in the film that he promised he would make the newly drafted actor a star after the war. Unfortunately, Mark Sandrich died before George finished his military service and Reeves found it almost impossible to re-establish himself in Hollywood. In 1944, he did reprise his role as Lt. Thompson from the stage play to the big screen in Winged Victory with Edmond O’Brien, Red Buttons, Barry Nelson and Karl Malden.

In 1948, George Reeves appeared in two of independent producer Robert L. Lippert efforts, Jungle Goddess and Thunder in the Pines. Interestingly enough, he was cast twice opposite Ralph Byrd. In later years, it was rumored that George Reeves was considered for the lead role in the Dick Tracy series for television which would star Byrd.

He would go on in another romp in the jungle that same year with Johnny Weismuller in Jungle Jim. More good guy/bad guy roles were ahead for George in such films as The Mutineers, Special Agent, Samson And Delilah, a short part in the Bob Hope comedy The Great Lover and the fifteen chapter Columbia serial The Adventures of Sir Galahad. In addition, this period also found George doing quite a bit of television work, mostly out of New York.

It was in 1951 that George Reeves would find the role that would forever typecast him, and eventually catapult him to international stardom when he was cast in the Lippert Film Production of Superman and the Molemen. The theatrical release came on December 4, 1951, but the crew wasted no time in filming 24 more episodes for a proposed television series that same year.

The show eventually found a sponsor (Kelloggs) in 1952, and the series was released nation wide in 1953. The cast included Phyllis Coates, Jack Larson, John Hamilton and Robert Shayne. Phyllis Coates left the show after the first season, and was replaced by Noel Neill in 1953 who previously had the role of Lois Lane in two Columbia cliffhangers, Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman in 1950 with Kirk Alyn as Superman.

While George went on to appear in a few more films during this period such as Bugles in the Afternoon, Rancho Notorious, The Blue Gardenia, From Here to Eternity and Forever Female, the Superman cast was called back due to the enormous favorable reaction to the show. The Adventures of Superman had a six year run in the major television markets. Definitely typecast, much to his chagrin, George Reeves had become the definitive Superman to millions around the world, but at a large cost to his future and career.

George’s final screen appearance was in (Disney’s Westward Ho the Wagons) released on September 20, 1956. The film was shot in brilliant Technicolor and Cinemascope, and as Captain James Stephens, he leads a wagon train westward to Oregon. Cast includes Fess Parker, Kathleen Crowley, Sebastian Cabot and Iron Eyes Cody.

Meanwhile, his personal life took a turn for the worse when he split with his long time girl friend Toni Mannix and took up with a New York party girl named Lenore Lemmon. George encountered all kinds of unfortunate circumstances in the last eight months of his life including a series of mysterious phone calls, the kidnapping of his dog, and a near fatal car accident.

George Reeves was found dead in the early morning hours on June 16, 1959 from what was deemed a self-inflicted gunshot wound. However, over the years other circumstantial evidence has come to light which has caused many to question and even doubt the official verdict.

The controversy of his death is one of Hollywood’s greatest mysteries. But for Baby Boomers, he is, and always will remain the definitive Superman.