A&E Biography:

The Perils of a Super Hero

By Carl Glass 

The camera pans down on a party near pool side at the famous Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood, California. Actor Peter Graves emerges from the gathering with his opening monologue:

This may look like a party, but in Hollywood, business is not far behind. As a matter of fact nothing in Hollywood is as quite as it seems. Take George Reeves. To millions of fans he was Superman, and yet that role would render him powerless to save his own career and perhaps even his own life.

The Chateau Marmont is the fixture on Sunset Boulevard for more than seventy years, and it has been the sight of more intrigue than there are stars in Hollywood. Well, almost.

George Reeves made a career of flying on television, but it didn’t keep him from staying down to earth and likeable to all who knew him off screen.  That is until the strain of being type cast in the role started to change his personality. And eventually George Reeves went from being televisions most famous star to being one of Hollywood’s most infamous casualties.

The Perils of a Superhero is full of historical insight, intrigue, and fascinating commentary from friends, historians, authors, and celebrities. George Reeves fans will be enthralled with never seen before photos and film footage that will enhance his amazing life.

A&E Biography covers in great detail:

1.    Reeves Birth/Beginnings in Woolstock, Iowa

2.    Background Information on Biological Parents (Helen Lescher/Don C. Brewer)

3.    Migration to Pasadena, Boyhood & School Days

4.    Pasadena Playhouse Years

5.    Early Film Career & Marriage

6.    So Proudly We Hail & WW II Years

7.    Struggle to Reinstate Movie Career

8.    The Superman Years & Toni Mannix

9.    A New Direction

10. A Tragic End

The Perils of a Superhero is not without its inaccuracies and controversial subject matter concerning events that happened throughout the life of George Reeves. I strongly recommend an attentive reading of Jan Alan Henderson’s book Speeding Bullet, The Life And Bizarre Death of George Reeves that will bring to the reader a sense of balance and fairness that counters effectively the motives of those who would seek only to sensationalize and profit at the expense of George Reeves.

Who knows what would have resulted for George Reeves life and career had the right break come along? He came so close to stardom in So Proudly We Hail with Claudette Colbert.  However, with his entrance into the military, and the death of director Mark Sandrich who believed in Reeves talent, the achievement of stardom in films would never occur.

Whoopi Goldberg states it well in Perils: His disappointment of not being a Gary Cooper or Spencer Tracy made him a better Superman. For me as a kid, George Reeves was the man!

Epilogue with Peter Graves:

Somewhere out there is the truth about what really happened to George Reeves. His mother for one was convinced he was murdered. She hired a well-known Hollywood private investigator to look into the case. He took it and later on, he dropped it abruptly. Some people say it was fear because of what he had discovered.

For the excellent production of A&E Biography: Perils of a Superhero with Peter Graves and Harry Smith along with its cast of contributors, I proudly induct this documentary into the George Reeves Hall of Fame.

If you have anyone you would like to nominate,

you can write us at carlesglass@aol.com