In the early hours of June, 16, 1959, actor George Reeves died from a gunshot wound to the head, creating one of
Hollywood's biggest mysteries. After half a century, no one is quite sure if Reeves
committed suicide or was murdered.
At the time of his death, Reeves was (and still is) best known for his
television role as Superman, though it's still uncertain whether he was thrilled or
delighted with that fact. On the one hand, the role provided him with
national fame, the chance to direct,
and a handsome salary (that he planned on using to initiate his own
projects). On the other hand, like many other actors
who play superheroes, he was typecast, and found getting serious acting work difficult, leading
to such false urban legends as the one that his role in From Here to Eternity was severely cut because audiences supposedly
yelled, "Hey, it’s Superman!" when he came on the screen. (It wasn't and they didn't.)
It's not like Reeves had been a huge success as an actor prior to his
being cast as the Man of Steel. True, he had had some success in the 1930s and 40s
with bit parts in such films as The Strawberry Blonde (with James Cagney and Rita Hayworth) and Gone With the Wind (as one of the red-haired
Tarleton twins), but not much of note beyond that.
In the decades since his death, while no firm case has been made for murder -- and
Reeves's friends and fellow cast members Noel Neill and Jack Larson have gone on the record with their beliefs that it was
indeed suicide -- the controversy continues because he apparently had so much
to live for. The Adventures of
Superman was due to begin production
again after a year’s hiatus, with Reeves having a greater say in the creative
realm, he was newly engaged,
and saw career prospects beyond wearing his underwear on the
outside of his clothes.
Although he was found with a fatal gunshot wound to his head, not only was there no powder residue on his hands, a second bullet hole was found in the floor of his bedroom and the fatal bullet's shell casing was found under the body, things that usually don't occur in point-blank suicides.
On
top of that, he had been involved with Toni Mannix, the estranged wife of ruthless MGM
executive and fixer Eddie Mannix, a man for whom the idea of taking out a hit on a
romantic rival wouldn't have been unthinkable. Theories have been advanced for both murder and suicide,
but Hollywood mysteries being what they are, no one will ever know.
In one of those coincidences we always note, the Superman family suffered a second loss on June 16,
as in 1996, longtime Superman artist Curt Swan
died. Swan was an old-school craftsman, whose ability to tell a story
and convey expressions was unparalleled. Equally at home on serious and humorous tales, he was the definitive Superman
artist for nearly five decades.
Critic Paul Gravett described Swan's Superman as
"the alien in our midst (who was) someone like us, who would think and
feel as well as act, who was approachable, big-hearted, considerate, maybe
physically superpowerful yet gentle, noble yet subtly tragic," a quote
which also describes Reeves's portrayal of the Man of Tomorrow. A finer
epitaph an actor or an artist couldn’t wish for.
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