George Reeves was born George Keefer Brewer on January 5, 1914 in Woolstock, Iowa. He was the son of Donald Carl Brewer and Helen Lescher. The couple separated soon after Reeves's birth and Reeves and his mother moved several times before finally settling in California. There his mother met and eventually married Frank Bessolo who adopted George and changed George’s last name to Bessolo. That marriage only lasted 15 years.
Reeves began acting and singing in high school and continued performing on stage while a student at Pasadena Junior College. While studying acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, Reeves met his future wife, Ellanora Needles. They married on September 22, 1940, in San Gabriel California. They had no children and divorced 10 years later. Reeves's film career began in 1939 when he was cast as Stuart Tarleton, one of Scarlett O’Hara’s suitors in Gone With The Wind. After that, he worked for Warner Brothers where they changed his professional name to George Reeves. He also worked at 20th Century Fox. Both companies let him go after poor box office performances of his movies. He then appeared in five Hopalong Cassidy flicks and later appeared in So Proudly We Hail for Paramount Pictures.
In 1943 he was drafted by the US Army after enlisting and was later assigned to the U.S. Army Air Forces. He performed in the USAAF's Broadway show Winged Victory which eventually became a movie. At the end of the war, Reeves was discharged. Many studios were now slowing down their production schedules, with some shutting down completely. Acting roles were tough to find and Reeves was reduced to appearing in a low-end serial, The Adventures Of Sir Galahad and taking a second job digging cesspools. After moving to New York and appearing on live television anthologies, he returned to Hollywood and appeared in two notable films Rancho Notorious and From Here To Eternity with both pictures receiving a “best picture” award from the Academy.
In June 1951, Reeves was offered the role of Superman in a new television series entitled Adventures Of Superman. He was initially reluctant to take the role because, like many actors of his time, he considered television just a passing fad and believed few would see his work anyway. George Reeves took the plunge and his career as Superman began with Superman And The Mole Men, a film intended both as a B-picture and as the pilot for the TV series. Immediately after completing it, Reeves and the crew began production of the first season's episodes, all shot over 13 weeks on the RKO-Pathe stages and the RKO Forty Acres back lot. The Adventures Of Superman premiered on ABC in 1952. Kelloggs sponsored the show. Superman was filmed on a tight budget, about $15,000 an episode. Thirteen shows were shot over a two week period, a total of seven weeks a year.
I personally met Noel Neill (Lois Lane) and Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen) several times and they told me George was a generous, polite and caring man with a great sense of humor. Reeves worked tirelessly to raise money to fight myasthenia gravis. He served as national chairman for the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation in 1955. Despite the tight shooting schedule, the cast members enjoyed doing the show and became good friends, occasionally socializing together at cookouts and the like. Reeves had a real affection for his young fans, and took his role-model as Superman, seriously. He avoided smoking where children could see him and he eventually quit altogether. He also kept his private life, including romances with Toni Mannix and Lenore Lemmon, from his young admirers. Reeves regretted he didn’t have more adult fans. Unfortunately, he never discovered that he did indeed have adult fans of his show, even during its initial run.
Between the first and second seasons of Superman, Reeves got occasional acting jobs in several TV anthology programs. He also appeared two feature films in 1953, Forever Female and The Blue Gardenia. However by this time, the Superman series was airing nationwide and Reeves found himself so associated with the series, that it was difficult for him to find other roles. Reeves, earned additional income from personal appearances as Superman, when not filming. He began tiring of the role by 1954 and wanted to leave the series and broaden his acting and directing horizons. Superman producers offered him a salary increase, and he returned to the series. He was reportedly making $5,000 (about $50,000 in today's dollars) per week, but only while the show was in production. Reeves established his own production company and conceived a TV adventure series called Port Of Entry, which would be shot on location in Hawaii and Mexico. Reeves wrote the pilot script himself. Due to lack of financing, this project never got off the ground. As the ‘50’s wore on, Reeves appeared in a Disney western, Westward Ho The Wagons, sang on TV with Tony Bennett and appeared as Superman on I Love Lucy. When on hiatus from filming, Reeves, Noel Neill, Natividad Vacio, Gene LeBell and a trio of musicians toured with a public-appearance show from 1957 onward.
In 1959, negotiations began for a renewal of the series, with 26 episodes scheduled to go into production. Contracts were signed, costumes refitted, and new writers assigned. Reeves now 45, was not anxious to reprise his role as Superman, but it did supply him with a decent salary and he agreed. Noel told me he was in good spirits and was promised more opportunities to direct several episodes. The show was now seen world wide.
As most of you know, George Reeves died under mysterious circumstances on June 15th 1959. We’ll leave it at that. Some info for this essay was obtained through Wikipedia.
By HTF Member John aka Sky King
Adventures of Superman (1952-1958)
Stars George Reeves Phyllis Coates Noel Neill Jack Larson John Hamilton Robert Shayne
S01E08 The Mind Machine (Nov.07.1952)
Stars George Reeves Phyllis Coates Jack Larson John Hamilton Griff Barnett Dan Seymour Ben Welden James Seay Harry Hayden Lester Dorr Stephen Carr James Conaty Joe Gilbert Dick Gordon Bill Kennedy Bert LeBaron Carl M. Leviness Harold Miller Cary Loftin Superman stunt double Dale Van Sickle Superman stunt double
Stars George Reeves Phyllis Coates Jack Larson John Hamilton Griff Barnett Dan Seymour Ben Welden James Seay Harry Hayden Lester Dorr Stephen Carr James Conaty Joe Gilbert Dick Gordon Bill Kennedy Bert LeBaron Carl M. Leviness Harold Miller Cary Loftin Superman stunt double Dale Van Sickle Superman stunt double
While working in the lab, Dr. Edward Stanton (Griff Barnett) is kidnapped by gangster Lou Cranek (Dan Seymour) and two of his henchmen, Curley (Ben Weldon) and Al (Frank Orth). The Mind Machine is also taken. Senator Taylor (James Seay) and his “Crime Committee” are to shortly begin questioning Carl Wagoner (Harry Hayden), an accountant who had served as head bookkeeper for Cranek. Wagoner is cooperative at first, then suddenly claims to not know Cranek. This is a result of the Mind Machine in operation. This episode is, in my opinion, one of the standouts of the entire series. It has all the elements of a 1940’s movie cliffhanger. Action, suspense, great music, believable characters and drama all wrapped around a plausible story. By HTF Member John aka Sky King
Tech notes: I decided to insert the images for this photo essay at the Thumb-Size just as I did previously with The Face and the Voice because both prints are similar in quality. Neither are as good as Panic in the Sky where insertion at the Full-Size yielded good results. For those of you who can see a difference between the two sizes, (some of you cannot), please see the Tributes To Your Favorite Classic TV Stars thread where it has been posted at the Full-Size. Link will be noted at the end of this essay. Hope you all enjoy!
