Cracking Open Superman Star George Reeves‘ Baffling 1959 Death
As bullets ricocheted through the upstairs bedroom of George Reeves’ Benedict Canyon home in the early hours of June 16th, 1959, they didn’t just snuff out the life of the beloved Superman actor in an instant. They also birthed an enduring mystery that still puzzles true crime buffs and DC devotees over 60 years later…So strap on your utility belts, because we’re unraveling the sinister secrets and strange evidence around Reeves’ tragic end that night. Could this have been a covered-up Hollywood homicide rather than suicide? Let’s examine the clues Hollywood doesn’t want you to see.
Rising Star Nearly Ruined by War
Long before donning Superman’s iconic cape, George Reeves hungered for the spotlight. Against his Midwestern mother Helen’s pleas to avoid the industry’s “sordid” reputation, Reeves ran away at 17 to pursue boxing and acting. Over the 1930s, he jabbed his way to regional Golden Gloves circuits while landing minor film roles. Then came his big break in 1939’s Gone with the Wind, bringing wide exposure. But like so many actors, WWII torpedoed his momentum. From 1941-45 Reeves served stateside in the Army Motion Picture Unit, slating training and propaganda films. By 1947, he grappled not with adventure serial villains, but the inability to restart his career, churning out low-budget thrillers and B-Westerns just to pay bills.
Superman Saves a Sinking Star
While 1947’s Rifleman Harris and 1948’s Jungle Goddess won scattered praise, industry eyes perceived Reeves as fading, never matching earlier promise. By 1950, his prospects looked dire. Then came unexpected salvation via spandex. Approached to headline a Superman TV series, the skeptical, 37 year-old Reeves reluctantly agreed only for needed cash, later recounting “[I was] absolutely stony broke…if I didn’t stay alive by doing the part, I was literally just going to have to kill myself.”
But after the January ‘51 premiere, Superman and His Mighty Mouse Stunt Men rapidly gained loyalty from children and families. By season 2, it soared as ABC’s #1 show, earning millions in merchandising and even a 1952 theaters run recut from episodes. While typecast, the stability proffered Reeves financial freedom letting him pursue cherished passions like bass fishing. More elusive though was escaping the Man of Steel’s long shadow for more dramatic work. Like other iconic 1950s TV stars, he found Superman’s magnified fame nearly smothered his career aspirations outside capes and tights.
Scandal: Affairs, Harassment and Violence
Behind the slick, upstanding façade though, Reeves reputedly harbored an eye for women despite friends swearing his faithfulness to fiancé Lenore Lemmon. Most explosive was his long-rumored tryst with Toni Mannix, wife of Metro-Goldman-Mayer fixer Eddie Mannix. As described in Hollywood Kryptonite, the bulky, thuggish Mannix, nicknamed “the Bulldog” for his studio strongarm tactics, maintained a lavender marriage of convenience with Toni. Into this void slipped Reeves, conducting a discreet two-year affair many pinpoint starting in 1951 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Though Toni financed George’s place updates, Eddie allegedly remained oblivious until finding her diamond ring and an intimate letter signed “Your husband, George Reeves.” Mannix furiously imposed an MGM blacklist on Reeves and punched the Superman lead on the studio lot, demanding Toni choose between them.
By 1955, Reeves severed ties with Toni to declare affection for Lenore, an exotic dancer. But Toni raged anew at this infidelity, phoning Lemmon’s landlord to spread lies about orgies. This prompted Reeves filing stalking charges and hiring private eye Jerry Geisler to guard Lenore from more harassment. Friends described Reeves as increasingly sullen through 1958-1959 over Toni’s abuse toward Lemmon, even consulting lawyers on filing for divorce. Between fading career momentum and tempestuous controversies, Reeves gloomily told Associates he was “just about ready to close the show down…I just want to get out of Hollywood.” Prophetic words no one yet grasped.
Sudden Death On Benedict Canyon
In the late hours of June 15th, 1959, guests partied at Reeves’ modest Benedict Canyon home. Around 1:00 AM, Wayne Shanklin, Carol Von Ronkel, and Bill Bliss were disturbed by a single gunshot. Ruled suicide on the scene, head Sgt. V.J. Reynolds discovered Reeves’ corpse upstairs with a Luger near his feet on blood-matted carpet. Reynolds spotted no suicide note, while crime scene photos showed supposed testimony to his morose mindset, like pills and whisky glasses scattered bedside. Case seemingly shut.
Yet almost immediately, doubts surfaced on what initially seemed an open-and-shut, though tragic, suicide pact. First, veteran LAPD criminalist Detective Garner noted no discernible fingerprints on the 9mm pistol, and all evidence was removed before more extensive testing. Stranger still, two additional bullet holes pierced Reeves’ bedroom floor, suggesting the body had been moved. Already theories circulated that George Reeves might be Cassell Cain to new Superman stars George Lowery or Bob Collyer, hinting professional jealousy or humiliation at returning to obscurity.
Most troubling was Lenore Lemmon’s bizarre behavior. After hysterically summoning police, she offered inconsistent accounts ranging from denying hearing the shot to later claiming she ran upstairs to find Reeves’ body, disturbed only by an odd intruder noticed earlier. Forensics however contradicted Lemmon entering the room, since her bare feet bloodless soles showed no blood tracking. Why these contradictory versions?
With no eyewitnesses or solid forensic evidence confirming suicide, alternative homicide explanations rapidly gained traction…
Foul Play? Three Hypotheses on Superman’s Demise
The inexplicable crime scene catalyzed a cascade of possible alternate motives for Reeves’ shocking Hollywood demise beyond open-and-shut suicide. Three major murder hypotheses quickly emerged.
Theory 1: Spurned Lover – Toni Mannix Avenges Humiliation
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, or so the cliché goes. Perhaps no phrase better fit Toni Mannix’s vengeful temperament after being spurned by Reeves for Lenore Lemmon. Married to MGM studio “fixer” Eddie Mannix, Toni reputedly financed Reeves’ Benedict Canyon abode and even gifted a ring hinting at betrothal. Discovering Reeves now pledged troth to Lemmon unleashed vitriol many friends credited as planting suicidal thoughts, making her prime suspect in orchestrating a vengeful death sting.
Close confidants corroborated Toni’s mindset turned openly vindictive; she threatened Lemmon personally at gunpoint and vowed to murder any new mistress Reeves took. As Reeves’ also severed contact with Eddie following a battered face over the affair, the Mannixes seem unlikely to let such public insults slide. Perhaps Eddie contacted underground heavies or Toni herself slipped in armed through a side door to settle the score. The crime scene showed no signs of illegal entry, while their noble studio reputations shielded the well-connected power couple from deeper scrutiny, especially as Reeves’ corpse was whisked away and studio fixers influenced investigation pace.
Theory 2: Fiancé Lenore Lemmon Shoots Reeves in Passion
While Toni Mannix appears prime suspect in conspiring to murder Reeves out of jealousy, curiously next to no suspicion fell on devastated fiancé Lenore Lemmon. Lemmon publicly seemed bereft at Reeves’ sudden passing, so hastily judged innocent. Yet Lenore had ample personal motive if evidence pointed to turbulent quarrels turned deadly rather than bereavement.
Testimony from houseguests suggests rising arguments, accentuated by Lemmon’s drinking habits. Toni Mannix’s constant harassment coupled with Reeves’ foul moods indicate domestic tension was accelerating. Longtime friends corroborated Reeves contemplated leaving Lemmon due to embarrassment from scandal, while financial disputes flared over Reeves expecting Lemmon to pay for renovations given her residence. If Reeves delivered an ultimatum to separate as some evidence suggests, might Lemmon have turned violent in response?
Lemmon’s inconsistent statements on hearing gunshots and finding the body demonstrate odd evasiveness also. As the sole person alongside Reeves upstairs and beneficiary of his will, Lenore seemingly possessed ample motive, means, and opportunity to murder her frustrated lover. Though ruled out by police, Lemmon’s actions suggest she arguably warrants deeper scrutiny as the potential rogue before later marrying just months after Reeves’ curious death.
Theory 3: Accidental Shooting Cover-Up
If neither love interests conspired toward homicide, might Reeves’ shocking death simply have been an alcohol-induced accident? Beverly Garland, who occasionally dated Reeves, attests he consumed heavily that June evening. Perhaps while intoxicated, Reeves clumsily discharged the Luger pistol as a ill-conceived party trick, striking himself fatally.
In panic, friends downstairs may have repositioned his body and removed evidence betraying their presence before summoning aid, unwilling to draw scrutiny as witnesses. Lenore Lemmon equally may have sought limiting intrusive investigations by staging a suicide scene out of devotion. This theory accounts for ambiguous crime scene forensics and atypical bullet markings suggesting an erased struggle. Whether stating death as self-inflicted or not, prematurely classifying circumstances as a suicide hindered further analysis that could have later substantiated a third-party shooting or accidental discharge—a governmental failing still impacting similar Hollywood incidents today…
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