30 Facts About George Reeves

The Bessolos' marriage lasted 15 years, ending in divorce, with the couple separating while George Reeves was away visiting relatives.

George Reeves began acting and singing in high school and continued performing on stage as a student at Pasadena Junior College.

George Reeves's Gone with the Wind screen credit reflects the change.

George Reeves starred in a number of two-reel short subjects and appeared in several B-pictures, including two with future President of the United States Ronald Reagan and three with James Cagney.

George Reeves was assigned to the US Army Air Forces and performed in the USAAF's Broadway show Winged Victory.

George Reeves was then transferred to the Army Air Force's First Motion Picture Unit, where he made training films.

George Reeves appeared in a pair of outdoor thrillers with Ralph Byrd.

George Reeves was able to play against type, starring as a villainous gold hunter in a Johnny Weissmuller Jungle Jim film.

George Reeves performed on live television anthology programs, as well as on radio, and then returned to Hollywood in 1951 for a role in a Fritz Lang film, Rancho Notorious.

In 1953, George Reeves played a minor character, Sergeant Maylon Stark, in From Here to Eternity.

In June 1951, George Reeves was offered the role of Superman in a new television series titled Adventures of Superman.

George Reeves was initially reluctant to take the role because, like many actors of his time, he considered television unimportant and believed few would see his work.

The series went on the air the following year, and George Reeves was amazed at becoming a national celebrity.

George Reeves was able to leverage his new role and earn additional income by making numerous personal appearances.

George Reeves had affection for his young fans and took his role-model status seriously.

George Reeves avoided smoking cigarettes where children could see him and eventually quit smoking.

Between the first and second seasons of Superman, George Reeves got sporadic acting assignments in one-shot TV anthology programs and in two feature films, Forever Female and Fritz Lang's The Blue Gardenia, but by the time the series was airing nationwide, George Reeves found himself so closely associated with the characters of Superman and Clark Kent that it was difficult for him to book other roles.

George Reeves was frustrated with his low salary, the one-dimensional nature of his character, and how associating himself with Superman had ruined his credibility as a dramatic actor.

Eager to jump-start his failing career, George Reeves established his own production company and conceived a TV adventure series called Port of Entry, which was to be shot on location in Hawaii and Mexico.

George Reeves was reportedly making $5,000 per week, but only while the show was in production.

George Reeves was never able to gain financing for his Port of Entry project, and the show was never made.

George Reeves appeared as Superman on I Love Lucy in 1957.

George Reeves complained to friends, columnists, and his mother about his financial problems.

George Reeves had hoped to direct a low-budget science-fiction film written by a friend from his Pasadena Playhouse days, and he had discussed the project with his first Lois Lane, Phyllis Coates, the previous year.

In contemporaneous news articles, Lemmon attributed George Reeves's alleged suicide to depression caused by his "failed career" and inability to find more work.

George Reeves continued, 'He's opening a drawer to get the gun.

George Reeves is interred at Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum in Altadena, California.

In 1960, George Reeves was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard for his contributions to the TV industry.

George Reeves's mother thought it was premature and peremptory to rule the death a suicide, and retained attorney Jerry Giesler to petition for a reinvestigation of the case as a possible homicide.

George Reeves had been having an affair with his wife Toni Mannix.