Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Superman Actor is Dead - The George Reeves Story

Episode Date: July 20, 2025

George Reeves, the star of Adventures of Superman (1952–58), died in his Los Angeles home, from a single gunshot wound to the head. With the official ruling being suicide, his death sparked controversy fueled by inconsistencies such as missing fingerprints on the gun, no powder residue on his hands, a spent cartridge found beneath his body despite witnesses reporting only one shot, and accounts of multiple shots heard that night . At the time, Reeves had recently been engaged to Leonore Lemmon, and rumors linked him to affairs—most notably with Toni Mannix, whose husband Eddie Mannix was a powerful MGM executive rumored to have ties to organized crime 

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Oh! Marvel Studios The Fantastic Four First Steps, now streaming on Disney Plus, we did PG-13. What time is it, Ben? It's Clubber Time! So the actor who played Superman died in a really horrible way. And there are like conspiracy theories surrounding it. So we all know there's a new Superman actor, David Cornswet.

And before him was Henry Cavill. And before him was Brandon Ruth. And before him is the one most people have been familiar with, Christopher Reeve. And yes, there are some other guys who play him in various TV shows, but like, stay with me. Now before all these supermen is the original, the very first one. His name is George.

And George is about 37 years old when this story starts, living in Los Angeles. And George is a talented guy. Like he used to be an amateur boxer. This is a picture of him. But now he's an actor. And here he is in Gone with the Wind, where he had a minor role. And just for the hell of it, here's another picture of him, just like being handsome. Handsome, motherfucker.

But one day, in 1951, his whole career changes. because he gets cast to play Superman in a movie called Superman and the Mole Men. And George does a really good job. All I'm telling you is that that little creature in there has as much right to live as you do. And so this is the first superhero feature film based on any DC comic book character ever. So this is like kind of a big deal. And like most Superman, George comes to really embody this role. And so from here, the studio creates a television series called The Adventures of the Adventures of

of Superman. And George keeps playing the part. Yes, it's Superman. Strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. And this is a great role for him. And so he keeps acting in episode after episode after episode of this show for six seasons. They actually make 106 episodes of this, which is just unheard of now. But the show is actually a huge hit. And it's like family friendly. So every family. in America is watching every episode every week. And I'm sure this was groundbreaking TV at the time. I mean, look, look at him go. I mean, that looks real. I believe it. Now, as cool as this gig is for

George, he unfortunately isn't really feeling it as much as you would think. Because it's the 1950s and TV acting is just not seen as legitimate as movies are during this time. It's kind of seen as like a novelty, like minor league shit. And George, he wants to be taken seriously. Like, he's trying to get roles in more feature films and stuff. The problem is, the Superman show is very popular. And he's become so strongly associated with this character that he starts being typecast. And so people only see him as TV Superman.

So a lot of other roles he does manage to get. He's in like some sort of costume, and no one watching would really know if it was him or not. And like he even makes a cameo on the I Love Lucy show, but like as Superman. How do you do? My name is Superman. Oh boy, am I glad to see you. And again, this would be a big deal, but it's really bumming George out. I mean, he feels like he's being held back as an actor. Not only that, the poor guy is having money problems.

Like he has a hit show, but during this time, TV doesn't pay actors as well as it will years later. And because of all this, George starts getting depressed, and he starts drinking, like a lot, like a lot. And around this time, he starts dating this woman, Leonor. And despite George's depression, he and Leonor get engaged. Here's a picture of them. Now, here's where things get dark. So it's 1959, and George is 45 years old at this point. And the sixth season of the Adventures of Superman just ended.

And they're like filming it in color now, so it's like come a long way. But the season has ended. And one night, he and Leonor get back home from a night out. And they've had some drinks and George is tired. So after a bit, he goes upstairs to go to bed. But see, Leonor, she's a social person and she wants to keep the party going. And they already have one house guest staying with them. And then two neighbors come over and join the party.

And so the four of them are hanging out and they're drinking and having a good time, probably being a little loud as parties tend to be. And apparently this isn't sitting well with George. Like he's trying to sleep and he's hearing these people downstairs, having fun and you know, it's kind of pissing him off. Now, just to be clear, George is still very depressed. Like he's having financial problems. He had been trying to direct a low-budget sci-fi movie, but it recently got canceled because he couldn't get funding. And he has to act in a Superman stage show in order to do. to get a paycheck and he's not really feeling that and he might be able to make some money when

they bring the Superman show back, but that would involve him playing Superman again and at 45 years old, that's just not what he really wants to do. So anyway, he's lying there in bed, all pissed off that his fiance and her friends are keeping him awake. And finally around 1 a.m., boom, he storms downstairs and he tells them all to quiet the hell down. And he tells the neighbors to get the hell out. And this turns into an argument. But pretty quickly, they all calmed down and George goes back upstairs to bed. Now, this is a really weird moment because it's when Leonor turns to her friends and makes a joke. And she says, in a moment, you'll hear a gun. And so she's actually joking about George unaliving himself. And through the thin ceiling, they can actually hear George upstairs opening a bedside drawer where he

keeps his pistol. And so Leonor says it again. He's getting a pistol out now and he's going to unalive himself. And so everyone gets quiet. And then suddenly it happens. Blank, they hear a gunshot. And one of the neighbors runs upstairs and busts into the room and he sees that George has, in fact, unalived himself. And so of course they all freak out and they call the police and police investigate and George's death is officially ruled a suicide. And so yeah, officially Superman unalived himself. Now, here's where the story gets interesting. George's friends and his mom, they don't believe that he unaligned himself. They don't believe he would ever do that, which would then suggest that he was murdered. And to be fair, his cause of death has always long been

disputed. And so while we're on the subject, here are the leading theories on how he actually died. Theory one. Theory one is it happened exactly the way I just told it. George had been feeling depressed for a long time and he was successful but his career wasn't really going in the direction that was satisfying him. And so he got fed up one night and blam. He ended it all himself. Theory two. Theory two is basically that everyone at the party lied. And so when George came downstairs to tell Leonor and the guest to quiet down, he and Leonor actually got into a massive argument that got really heated. And so they end up going upstairs to continue the fight away from their friends. And during this fight, George reveals that he doesn't really want to marry her. Apparently,

he is done with this relationship. And so Leonor gets pissed off and she gets that pistol out of the drawer and she's threatening him, but she's not actually going to use it. However, unfortunately, blam, the pistol goes off with the shot hitting George. And afterwards, she got the group to lie to the police and say that she was downstairs with them the whole time in order to, you know, cover her tracks. Theory 3. Theory 3 is real weird. So over the years, George had been hooking up with this woman,

her name's Tony. And Tony is married to this guy. His name's Eddie. And Eddie allegedly knew that his wife Tony and George had been hooking up this whole time. He just didn't really kill. I mean, they were all friends and they would all hang out together. I don't know, it sounds like a weird Hollywood thing. Now, eventually, George would break up with Tony because he was about to marry Leonor. I mean, he's trying to get serious with her, so like he can't keep dating Tony, and this breakup breaks Tony's heart.

And because George broke Tony's heart, Eddie got real mad. And he and Tony sent some mafia-type friends to George's house to climb in through the upstairs window, and blam! They off him. Now, allegedly, Tony confessed to all this on her deathbed. Now, I don't know if that's actually true. Those are just the leading theories, I guess.