Who REALLY Killed SUPERMAN George Reeves?

cause there's a grace to be well good morning lion hearts it's your old pal jordan the lion how are you all doing today i hope you said well i'm doing well and if you're not doing well i hope at least this vlog today will be fascinating enough that you know it'll keep you entertained now i've went to this man's grave before but today we're going to talk about the kind of bizarre circumstances under the death of superman george reeves he was a hero to millions of kids his show had ended in 1957 but 1959 the year that he died he got word that they were going to bring it back and that he was going to be doing another season and yet somehow he would commit suicide so they say like i said there's a lot of bizarre circumstances to this and georgia's own mother never believed that that's how he would died and she hired a private investigator to uncover some pretty interesting little facts today we're going to talk about the death of superman george reeves days with jordan the lion it begins right now good day to you too sir are you a superman fan here comes one of his buddies so the man we would know as george reeves who ended up becoming famous for superman it's not actually a role that he really even wanted he just it was kind of one of those things where he was out of work and at the time he was digging cesspools for a living in between acting jobs and he did see the bright side to this is that he knew that since this was a crime fighter show and it was going to have a an audience geared towards kids that he could use this to be a good role model for kids he would end up giving up smoking because he didn't want kids to ever see him smoking in the costume he was also very passionate about giving back to underprivileged kids and so he saw this is a way to marry the two and eventually during the years that they would have the adventures of superman he would heavily influence the show from being a crime fighting show to becoming more of a show that taught life lessons for young kids now george wasn't actually born george reeves he was born george brewer in iowa and his parents ended up getting a divorce when he was very young his mother moved him out here to pasadena with her and she met another man named frank bosello and he ended up adopting george and changing george's name to george busello you gonna find somebody to play with today no that's not superman it's just an airplane look at these two just hanging out now growing up george never knew of his first biological father he just knew of frank and frank was a very good role model for george they were very close and at one point while he was growing up his mother sent george off to visit relatives across the country and while he was gone she and frank got a divorce when george came back and asked where frank was she said that he had died and basically left it at that and then one day while george was looking through some old photos he saw a photo of her and his biological population said who is that and she said that's your real father and then caught herself and said he committed suicide the day after you were born so george never ended up looking for either father and his mother was very very close to him as he was growing up now he would take an interest in boxing and want to be a boxer while he was in high school however his mother didn't like it she said he was too good looking and didn't want him to have his face destroyed by boxing so he decided to quit and she influenced him into taking some classes at the pasadena playhouse to become an actor he didn't really want to do it but he just wanted to appease her and then after a short bit of time he was bit by the acting bug and ended up studying there for five years becoming a shakespearean actor now while he was there he ended up meeting another actress that he fell in love with they got married and then shortly thereafter she met a richer man and left george and george never spoke of her again meeting of the minds socializing is everything now eventually george busello did get a contract with the studio and when he was signing the contract he was going to be making his first picture he was going to be in gone with the wind so when he signed the contract they put in the contract that he had to dye his hair for the movie what he didn't know was that in that contract that gave them the right to change his name and without his consent they decided to change his name to george reeves that's how he ended up doing that now he was in the movie he got great reviews but after that he really couldn't get much attention he was doing bit parts here and there and then did a military picture that got great reviews but he got so into the picture he couldn't give up um the thoughts of what he was feeling while making it and he decided to leave acting for a while and to enlist in the military now unfortunately for him even though he enlisted with his real name not george reeves they figured out that he had too much charisma and that he was an actor and so they put him in the entertainment corps and that's where he served his time and then when he came out the studio head that had had some belief in him had passed away and for years george would get by just making you know bit parts here and there just enough to to really just get by oh there's a party going on they all raced over there now being that george was having trouble getting acting jobs he did have to have some work done around his house he had to have a cesspool dug and when they came to give him an estimate they told him 150 dollars he said is there any way that i can help dig it myself and save some money so they gave him a 20 discount and he stood out there for a couple of days digging with the other crew members now his neighbor ended up needing the same job done and george ended up offering to do it for a hundred dollars now that he knew what he was doing and that's how he would make his living getting by while looking for roles until he was asked to audition for superman and the mole men a movie that they were going to make in 1951 starring the comic book hero of superman so george didn't necessarily want to do it but he went to the audition and then was cast in it and even when he met the lois lane first day on the set he said welcome to the bottom meaning that he felt like this was just kind of last ditch in the acting world for someone who you know he had been told that he was too old or that he was not going to ever be able to be cast as a leading man so to him this was really you know all there was this was the only option at the time and he ended up seeing the bright side making the best of it like i mentioned [Music] that superman was a huge hit for a couple of years and much like anything the longer it goes some of the magic goes away the content gets watered down the ideas run out and he felt that way he even said in the fifth season he felt like you know this could end at any time and then in the sixth season they did get cancelled now he had trouble finding work after that for the next two years and actually got kind of bitter because he felt like he had been chewed up and spit out by hollywood and just made been typecast as just this one character and they didn't want to see him as anything else however in 1959 he found out that kellogg's had purchased one season of the adventures of superman so he was going to be going back to work for a pretty great year worth of an income good morning good morning if he sees wrestling he has to get involved he loves it [Music] so it's kind of strange what would happen that night he would spend his day drinking and enjoying his day with friends letting him know that he was going to be making superman again then in the evening it all changed so john gonna take everyone over to the house that george reeves supposedly committed suicide in but others aren't so sure now there are many theories as to what happened suicide murder some wonder why there were two bullet holes found inside of his bedroom people that commit suicide by shooting themselves don't usually miss and there was no gunpowder near his head so we'll get into that when we get out to the house when you're perched up here that's usually a sign that you're ready to roll are you ready to roll my friend you're ready to go okay that's some great artwork out here i love it june 16th 1959 to everyone's surprise george reeves supposedly killed himself in the upstairs bedroom of this house now it's very surprising because no one happened to know that he was depressed so that immediately raised some red flags his best friend said he'd never been happier he was supposed to get married a couple of days after this date and um yeah he was in love so why did he do it well there was a little bit of a scandal that came out after you see for many years georgia actually purchased this house in the early 50s and it was said that a woman named tony mannix perhaps was the one who paid for the deposit for this and he had lived here that whole time now tony was the wife of a studio head for mgm eddie mannix and they had been having an affair for many years now supposedly eddie knew about this from different books i've read he knew about this and was okay with it but george called it off because he had fell in love with lenoir lemon and they wanted to get married so apparently tony didn't take this well and started harassing both of them continuously lenore and george would not call it off and she even had a key to this place so the night of his death well i mean he was actually found in the morning but um what ended up happening was he had been celebrating that whole day that they were going to be making superman again and he had a friend over here robert condon and he and lenora were drinking and having fun and then he decided to call it a night and retire to his bedroom now lenore and robert continued drinking and then eventually apparently some people that were friends of theirs saw the light on the porch light on and thought that george was up so they stopped to have a drink as well and um joined lenoir and robert and it ended up bothering george so george ended up coming down here and kind of yelling about you know i'm trying to sleep can't you guys knock this off and so he went back up to bed and then they continued to party so apparently lenora said that she'd had a premonition that he was going to shoot himself and he went upstairs and she said from downstairs they could hear a drawer open and then they heard a shot and when they went up there george had shot himself in the head apparently but the gun was laying at the bottom of his feet between his legs and he was laying on his back so it didn't make any sense now in reading a lot about history of the movie studios back in that time there was a group called the fixers that mgm had that if any kind of scandal could have possibly broke out they would have people come out clean up the site before the police were ever called and then you know that's what would happen so that was the theory was that the fixers had came and cleaned this up to make it look like a suicide and even howard strickland the head of publicity said before he passed away that eddie mannix was the one that came in and shot george but why well because he had broken off with tony that's what was believed you see some people would think oh it's because he found out that they were having an affair but apparently he knew about it he was okay with it as long as tony was happy but once tony wasn't happy that's when eddie got mad but then some believe that lenore had done it and lenore believed that tony had done it and apparently after this was done tony called lenore and said they killed our boy they killed our boy now it just didn't make any sense like i said it just didn't make any sense for him to kill himself when he just found out that he was going to be making a lot of money doing that season of the adventures of superman so as it was investigated they deemed it a suicide and george's mother would not accept that she did not believe that he would do that and so she hired private investigators hired a great attorney and started investigating it and when they came in and investigated they found a second bullet hole in the wall but they couldn't find the bullet and they were saying well george was a really good shot he was an excellent marksman and people that commit suicide don't usually miss so there was no gunpowder near his head nothing that would indicate a true suicide however his mother was adamant about it and never gave up the fight for it there was just too much involved that had very likely been um altered so that the police could never get a full idea of what really happened here but in george's will he left everything to tony mannix so some believe that lenore heard him talking to tony over the phone and he was having second thoughts about getting married and that maybe that's why she did it or tony maybe came and snuck in while they were all partying because she had a key but like i said howard strickling said on his deathbed basically the eddie mannix was the one that that shot george reeves so this was the one time that superman could not evade a speeding bullet what a bizarre story and to this day it's still accepted that it was a suicide officially but most people don't buy that that would have been his bedroom right up in there he lived in this house most of the 50s now we're not going to go to his gravesite today because i've already vlogged it so if you'd like to see that go on my channel and look for the grave of george reeve superman and you'll see his final resting place and the very sweet plaque that his mother put on his ashes now many of the people that have lived in this house since have reported to believing that it's haunted to hearing george speaking in the home and tony manix did inherit this house like i said she inherited everything and when she decided to sell it they had a hard time even finding people that would come and do a walk through to consider the house so kind of an eerie story to it i'll keep my eye out and one of the crazier little facts about this is that after the police had sealed up the room where he had died shortly after day or two after lenore broke the seal went in and took travelers checks that george had and they never found him all right my friends we're gonna call it a day thank you bunny youngsman mark morgan and barbara e malvin for becoming my newest patreons hope you enjoyed this vlog today if you want my honest opinion i don't think he killed himself for a minute i think it was definitely someone else let's put it that way and when they ask his best friends gig young and alan ladd they both said that they thought an unnamed woman had done it hmm wonder why they kept their silence have a great night everyone we'll see you all next time rest in peace george reeves and good bye [Music] cause there's a grace

Channel: Daze with Jordan the Lion

Views: 91,484

Keywords: travel vlogger, urbex, golden age, hollywood, travel advice, old hollywood, history, tourism, cinema, filming locations, adventures, forgotten, travel, my trip, jacob the carpetbagger, daze with jordan the lion, jordan the lion, travel guide, vlog, vlogger, vlogging, lifestyle, scandals, film, los angeles, tourist, adam the woo, Superman, Gone with the wind, Death house, Murder, Suicide, George reeves, Eddie mannix, Lenore lemon, Benedict canyon, Toni mannix, Mgm, The adventures of superman

Id: 9lSmHaZv3BA

Length: 18min 19sec (1099 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 22 2020