The Death of George Reeves 50 Years Ago: The House
by Armand Vaquer
Next month, on June 16, will mark the 50th anniversary of the death of television's Superman, George Reeves.
Several books, magazine articles and television programs reviewing Reeves's death have been produced over the years. Some are better than others. But the bottom line on all of them is that the death of Reeves is still "unsolved," although the evidence points to the original verdict of suicide. All conclusions from these shows and articles are just speculative.
Above, the Coroner's property receipt for the Luger that killed George Reeves.The mystery of Benedict Canyon began the early morning of June 16, 1959. Reeves was found on his bed with a bullet wound in his head. There's no dispute over that. But there are three basic theories on the circumstances on how the bullet was fired into his skull:
1.) Suicide.
2.) An unknown assailant somehow entered Reeves's residence and fired the gun.
3.) Reeves and Lenore Lemmon got into an argument which led to a fight over the gun and it was accidentally discharged, sending a bullet into Reeves's head.
Due to the high blood alcohol levels in Reeves at the time of his death, many have come to the conclusion that the alcohol level (on top of his supposed despondent mood) led to Reeves committing suicide. I also believe that this was the cause of his death. For more (in lurid detail) on Reeves's death, go here.
The unknown assailant theory doesn't seem plausible as the home's layout would not allow for a hit-man to enter without the occupants noticing. The fight over the gun theory is possible, but no evidence has been unearthed either proving it or disproving it. Two additional bullet holes were found in the floor of Reeves's bedroom. The bullet that killed Reeves exited the left side of his head and lodged into the slanted wall/ceiling above his bed (photo below).
The Benedict Canyon Home of George Reeves
Rather than delving deeper into the theories, we will focus instead on Reeves's house. An excellent article on the layout of the home has been covered by fan Lou Koza. You can see an excellent diagram of the layout and articles by going here and here. By chance, Koza was able to go inside the home and photograph it as the then-current residents were moving out.
The house is modest by Hollywood standards. It has two bedrooms, a den and a small yard. The asking price a few years ago was around $600,000. Toni Mannix inherited the house following Reeves's death.
A few years ago, Adventures of Superman historian and writer Chuck Harter and I paid a visit to Reeves's home and to the former Eddie and Toni Mannix residence and took the following pictures posted below.
Here is a photo of the front of the Reeves house:
Here is another shot of the front of the house but from the north looking southwest:
Above, the wooden fence leads to the side and back yards of the property.Here is a closer view of the fence and the house:
Here is a view of the side and back yards from the fence:
Before Reeves began his romance with Lenore Lemmon, he had a longtime affair with Toni Mannix, the wife of MGM executive Eddie Mannix. The first photo is of the front gate to the Mannix residence with Chuck Harter:
From the front gate, the Mannix garages can be seen (below). It was in these garages that Reeves's personal items were stored following his death. Reeves left everything to Toni Mannix. He did not change his will after his breakup with Mannix. Chuck Harter was allowed to rummage though the items by Toni's sister Florence and take what he wanted. He has the largest collection of personal items of George Reeves.
It was in this house that allegedly Toni Mannix "confessed" to a priest that a hit-man killed Reeves, although she was reportedly suffering from Alzheimer's Disease at the time.
Next: The Aftermath.
5 comments:
What became of the gun that killed George reeves? Disposed of by police? Kept by someone?
The last anyone knows, the gun ended up with all other items of Reeves's belongings in the hands of Toni Mannix. She offered the gun to Jack Larson, I read. He recoiled at the thought of that. - A.
I wrote a book about the murder of Sam Cooke and one of the things I found was that neither the LAPD nor their crooked coroner could be trusted with anything truthful. Among the suicides that were not included Larry Williams who wrote and sang short fat Fanny and Boney Maroney, as well as the Beatles slow down. He had a gunshot wound to the back of the head and LAPD ruled it suicide. Bobby Fuller who wrote I Fought the Law was found beaten to near death with gasoline poured over him propped up in his car in front of his mother's house and also deemed so suicide which is ridiculous. Sam Cooke was beaten nearly to death executed with a bullet under the armpit that tore through his lungs and heart oh, the mark of a mob execution. His manager had stolen his music publication titles through forgery. Sam had found out days before.
I could go on and on but Harold Kaade was it terrible coroner who had bought several cases. In Sam Cooke's case he wrote complete lies and distortions about a lack of wounds on Sam's body which have been covered with bruises. I don't trust him to tell the truth about George Reeves and one of the reasons is that William H Parker oh, the police chief at the time, did not like entertainers, worked with the mob, and avoided controversy. I'm pretty sure that the bullets on the floor portended something that might lead to the fact that his former lovers husband worked with the mob through the studios. Funny how they ended up owning the house isn't it? How does anyone know that Reeves didn't change the will? What they found was the original one.
It is also said to be untrue that he was despondent. He was making great money as Superman and was still getting other roles and at the time of his death was excited about a new Venture he had recently signed a contract for. Nobody who knew him believed it was suicide including Larson and Noel Neill.
Oh and one more thing. If she had dementia we don't know if it was early or late stages and if she had the wherewithal to say that she had confessed to hit man to the priest it was not that advanced. In late stages of dementia she could not have recalled that.
Having read all the books and articles and seen the documentaries regarding Reeve's last night here's what I think happened: George was upstairs and Lemon, who was somewhat drunk comes up and grabs the Lugar and starts screwing around with it. George tries to grab it and is accidently shot and killed. I think it's a realistic theory given everything that followed
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