Life's twists and turns are peculiar at times. In the spring of 1995, Lou Koza, a friend I met through The Adventures Continue, called to say that he had just been to Los Angeles on business and that, of course, he had taken the drive through Benedict Canyon to see the house where George Reeves lived and died. This is not unusual among fans. In fact, another of my friends traveled all the way from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, for the same reason. What was most exciting to Lou, however, was the discovery that the house was for sale and that he had been allowed to enter and look around. I had always hoped to make the pilgrimage myself, but it had been about fifteen years since my last visit to California, and I had no immediate plans to travel there again. I thanked Lou for his call and told him how much I envied his experience.

Not more than two weeks later I was sitting at my desk when I received a phone call from Hilary Roberts, a researcher with Cosgrove-Meurer Productions, the creators of the NBC television series, Unsolved Mysteries. Hilary told me that they were planning a segment on the mysterious death of George Reeves and that Jack Larson had turned her in my direction. I told Hilary of my interest in George and the work I had done through the years. I also told her that I'd be happy to help with the project in any way I could. We exchanged only a few more phone calls over the following two weeks before she asked if I'd be willing to fly to Los Angeles to appear on the show. Needless to say, I didn't need much time to think it over, and in July Gail and I, with help from American Airlines, were flying west. We had a movie to watch, but I had brought along my copies of Gary Grossman's Superman: Serial to Cereal and Jan Henderson's Speeding Bullet for company.

In the early morning hours of June 16, 1959, George Reeves died from a gunshot wound to the head, but the events leading up to his death remain a mystery. Michael Hayde, Jim Beaver, and I have three very different ideas about what happened.

Robert Stack opened the segment explaining that the Superman role had brought George Reeves fame in the 1950s.

Stack continued with a description of the long-time relationship between George Reeves and Toni Mannix.

At the time, however, Toni Mannix was married to MGM executive, Eddie Mannix.

In late 1958 George broke off his relationship with Toni Mannix and began spending his time with Lenore Lemmon.

Jack Larson related how popular the show had been immediately after it first aired and how he was mobbed by youngsters on the streets of New York. When the series ended, Larson gave up acting because he had become so identified in the role of Jimmy Olsen. He knew too that George Reeves felt typecast as Superman.

The producers of Unsolved Mysteries wanted three different opinions about what happened on the day George Reeves died. It has long been my opinion that George Reeves was shot during an argument with Lenore Lemmon.

Michael Hayde firmly believes that George Reeves was murdered. Two people who might have had strong motives were Toni and Eddie Mannix.

Jim Beaver is just as convinced that George's death was a suicide, as was reported in the newspapers of the day.

And so, almost forty years later, we are left wondering. The real tragedy, however, is not that we don't know what happened, but that George Reeves' life came to end so suddenly and so violently. We miss his warm smile... the twinkle in his eye... the kindness of his heart.