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September 6, 2006 In the early morning of June 16, 1959, there was a death at 1579 Benedict Canyon Rd, in the city of Beverly Hills, California. According to the police – and other reports, a group of people was downstairs, drinking heavily. Upset by the last-minute party arranged by his fiancée, the owner of the home went upstairs, took a Luger out of a night table drawer, put it up against his right temple, and pulled the trigger. The bullet passed through the left side of his head and settled in the ceiling, 12 feet above his head. Superman was dead. Official cause: self-inflicted gunshot wound to the right temple. Actually, the man who portrayed the legendary super hero on television was the victim. A 46 year-old George Reeves, reportedly despondent with his typecasting as Superman and his inability to get other acting work, apparently took his own life. The fiancée, Leonore Lemmon, told the guests and the police as much. Just moments before the shot was fired, she even told the guests that Reeves was going to kill himself. Just moments before the shot was fired. Wow, pretty omniscient for a woman who was quite inebriated at the time.  George Reeves' mysterious death is subject of a new movie Hollywoodland. In the 47 years since the shooting, many theories have been put forth as to what actually happened that night in Reeves' bedroom. Some agree with the coroner's report, but with a different twist: that he was so fed up with Lemmon and her drunken antics, that he walked up stairs and killed himself for that reason. Another, which is the basis for the movie Hollywoodland – which opens Friday September 8th – is that a jilted lover and her husband conspired to steal the life of the Man of Steel. For just about 10 years, Reeves had been having a very Hollywood-open affair with Toni Mannix, wife of MGM vice-president Eddie Mannix. Everyone in the industry was reportedly aware of the situation, which, amazingly, had the approval of Mr. Mannix himself. According to a book called Hollywood Kryptonite, Eddie Mannix had heart problems that left him unable to perform his husbandly duties, so his wife being with another man was virtually a necessity if he wanted to keep her in his life. But not long before his death, Reeves ended things with Toni Mannix, and began his relationship with Lemmon, a New York socialite-type whom he met while in Florida on a trip. Toni was portrayed to be heartbroken, and Eddie was said to be furious that Reeves would hurt his wife. In those concurrent frames of mind, it's been speculated that they came up with the plan to murder Reeves, using some of Eddie's alleged "connections" to do the job. And nearly five decades later, no one really knows what happened. There is one man, however, who has a solid theory and the credentials to back it up. His name is Gene LeBell, who was George Reeves' personal trainer and one of his closest confidants. LeBell, a 2000 inductee to the Martial Arts Hall of Fame, is generally acknowledged as the "Toughest Man Alive." He's known as "Judo Gene" and the "Godfather of Grappling," and is still an active teacher and participant in the mixed martial arts even though he's in his seventies. He's also one of Hollywood's leading stuntmen, appearing in more than 1,000 movies as a stuntman and actor. (You can check out his personal profile at www.genelebell.com). He worked out with Reeves on an almost daily basis, and was part of his traveling road show, playing the dastardly Mr. Kryptonite opposite Reeves' Superman. Mr K would kidnap Lois Lane (portrayed by TV's actual Miss Lane, Noel Neill), and Reeves would then come to her rescue, putting a beating on the villain. They traveled around the world together, and LeBell was as close to Reeves as anyone in the actor's life. And the notion that his friend would kill himself is as unbelievable today as it was 47 years ago. "In my mind," said LeBell, "there's not one chance in 1000 that he killed himself. This was a man who was never down. He was the ultimate happy-go-lucky guy. He just didn't let things bother him.
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