Hollywood's Unhappiest Endings: Legends Never Die Updated

by Les MacDonald

  In closing the case in 2011, the Beverly Hills Police Department said that they had sorted through 150,000 pieces of evidence and had spent six months running down tips and leads. Lt. Tony Lee said that “all facts and evidence conclusively indicate that Mr. Smith acted alone and he was in possession of the murder weapon.” The last word goes to actor Morgan Freeman: “I had the extreme pleasure of working with Ronni on Driving Miss Daisy. We’ve been friends ever since. She is someone I greatly admired and she will be remembered.”

  Two Supermen Down

  George Reeves (1914-1959)

  Christopher Reeve (1952-2004)

  You could forgive George Reeves if he was a little mixed up regarding his early years. He was born into the less than blissful union of Don and Helen Breiner…five months into the marriage. Back in 1914, this was still a bit tricky so Helen simply lied about the child’s birth date. Until he was an adult, George had thought that he had been born in April when he was actually a January baby. Anyway, Helen and Don divorced and Helen split for California with young George. George never saw his father again. In California, Helen didn’t really let the grass grow under her feet. She met and married Frank Bessolo. Frank was a good guy and did the right thing by adopting George. George was still young so Helen just let him believe that Frank was his real father. That seemed to work for awhile, that is, until Helen and Frank decided to split. This time George was told that Frank had committed suicide. It was years before he found out that George was actually still alive and that he was his stepfather and not his biological father. Confused? Me too, let’s move on.

  Helen had high hopes for George He was acting in high school plays and was studying acting at the Pasadena Playhouse which, at the time, was an old renovated Burlesque theater. The work paid off and George was offered a small part in 1939’s Gone With The Wind. Soon after this, he married Ellanora Needles, a woman he had met during his Pasadena Playhouse days. He appeared in many minor roles throughout the 1940’s. When his marriage failed in 1949, George moved to New York City and picked up work acting in some minor television shows and in radio plays. Still, real success was eluding the actor. That was all about to change.

  DC Comics was working on a proposed television series for their hero Superman. George auditioned for and won the role and the pilot was filmed in 1951. The tv series made George an instant star. It was around this time that he met Toni Mannix. Toni was a former Ziegfield Follies showgirl who was now married to MGM manager Eddie Mannix. Toni and George began a torrid affair…more on Toni in a bit. By 1957 George was tired of playing the super hero. The series greatly restricted his options and he longed to be recognized as a serious actor. He was now being typecast and even an appearance on I Love Lucy involved him dressed as the hero in the episode Lucy Meets Superman.

  In 1958, George ended his affair with Toni and announced his engagement to Leonore Lemmon. Some say that Toni, despite staying married to Eddie Mannix, never got over George. What happened on the night of June 16, 1959 has been the subject of much speculation for more than 50 years. Here’s what we do know. George and Leonore had been dining out with writer Richard Condon. Leonore and George had argued in the restaurant and the three ended up back at George’s place in Benedict Canyon. George was not a happy camper and went up to his bedroom. George became even more ticked off when he was disturbed from his midnight slumber by neighbors looking to party. He went downstairs to complain about the noise but ended up having a drink with the partiers who, by now, were quite inebriated. After his drink George, reportedly still in a foul mood, went back upstairs to try to get back to sleep. What happened next and who was where when it happened…well, that’s up for grabs. There was a gunshot that came from the upstairs bedroom. George Reeves was dead. One of the witnesses downstairs puts Leonore upstairs at the time that the shot was fired. The others say she was downstairs. An inquest into the shooting determined that George committed suicide. There were some that thought Toni Mannix had hired a hitman to kill her former lover. Others thought that Eddie Mannix had ordered the hit. Eddie certainly had the right connections if he had wanted George dead. Still, others claimed that Leonore had fired the fatal shot. Despite those possible scenarios, the official verdict remained suicide.

  In 2006, more than 45 years after the event, the movie Hollywoodland was released. Ben Affleck played the role of George Reeves. The film offered up three versions of Superman’s demise. In the first, he is killed accidentally by Leonore. In the second, he is killed by a hitman under orders from Eddie Mannix. The third version is suicide. Which one do you believe? Leonore Lemmon attempted to collect on part of George’s estate. It didn’t happen. She left Hollywood and moved to New York City. She passed away in 1989 at the age of 66. Eddie Mannix died in 1963. Toni Mannix, who had stayed with Eddie until he died, built a shrine to George in her bedroom. She never remarried after Eddie’s death and passed away in 1983 at the age of 77.

  Christopher Reeve was born in 1952 while George Reeves was portraying Superman on television. At the age of nine he was cast in a school play, The Yeoman of the Guard. The youngster was hooked. Many more student plays followed through high school and into college. He chose Cornell University because of its proximity to New York City. His plan was to jumpstart his acting career in the Big Apple after graduating. While at Cornell, he received a letter from Robert Redford’s agent who was interested in performing the same service for Christopher. In 1973, Reeve was accepted into Juilliard. He had been chosen, along with Robin Williams, out of 2,000 applicants. Both were accepted into Juilliard’s advanced program and developed a life-long friendship. In 1975 Christopher was acting in the daytime soap Love of Life when he auditioned for a play starring Katharine Hepburn. He played Hepburn’s grandson in A Matter of Gravity and the pair became good friends. In 1978 he would appear in his first Hollywood movie. It was a small role in Gray Lady Down which starred Charlton Heston. His next role would make him a star.

  It was 1977 and Reeve auditioned for the role of Clark Kent/Superman. It would turn out to be his signature role. Superman was released in 1978 and was the second biggest movie of the year. Only Grease made more money. Somewhere in Time, a romance story with Jane Seymour did not do well but was followed by Superman II in 1980. It proved to be another big box office hit. Christopher made a few minor movies but returned to the Superman franchise for another go in 1983. Richard Pryor was in the movie and the film became more comical than serious.

  The third installment still made money but didn’t reach the box office success of the first two. The critics also blasted it. For his part, Reeve said he was now finished with the role that had made him a star. However, that wasn’t exactly the case. After receiving good notices in 1984’s The Bostonians, Christopher made some questionable movie choices. He turned down the role made famous by Michael Douglas in Fatal Attraction and the Mel Gibson role in Lethal Weapon. Both were big hits in 1987. Instead, that same year, Reeve donned the cape one more time and he would live to regret it. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace bombed badly with both fans and critics. It made a paltry $15.7 Million at the box office and sounded the death knell for the Superman franchise. Christopher’s personal life was also in turmoil. His relationship with Gae Exton, with whom he had two children, had ended. He dove headlong into Switching Channels, a romantic comedy with Burt Reynolds and Kathleen Turner. The problem? The movie was not funny. Reynolds and Turner did not get along and Reeve felt like he was the referee during most of the filming. He now worried that his career in Hollywood was finished. Several television movies followed and then he was offered the role of Jack Lewis in The Remains of the Day. It was a good role for the actor and he received good reviews. Not only that, the movie was a hit and went on to be nominated for eight Academy Awards.

  Near the time that The Remains of the Day was putting his career back on track, his personal life also took a turn for the better. Christopher met a singer named Dana Morodini and the two were married in 1992. In June, Dana gave birth to th
e couple’s first child, Will. Things were looking up and Christopher was fielding offers in Hollywood. Back in the 1980’s, Christopher had taken up riding horses. He did that for a role in a movie but ended up enjoying it. By the mid 1990’s he had his own horse (Buck) and was training to take part in equestrian events. On May 27, 1995 Reeve was entered in an equestrian event un Culpepper, Virginia. The third jump in the event was a routine three foot jump but for some reason Buck pulled up. Christopher was thrown over the fence landing head first. The impact fractured his first and second vertebrae. His injuries were catastrophic.

  It took five days of drifting in and out of delirium before he regained complete consciousness. The doctors explained the severity of his injuries. Dana was at his side. After listening to the doctors, Christopher mouthed the words, “maybe we should let me go.” Dana replied: “I am only going to say this once. I will support whatever you want to do because this is your life and your decision but I want you to know that I’ll be with you for the long haul, no matter what. You’re still you…and I love you.” Regaining consciousness and making the decision to live was just part of the battle. The actor had to face depression as the operation to reattach his skull to his spine was approaching. Reeve later wrote: “The operation was frightening to contemplate. I knew I had only a 50-50 chance of surviving the surgery. Then, at one especially bleak moment, the door flew open and in hurried a squat fellow with a blue scrub hat and a yellow surgical gown and glasses, speaking in a Russian accent.” The man said that he was a proctologist and was there to perform a rectal exam on Christopher. It was Robin Williams. Reeve: “For the first time since the accident, I laughed. My old friend helped me know that somehow I was going to be okay.”

  The surgery was performed by Dr. John Jane. Jane was the Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Virginia. He was also the recipient of the Cushing Medal which is the highest award given out by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Bone from Christopher’s hip was used to put in between the C1 and the C2 vertebrae. Wires and a titanium pin were inserted through holes drilled in the skull and used to reattach it to the spinal column. He survived the operation but long months of rehab lay ahead. He fought and worked hard and by the end of 1995 he was able to breathe for 30 minutes without the aid of a respirator.

  Despite intensive rehab, Christopher was front and center as an activist for people with spinal cord injuries. The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation was set up for funding further research and to enhance the lives of people with disabilities. To date the foundation has awarded more than $75 Million in grants for research and quality of life. The actor also co0founded the Reeve-Irvine Research Center which is widely recognized as one of the finest spinal injury centers in the world. Christopher was also named Vice Chairman of the National Organization on Disabilities and the Chairman of the American Paralysis Association.

  Christopher Reeve was able to return to work in 1997. He directed his first movie In the Gloaming. It was made by HBO and starred Glenn Close. The movie was a success and Reeve received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Director. The following year he starred in a television remake of Hitchcock’s 1954 thriller Rear Window. This time he was nominated for a Golden Globe and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by a male in a television movie.

  Christopher also led the fight for stem cell research. He continued to lobby the government for increased funding for embryonic stem cell research right up until his death. In early October 2004, he was being treated for an infection with antibiotics. Late in the evening of October 9, Christopher went into cardiac arrest. And drifted into a coma. The next day he suffered another heart attack that ended his life. The doctors put his death down to a bad reaction to the antibiotics. The way he died seemed almost anti-climactic when you think of the struggle that he put up with to live.

  Less than a year later, Dana Reeve was diagnosed with lung cancer even though she had never smoked.. She continued to head the couple’s charitable foundation until her death in 2006. She had passed away just 16 months after her husband and was only 44 years old. Christopher Reeve was 52 years old. Today, the three Reeve children are close. Matthew and Alexandra (his children with Gae Exton) are now 31 and 27. Will is now 20 and all three carry on the family tradition by serving on the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation board of directors. Christopher and Dana would be very proud.

  The Rebel Without A Cause Curse

  Rebel Without A Cause is a movie made by Warner Bros. and released in the US on October 27, 1955. It was one of the top grossing films of the year making well over $7 Million (1955 dollars) on a budget of just over $1 Million. The movie starred James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo and was directed by Nicholas Ray. The film is mainly remembered as being a vehicle for James Dean. It’s also known for the tragic deaths of the three main stars. We’ll begin with the star of the film.

  James Dean…James was going to Santa Monica College and majoring in pre-law. He made a decision to transfer to UCLA and changed his major to drama. He was soon chosen to play the role of Malcolm in the university’s production of MacBeth. He had been picked over 350 other young actors.

  It was 1951 and James was determined to make a career out of acting. He dropped out of UCLA and landed in a Pepsi commercial. Later that year he moved to New York City and found work in several television shows. He also enrolled in the Actor’s Studio. Meanwhile, the young actor was receiving good reviews while appearing on shows such as the General Electric Theater and Robert Montgomery Presents. Hollywood was taking note and Dean’s career was about to receive a huge boost.

  Elia Kazan was searching for the right actor to play in East of Eden. The role was that of Cal Trask and it was a star-making turn. Dean made the role his own and received an Academy Award nomination. East of Eden was released in April 1955. Hollywood capitalized on the new acting sensation and Dean was almost immediately cast in Rebel Without A Cause. The tagline for the movie went like this :” The overnight sensation of East of Eden becomes the star of the year. The movie also starred Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo. The film was a hit and was especially popular among teenagers. Dean was the perfect actor to display the teen angst of the 1950’s. He was becoming one of Hollywood’s fastest rising stars.

  Next up for James was Giant. James was billed third in the credits behind Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson. He may not have been the film’s star but his acting as Jett Rink stole the movie. Another Academy Award nomination followed but James would not be around to celebrate.

  James loved fast and racing. It is a fact that Warner Bros. had he to ban him from racing during the filming of Giant. In March, 1955, James had driven his new Porsche 350 Super Speedster in the Palm Springs Road Races. When filming on Giant was wrapped, James traded in his Speedster for a Porsche 550 Spyder and on September 30, 1955 he headed to Salinas, California for an auto rally. James had originally intended to have the Spyder towed to Salinas but at the last minute he changed his mind. He decided to drive and Rolf Wietherich (his mechanic) tagged along. Bill Hickman (his friend and dialogue coach on Giant) and photographer Sanford Roth followed in Bill’s station wagon. At around 3:30pm James was pulled over for speeding. It was at about 5:30pm when Dean was driving west on Highway 466 (now State Route 46) when an oncoming 1950 Ford began turning left. The 23 year old driver, Donald Turnupseed, didn’t see the Spyder until it was too late. The result was a catastrophic head on collision. Rolf was thrown from the vehicle and suffered head injuries and a broken leg but he survived. Turnupseed received only minor injuries. The only person killed in the accident was James Dean.

  Donald Turnupseed never spoke publicly about the accident. He went on to become the head of an electrical contracting company. It was very successful and made him a wealthy man. He died of lung cancer at the age of 63 in 1995. Rolf Wietherich himself was later killed in an auto accident in Germany in 1981. He had been working for Porsche for 18 years. James Dean became the first actor to receive two Academ
y Award nominations posthumously…receiving those for East of Eden and Giant. He also won two posthumous Golden Globes…in 1956 for Best Dramatic Actor and in 1957 for World Film Favorite. James Dean only made three movies and was dead at the age of 24.

  Natalie Wood…Natalie was already working in the movies at the age of five. By 1947, when she was nine years old, she had appeared in Miracle on 34th Street as well as The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. By the time 1955 rolled around, the 17 year old had quite a Hollywood resume having already appeared in more than 20 films and numerous television shows. In 1955 she was chosen to play the role of Judy in Rebel Without a Cause. The movie would earn Natalie her first Academy Award nomination. During the filming, the drama was not confined to the set. The 17 year old actress was having a torrid affair with the film’s 43 year old director, Nicholas Ray. It’s been said that the only thing that kept Ray from being charged with statutory rape was the fact that the pair hid the affair so well. It was years before the fling became public knowledge. Soon after the affair ended, Natalie met Robert Wagner. The pair hit it off and were soon married. Natalie was 18 and Wagner was 27.

  Fast forward to 1961 and Natalie’s Hollywood career was booming. That year she starred in both Splendor in the Grass and West Side Story. Splendor got Natalie another Academy Award nomination while West Side Story won the Best Picture Award. That same year, she divorced Robert Wagner…a busy year for the 22 year old. Natalie didn’t exactly go into mourning over the split. She began a relationship with her Splendor co-star Warren Beatty. In 1963 she starred in Love with the Proper Stranger with Steve McQueen. Her performance received rave reviews and earned her a third Academy Award nomination. Natalie was just 25 years old and had already received three Academy Award nominations…but not everything was as it seemed.