Ed Gross at CloserWeekly.com has published an article and podcast dedicated to the memory of George Reeves and his role as Superman in the 1950s “Adventures of Superman” TV series.
“As I got older, I saw how George Reeves brought the character to life in those early episodes,” says Michael Hayde, “and if there’s any drawback to them, it’s that Superman is all fists and fury and a serious demeanor. And later on Reeves got to bring more of himself into the role and became more of a personality and less the super traffic cop.”
Whatever misgivings George may have had early on, his appeal in the role is absolutely undeniable, whether you were a first generation viewer or not. “I think one of the big strengths was his portrayal of Clark,” suggests Steve Younis, who runs the Superman Homepage, the most popular site in the world devoted to the Man of Steel. “Clark Kent was obviously the dominant character in that series. Superman would show up to save the day, but Clark was doing the investigating and had the relationship with Lois and Jimmy, and then Perry White. I guess Clark almost played a father figure role, not just in the way the viewers of the show saw him, but the characters of the show, too. He was that guy that was looking out for everybody. He was just kind of endearing.”
A lot of actors have a “boomerang” of emotions when they get closely associated with a part. First they’re excited for a steady job and (depending on the actor/part) enjoy the adulation. Then a switch gets flipped; maybe they want to do something else, maybe they just get tired of people calling them by their character name, maybe it’s a financial thing (especially for actors known for heavily syndicated shows from before the SAG/AFTRA residuals rules changed in the 1970s), and maybe they just consider the part an old shame. Then they circle back around and embrace it, and the… Read more »