George Reeves

George Reeves was born George Keefer Brewer in Woolstock, Iowa, to Helen Roberta (Lescher) and Donald C. Brewer. He was of German, English, and Scottish descent. Following his parents' divorce and his mother's remarriage to Frank J. Bessolo, Reeves was raised in Pasadena, California, and educated at Pasadena Junior College. He was a skilled amateur boxer and musician. He interned as an actor at the famed Pasadena Playhouse, performed in dozens of plays, and was discovered there by casting director Maxwell Arnow. He was cast as Stuart Tarleton in Gone with the Wind (1939). While shooting the film, he appeared in another play at the Pasadena Playhouse and was seen there and signed by Warner Bros. studios. Over the next ten years he was contracted to Warners, Fox and Paramount. He achieved near-stardom as the male lead in So Proudly We Hail! (1943), but war service interrupted his career, and after he returned it never regained the same level. While in the Army Air Corps he appeared on