Hollywoodland... Superman... Zorro... and me...

Yesterday night, I went to "Michigan", one of the oldest cine theater of the United States. Constructed during the silent film era when films were shown with live musical accompanimentis, the place still resists in this era of multiplex and pop-corn cines. The movie was "Hollywoodland" about the the life and mysterious death by suicide of George Reeves, star of the television series "Superman" in the 50's. The Superman in question is interpreted by Ben Affleck (pas mal!) and Adrian Brody is the detective who investigastes the case. George Reeves became famous thanks to this role but as he cannot take off for other more credible compositions, he get depressed, broke with his mentor and torrid lover (the MGM boss' wife wonderfully interpreted by Diane Lane) and started an affair with a younger aspiring starlet. And suddenly, he died. Needless to say that I can't tell more.

At the end of the movie, I was thinking of two combined curses : the first consists in having a very popular role on TV and be unable to do something different in your career. I had my hero when kid : Zorro!!!! Well before Alain Delon (la classe!) and Antonio Banderas (nul!), the real true Zorro was an actor named Guy Williams... (see picture above) who became one the most popular actor in the late 50's in Hollywood. For those who were kids in the 80's in France, the serie was on air at 9:00 on saturdays at Disney Channel... I never missed one chapter. Like George Reeves, Guy Williams was recognized only for the role of his biggest career break. Worse : as he had to make his living, he performed a couple of serie B movies in Europe... "Captain Sindbad" and "Damon and Pythias"... two forgotten daubs... and made then some appearances in TV series (Bonanza and ... Lost in the Space) but for everybody, he was out..

Then he went to Argentina, made some money at a certain moment in a circus acting as Zorro (ohlala! what a decadence!) and died mysteriously sometime between April 30 and May 6, 1989 in his apartment in Buenos Aires. Many people wonder why his death went undiscovered for several days. Maybe another good scenario for an inventive studio in Hollywood... You see the curse!!!

The other curse is about Superman featured in comics, TV or movies... Well, be prepared.. it's a long-list...

• Georges Reeeve had this tragic death... (see above)
• In 1963, US President Kennedy's staff approved of a Superman comics story in which the hero touts the president's physical fitness initiatives, and Kennedy was shot and killed.
• Richard Pryor starred as a villain in 1983's Superman 3 , was drug addicted. Three years later, he announced that he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
• My idol Marlon Brando, who played Superman's father in Superman 1 underwent various personal tragedies later in his life: his son Christian killed the lover of Christian's half-sister and was sentenced 10 years prison. Cheyenne, depressed, committed suicide in 1995 and Brando died almost broken in 2005.
• Christopher Reeeve who played Superman (1,2, 3, 4) throughout the 1980s was paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from his horse. He died on 2004 due to heart failure...
• C'est pas fini...
• Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane opposite Reeve suffered from intense bipolar disorder. In 1996, she went missing for several days and was found by police in a paranoid, delusional state...
• In July 2006, Brandon Routh who plays Superman/Clark Kent in Superman Returns fell off his motorcycle, catapolting over the handle bars.

Conclusion : Watch out Banderas... (Alain Delon is dead no?)