''He was a movie star, acting in a box.'': Jack Larson on George Reeves struggling to change his acting for television
Movie stars and television actors received different training, which contributed to the higher prestige associated with film performers. But as television productions surged in the 1950s, major studios like MGM were forced to let go of some of Hollywood’s biggest talents because they could no longer afford their expensive contracts.
What was once dismissed as work for "washed-up movie stars or actors not good enough for the big screen" soon became a sought-after opportunity for many Hollywood actors, including George Reeves. According to his co-star Jack Larson, who played Jimmy Olsen, Reeves had to change his acting to fit the vibe of television, which was a bit of an issue mentally for the Man of Steel.
"George was a good actor, although sometimes you couldn't tell what he was saying because he talked too fast... acting has changed though. It was changing then," he said, as quoted in the book Hollywood Kryptonite: The Bulldog, The Lady and The Death of Superman by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger.
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"I came into the 1950s with a kind of naturalism that other people on the show weren't doing. Something was going on in the '50s, and I had done enough live acting in television that I was aware of it. But George had not moved into it. He was still doing Warner Bros. or Paramount performing. It was a different kind of training. He was a movie star, really — he'd had all the preparation and training to be a movie star. But he was trapped on that small screen. He was a movie star, acting in a box, on a kiddie show, in a piece of furniture."
Though Reeves was a true star, the role of Superman followed him for the rest of his life.