Actors on The Adventures of Superman also felt the constraints of Ellsworth's systematic approach. To save money, the many scenes set in the offices of the Daily Planet would all be shot together, even if they took place in different episodes. "Nobody knew what we were doing or what scripts we were in," said Jack Larson. The veteran John Hamilton took to reading his lines off papers scattered on Perry White's desk. One cast member who didn't mind much was George Reeves, who may not have had superpowers but reportedly possessed a photographic memory. Despite the confusion, the show was kept afloat by the chemistry among the cast members, sparked when the ebullient Noel Neill came in as Lois Lane for the Ellsworth episodes. Having done the serials, she was the logical choice when Phyllis Coates (who didn't know whether more Superman shows would be filmed) took another job after the first season. In fact, the entire troupe was kept up in the air, as production was shut down and then resumed time and again. "DC Comics would let us know if we were going to do any more," said Neill. "The cast wouldn't see one another for a year and a half, then we'd get the call." Groups of 13 episodes were made during brief flurries of intense activity in 1954, 1955, 1956, and 1957. There were 104 in all, the final 52 foresightedly filmed in color. One startling result of the switch to color was that Noel Neill's hair, which had previously looked as dark as Lois Lane's, suddenly showed up in her natural shade of red.
The one constant was George Reeves, who sometimes seemed to be carrying the entire series on his padded shoulders. When he wasn't filming, he made numerous personal appearances for groups of children. He was very conscious of his responsibility to his audience, as he explained in a 1954 interview: "In Superman, we're all concerned with giving the kids the right kind of show. We don't go for too much violence. Once, for a big fight scene, we had several of the top wrestlers in town do the big brawl. It was considered too rough by the sponsors and producer, so it was toned down. Our writers and the sponsors have children, and they are all very careful about doing things on the show that will have no adverse effect on the young audience. We even try, in our scripts, to give gentle messages of tolerance and to stress that a man's color and race and religious beliefs should be respected." When his remarks were not intended for public consumption, Reeves was less sentimental about kids, who sometimes tested his invulnerability with swift kicks. In Detroit, a boy showed up with a loaded gun, and Reeves had to talk him out of shooting it by explaining that bullets fired at Superman might bounce off and injure someone else.
On June 16, 1959, Reeves was found dead of a gunshot wound. The official verdict was suicide, but some of his associates suspected foul play. By all accounts an affable man, Reeves had apparently grown disillusioned that his career, interrupted by service in World War II, had turned him into a children's entertainer. He regretted missed opportunities and feared that he had been typecast. Yet he had begun to direct episodes of "Superman" and was engaged to be married at the time of his death. Wild speculations continue to appear in print (the most persistent rumor is that Reeves died after stepping out of a skyscraper window, attempting to fly), but his death remains a mystery. And in spite of his appearance in such prestige films as Gone with the Wind, So Proudly We Hail, and From Here to Eternity, it was as Superman that George Reeves achieved his measure of immortality. "Superman is a legend," said Noel Neill. "We had no idea that we were involved with anything that would go on and on, and I'm sure it will still be going on long after we're all gone."