Superman@70: Famous Firsts

Who was the first actor to portray Superman?

The first actor to portray the Man of Steel was Kirk Alyn, who starred in the 1948 Superman movie serial. Born in Oxford, New Jersey, Alyn started out as a chorus boy on Broadway, which

While it's true Kirk Alyn was the first actor to portray Superman on the silver screen, it was an actor named Ray Middleton who first donned the Superman costume in public...at the 1940 New York World's Fair, no less! (click on the photos for a larger view)

On July 3rd, 1940, DC Comics and Macy's co-sponsored Superman Day at the Fair's World of Tomorrow exhibit. In addition to Middleton appearing as Superman, the festivities included a live radio broadcast, reduced admission for kids, and a Fair-exclusive edition of World's Fair Comics.

Sure, Middleton probably wouldn't be our first choice to play Superman now, but keep in mind that the look of that era's comic book Superman wasn't really nailed down yet. With artist Joe Shuster's dramatically increased workload, a small army of "ghost" artists were hired to take up the slack, which contributed to Superman's constantly evolving look during this time period.  Add to that Shuster's sketchy, indistinct design of Superman's face, and casting a real life "match" for the Superman character was essentially just finding a reasonably fit guy with black hair. Of course, Middleton seemed to bring much more than black hair to the role, as the heroic poses from these rare photographs imply.

Although those authentic laced boots are pretty nifty, I think my favorite part of the costume is the word "Superman" along the top of the triangular S-shield.  Although it's hard to imagine now, there really was a time when Superman's S-shield wasn't the instantly recognized symbol it would one day be, so curious members of the public needed to be properly "introduced" to this strange costumed man. Smart marketing, actually.

I should note that when these photos first appeared in The Amazing World of DC Comics #7 (1975), the staff of the in-house fan magazine had no idea who was wearing the Superman costume. Consigning his name "lost to history", they asked fans for any information they might have on the man "for the sake of trivia fans everywhere".  Happily, someone must have come forward and identified Middleton...an actor who went on to play roles on Broadway (South Pacific, Annie Get Your Gun, Man of La Mancha), in movies (Gangs of Chicago), and various TV roles from the 1950's through the early 1980's.

Comments

[chris w.]

They didn't have IMDB in 1975?

[Pat Curley]

I don't know if Bud Collyer ever donned the uniform, but he certainly portrayed Superman before Alyn or Middleton.