Raymond Burr. He appeared on the TV series Topper ("Reducing"). In 1954, Reeves had a small supporting role as a cop in the Ed Wood film Jail Bait. It was his first film and earned him his Screen Actors Guild card. "I had a suit on at all times," he later recalled. "I even had a tie. Only took my shirt off once. Those were the days, huh?" The same year Reeves was in the MGM musical Athena, playing the boyfriend of Jane Powell's character. These two films are the only ones Reeves made in the United States where his actual voice was used; Reeves acted in Italian-made films for the remainder of his career, where all dialogue and sound effects were added in post-production. Reeves guest-starred on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show as the owner of a gym. On December 17, 1954, Reeves guest-starred in the ABC sitcom Where's Raymond?, starring Ray Bolger as Raymond Wallace, a song-and-dance man. Reeves played a well-built office employee whom Wallace sees in the company of Wallace's girlfriend, Susan. In 1955, Reeves appeared in two Broadway shows, Kismet and The Vamp. Pictures of Reeves' costume test for the lead in Li'l Abner (1959) can be found on the Internet. He worked for American Health Studios in public relations, opening up fitness studios. That same year he married his first wife, teenaged starlet Sandra Smith. Hercules In Italy, director Pietro Francisci wanted to make a film about Hercules but could not find anyone suitable to play the role. His daughter recommended Reeves on the basis of his appearance in Athena and Francisci offered him the role and a plane ticket to Italy. Reeves at first did not think he was serious but eventually agreed and flew to Italy to make the film. His fee was $10,000. Hercules was a relatively low-budget epic based loosely on the tales of Jason and the Argonauts, though inserting Hercules into the lead role. The film proved popular in Europe. What made it an international sensation was when US distribution rights were bought by Joseph E. Levine, who spent over $1 million promoting it, turning the film into a major box-office success, grossing $5 million in the United States in 1959. However this did not happen until Reeves had already made four more films in Europe. The first was a sequel to Hercules, Hercules Unchained (1959), again