Books and films about Dean/Bücher und Filme über Dean

Knocking On Heaven's Door

Rock Obituaries

Nick Talevski, 2006

page 541

Dean Reed

Born September 22, 1938
Died June 17, 1986

Virtually unknown in his native land, Denver-born Dean Reed was a pop music superstar in the Soviet Union and in his adopted home of East Germany. After scoring a minor US hit in 1959 with 'The Search', the left-wing activist left for the other side of the Iron Curtain. Also an actor, he appeared in 18 films including the Italien western Adios Sabata (1985). Having retained his US cizizenship, Reed occasionally visited his homeland. Actor Tom Hanks announced plans for a Reed biopic in 2005.

CAUSE: He died under mysterious circumstances. Reed was found fully clothed in the driver's seat of his car on the bottom of a lake near Berlin. Suffering martial problems, he left a suicide note addressed to German ruler Erich Honecker, written on the back of a screenplay. Fearing a public relations disaster, Honecker personally ordered the note to be hidden away in a government safe. Instead, Reed's death was ruled a swimming accident. But years after the fall of Communism, the note surfaced and was published by the German tabloid Bild.

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