January 18, 2023 • 29 mins
What happened to Dean?
A warning, this episode discusses suicide, so please take care where and when you listen.
Red Elvis is a co-production of iHeart Podcasts and School of Humans and is part of the Curiosity Audio Network. It's based on the Curiosity Stream documentary Red Elvis: The Cold War Cowboy. Check out the doc at https://curiositystream.com
Got tips, questions or comments? Email RedElvisPodcast@gmail.com
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Warning to listeners. This episode discusses suicide, so please take
care where and when you listen. If you are someone
you know maybe struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call
the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at eight hundred to
seven three, talk to anytime day or night, or chat online.
(00:33):
I remember the last conversation I had with Papa. He
called for my birthday. It was expensive, so it was short.
He asked what I was up to, said I love
you and happy birthday, things like that. We talked about
(00:56):
him coming back to the US. It was a pretty
normal conversation. A few weeks later, was taking finals at
Beverly Hills High and admin came to my classroom asked
for the teacher to come outside. A minute or so later,
the teacher came back and told me to go to
(01:19):
the principal's office. Her face was serious. I knew something
was up. The principal told me that I needed to
go home right away and said no more than that.
My mom and my stepdad were sitting on the couch
(01:39):
when I arrived. I could tell my mom had been crying.
I sat down. They held my hand and just told
me that my papa was dead. When I asked how
he died, she said they found him in the lake,
the same lake I'd swam it with Papa just the
(01:59):
summer before. My life changed. In that very moment, it
felt like the end. We had all these plans. I
didn't know that it was really the beginning. Thirty five
(02:27):
years later, after a life spent trying to forget the past,
I found myself going back to that moment. In my
mom's notes, I found a bunch of pages of an
old calendar, ripped out from a two ring binder. On
one side of each page is the month and date.
On the other side are lines for writing notes. The
(02:49):
first one Tuesday June, my mom writes Garrett list called
Mother and a phone call from Mom at eleven a m.
Garrett list also known as Frank Reek the last man
to talk to Papa, also a stas even format. The
note went on, Dean is dead swimming accident. He went
(03:12):
swimming this morning, maybe a heart attack. Then Wednesday June,
Ramona cancels graduation, passport and airline ticket. Ruth Anne leaves
today Thursday June nineteen work last night two hours for office.
Left for Germany with Ramona. That trip to Germany for
the funeral. It's stuck with me and with my mom.
(03:36):
Viebka at hotel said it was suicide, marriage problems, American
consul Ranada's house. The truth Police report see the body
Dean's funeral, foul play, many questions, love your brother, but
(04:00):
hate your I'm Ramona read and this is read Elvis
to think that piece in love would just say hey,
Then I learned the life is not only a gay Hey.
Each man must fight and fight a game. But never never,
(04:25):
never let your life just flow away. Eight Let your
life have value every day, Episode six, The Search Well.
In July seventeen ninety six, Presidium of the People's Police
spell in Criminal Investigation Division final Reports concerning the death
(04:49):
under suspicious circumstances of the United States citizen Dean Cyril
Read on September twenty two, nineteen thirty eight. So Dean
we goes missing. Two days after this fact is known,
the car is found near the Lake Admire. Vesta had
a communications for the Stasi records archive in Berlin. The
(05:10):
Stasi springs into action, and first thing is they go
to the wife and they want to know what happened
when she last saw him. And the stars. He finds
out they had a huge fight, after which Dean Reach
stormed out of the house late at night. On the
basis of this information and the automobile, the German People's
Police initiated an extensive search and investigation. These lead to
(05:33):
the discovery of the body of Dean Read approximately one
three hundred feet from the lake side at about oh
eight hundred twenty hours on June sevent My cousin Jim Reid,
so the official version from the East Germans that we
had heard that he had pulled his car over the
side of the road, dark road at night and um
(05:56):
just to splash water on his face or or compose himself,
that he was upset and then somehow toppled into the
water and drowned. It's it's just inconceivable. I mean, here's
a here's a guy that had been a collegic level
gymnast um. I mean could still vault onto a horse,
she jumped motorcycles, he could swim laps in a pool.
(06:19):
That that's not believable to her family. The autopsy performed
at the Forensic Institute of the Medical Division of the
Humboldt University in Berlin, reached the conclusion, taking into account
the post mortem changes due to the time the body
lay in the vata. That depth was caused by drowning
under the influence of toxic medicine. No evidence of traumatic
(06:44):
violence was found. The official version is that he may
have come to the lake, that he felt a little warm,
splashed some water on his face, and because he had
this medication in the system, fell into the lake and
was unable to swim. I knew Papa had been having
trouble sleeping. He took sleeping pills. The criminal investigations ruled
(07:04):
out the suspicion of a crime against Dean Read. At first,
the story we heard was it was an accident. As
no evidentially basis for suicide is present, it can be
presumed that Dean Read died by accidental drowning and that
there was no criminally relevant fault on the part of
(07:25):
another person. But my mom and I didn't buy it
Dean's funeral see the body foul play. Neither did the press.
Denver Post June East German's close mouthed on entertainer's death.
(07:45):
Sunday Times June Deathan Glynne for the factor who changed
his Tune World News Digest August one mystery and pop
star's death Entertainment Tonight, August eleven. Questions have been raised
to the East German government, but little has been revealed.
The U. S. State Department has for an investigation. It's
(08:07):
unlikely we'll ever know exactly what happened. To read it
was becoming a pr nightmare for the East Germans. Their
story started changing. Remember that phone call from Frank Creek
a k a. Garrett List on the night my father
went missing. At ten forty pm, Dean called me at
my apartment. You're my only friend. Can I sleep at
(08:31):
your place tonight? I agreed. I waited until two thirty
I am for Dieen to arrive, but he never did.
Let's gave an official statement where he claims Papa told
him he was going to kill himself. He said, I'm
leaving and I said that's not possible anymore. We signed
(08:54):
the contract and he said again, you didn't understand me correctly.
I am living this life. I can't live his Granada anymore.
I can't act in this movie with her. But if
I don't let another act in this movie, people are
going to start saying and said, oh, Mary. She's ruined
and I don't know what to do anymore. I am
(09:15):
leaving this life to me. If Papa said I'm leaving
this life, maybe he meant I'm going back home. I'm
leaving East Berlin. That was the plan he told me.
After all. At the funeral is where my mom met List,
and right from the start she didn't trust him. I
(09:38):
think lest lied about the phone call. I don't remember
meeting List, but he's there in the pictures. Either way,
It's hard for me to trust what a Stasi informant says.
The story continued to swirl in the media. Relatives believe
pop thing I was murdered. Singer's death still a mystery. Then,
(09:58):
about six months after he died, the Stasi released some
new evidence, a suicide note. Apparently the suicide note had
been in my father's car the size. He had it
for a while, but held on to it immediately. The
note raised red flags to me. It made the East
(10:19):
German government seemed even more suspicious if it was a
real note. I wonder, why hadn't we seen this already.
Weren't they obligated to at least tell me his family
the truth. Here's how Dagmar explains the timing of it. All.
Suicide means there are reasons, and that would be ideologically complicated,
because why would you commit suicide and socialism when you
(10:42):
are a poster boyd for how great it is to
live there. So it had all kinds of negative bylines
if you admit to the suicide. So I think it
took six months with the started to say all these
speculations don't really stop. We need to give out another
piece of evidence that makes the suicide a very clear option.
With the note here. The out itself is long and
(11:06):
kind of rambling. It's addressed to one of the men
in charge of radio and TV production in the g
d R. I am sorry, my friend. You are a
model for me, as so many fair socialists of Chili
to Lebanon. It's written in German, which I think is
a little strange. My death has nothing to do with politics.
(11:29):
That not our enemies, the fascists and reactionaries explained it
as such. The note puts much of the blame on Rnata,
their failing relationship and the doom film they were working
on together. I love Nada, but I can find no
way out of my problem. I have to film a difficult,
important film in a week with Nata. It can't go well.
(11:52):
She constantly screams at me that I'm only a showman
and have no courage to commit suicide. I wonder how
Rnata felt the note made her out to be the villain.
At the funeral and the days after, I remember she
was out of it. She barely spoke. This had been
a very difficult time for her, as you can imagine today,
(12:16):
she's in her late seventies. I've never felt ready to
ask her about what happened back then, at least not yet.
For many people in East Germany, the suicide explanation fit.
I was on vacation in the Baltic Sea coast, had
this little tiny television set, and I heard the news
(12:40):
Dean died, and I said to my wife, he committed
suicide my dad's friend and East German interpreter, Victor Grossman.
And what made me feel that was I knew that,
first of all, Dean's popularity was fading, and noticeably fading,
(13:00):
and he was no longer a youthful hero. His chance
of being were less and less. I knew that his
that other singers were pushing him out. I knew that
he was having troubles with his wife. I knew that
his chances of starting a new career in the United
States had pretty well been stymied by this awful program
(13:23):
with Mike Wallace in the sixty Minutes Show, And all
of these points made me think, ah ha, it's just
probably too much for him, and perhaps some incidents set
it off, perhaps not in any case that he decided
ended I'm not going to fight it anymore and gave
(13:45):
up de Reid fan Lana the one who ran out
of her house crying when she heard about my father's death.
She now thinks he took his own life. I sincerely
believe that he killed himself, and I do not blame
him for it. If you were in his shoes, I
would like to see you get through tremendous amount of
injuries that your head on, your body, cutting funding for
(14:09):
your movies, your relationship with the woman you love going
into shambles. If that is not enough to bring you down,
then I don't know what is. But Lana, I didn't
really know my father. I knew him, or at least
(14:30):
I thought I knew him, and I was getting to
know him even better. Could he could he really have
done something like this. As I've been making this podcast,
I've tried to stick to the facts tell papostory in
all its complexity. But dealing with his death, I have
to be honest. It's it's hard to be neutral. I
(14:53):
want to find other explanations. Consider this. Here's what he
said in an interview with ABC just a year before
he died, when asked about returning home. If I can't
have this one thing that I would like to be
in my country with my people, then I'm not going
to commit suicide because of it. It's a weird thing
(15:15):
to say out of nowhere, unless he was trying to
tell us something. In fact, he said something oddly similar
to entertainment tonight. I don't think it's probably important exactly
where I die. I think it's important how I die.
I think it's important that my death has a value
in the same way that I think that life must
(15:36):
have a value. But in his supposed suicide note, he
said this, my death has nothing to do with politics.
I would much rather have died also in Lebanon or Chili,
in the fight against our enemies, the criminals who have
tortured and killed my friends everywhere. But I also do
not achieve that now. He put his life on the
(15:58):
line so many times for his political beliefs, it's hard
for me to accept that he'd write that. It feels
even more convenient for the Stasi that he'd spell it
out so clearly. Papa's friend Neil had questions as well, say,
commits suicide. He's a very dramatic person. He wouldn't have
just gone off in a whimper like that. It would
(16:20):
have been dramatic. So then the third theory that we
heard was that he may have been killed by the
East German secret police, the Stasi, who were known to
(16:42):
do such work with political dissidents. My cousin Jim again,
so I guess of the three theories that one seemed
to resonate the most with the family. I mean, we've
heard stories of people being shot for trying to climb
the wall between East and West Berlin, and um, I
guess from what we'd heard that anything that reflected poor
(17:04):
and the Immunist Party and the regime UH and that
would have probably been a stain on their reputation. That
anybody who was making it so well they're behind the
iron curtain would even want to come back to the
U S and its evil capitalistic ways. My mom seemed
convinced of this theory, and her notes she lays it
(17:26):
all out. He was going to use this last film
for his entrance into the USA. They did not like this,
political pressure from DEFA Films in the Central Committee to
withdraw going to America. DEFA was the state owned film
studio of East Germany, the ones financing and producing my
(17:46):
father's film. They sent out heavy duty spies on Dean
in the last month of his life. The authorities had
to quickly build up a case. They had to get
rid of Dean. He was a bad boy in their eyes.
He was talking too much with the West, not following
the party line, appeared unstable to the conservative Germans. They
had spent too much time on him and he was
(18:09):
being a traitor to them, his wife, et cetera. They
did not want any embarrassment from Dean living in the
USA because they could not control him. Neil is pretty
blunt about his suspicions. It was pretty sure that he
had been assassinated. It was the most logical conclusion one
could arrive at, and that would be my first thought.
(18:33):
And since hasn't really changed. There's no evidence I found
to change my mind on that. After my father's death,
Neil was in touch with my grandmother Ruth. He remembers
seeing my father's appointment book among the belongings she had collected.
She had gone to Dean's memorial in East Berland and
she had only picked up a few things and the
one thing she picked up was his appointment book. She
(18:54):
showed me, said what do you know about this? She
opened the appointment book he had and big letters, capital letters,
called BBC, call ABC, called all the news services, and
we covered the whole page. Had he lived three more days,
he was going to make an announcement. I'm not sure
if a press conference was ever scheduled, but I did
(19:16):
you know that my dad had planned an interview with
British journalist and author Russell Miller. That interview was supposed
to take place two days after he disappeared. I wonder
what was he going to announce? My grandmother Ruth that
maybe he had inside information about Chernobyl. In fact, one
(19:36):
location for the film he'd been planning was inside the
fallout zone, and there was a summit coming up between
Reagan and gorbachof that signaled big changes in Newest Soviet relations.
Maybe he knew some secrets that could derail it. That
explanation could be a little far fetched. Maybe he was
(19:56):
going to announce his intention to leave East Berlin, leave
his career, his wife, and head back to the US
the two it is. We just don't know what he
wanted to say to the world. But did the Stasi know?
Would they consider his talk of leaving the g d
R and embarrassment or worse a threat. Could that have
(20:20):
been enough for the Stasi to kill him? This was
purest nonsense because he could leave any time he wanted.
He didn't have to flee. He left for the West
all the time. He went to West Berlin whenever he
wanted to. He had been in the United States for
a long time. Victor doubts that Papa had secrets the
stars he didn't want him to reveal. And as for secrets,
(20:42):
if he had had any secrets that he wanted to tell,
he could have told him to Mike Wallace on television.
He had a perfect chance and every other chance to
say when he was in the West. So this was
absolute nonsense from the Stasi's perspective. Dagmar thinks it doesn't
fit either. Why would the stars he killed and Read
There's nothing to gain, there's nothing to cover up in
(21:03):
that moment. He's not an aid gents, not um in
any way a danger to anything the stars he is doing.
The potential that under extreme circumstances the stars he would
even resort to killing a person has very a set
of defined criteria. So to apply this potential remote potential
(21:27):
to Dean Read does not really fit within the logic
um He was not an enemy of state, and even
his more recent openness to America wouldn't necessarily turn him
into an object of such great danger and hatred that
he needed to disappear because worldwide icon a very well
(21:48):
known singer, actor producer in the Eastern European world. If
he disappears or even is dead, it creates many more
problems for the study than they could potentially even solve
anything that they think they needed solving. Unless it wasn't
an intentional murder. Maybe they just wanted to talk some
(22:09):
sense into him, see if he changed his mind and
then somehow things got out of hand. It wasn't outside
the realm of possibility that perhaps he'd been run off
the road there and um either poisoned or killed and
then thrown in the lake or drowned. My father had
lots of other enemies, right wing forces in Argentina, Chile,
(22:32):
maybe the Soviets too, And of course let's not forget
the US. He was a man without a country to
an American. He's a trader anyway. But at the same
time he also alienates everybody in the East because he
truly hasn't really renounced his capitalist roots, because he obviously
wants to go back, so he manages to make both
(22:55):
sides mad at him. And let's not rule out the
possibility of some random person with a grudge. I've been
hearing my mom in my head for decades. A body
was found. But was it Deans or is he in
a camp somewhere in Russia prison I dismissed this idea
for years. I thought she was crazy for thinking this.
(23:17):
This wasn't one of her Hollywood scripts. But now I
can't help But wonder was was his death staged? See
the body? It was foul play? KGB goon many questions.
I've been on this search for almost four years and
(23:38):
still don't have any hard evidence makes me angry, determined.
I don't know where this journey will take me. The
search for truth will demand so much work, international travel, translations,
forensic examinations. Not to mention money and time, But make
(24:00):
no mistake, I'm going to put in the work m
because for me, the only thing I can do is
keep searching all of the hives, the sky and waves
(24:20):
on the bye we as a search for you. I
traveled to these, not travel to the way. I don't
care how long it takes. Don't ever take race. I'm
not a doubling back and do You're in my bone
and I can see you. Not a day with Dolidy
John Sunlight in the stall search. Papa sent me a
(24:53):
cassette a month before he died. When I first got
it and listened to it over and over, shared it
with all my friends. It was the only time you
sent me a recording and the last time I heard
from him higher a morning every loveday. I'm in a
little village outside of Progue and just finished my long play.
(25:14):
I hope you like it. During one of our long
conversations on that Moscow trip, I had confided to him
that I had a secret boyfriend My mom didn't know,
but he understood. I wonder who Jildia maad you, Marilyn Manroir.
Only you and I know that when Papa died, I
boxed the tape up. It was too painful to be
(25:35):
reminded of him now, though I treasure it. All of
my friends here wanted to help me make this one
little song just for you. Did. I'm not blood may Bo,
(26:02):
I'm not gonna Mary in the Spring. I'm in a
lone with a pretty little girl. Where the down and
rum am im justest country board money money have I none?
(26:44):
But I have got sid in the start, and I've
got gold moll and Sun, and I've got gold more
(27:26):
have a nice to be a. I love him three
very much. Thank you so much for listening to this show.
It's obviously very personal for me. If you want to
reach out with tips, questions, or comments, you can email
(27:47):
me at red Elvis podcast at gmail dot com. Red
Elvis is a co production of I Heart Podcasts and
School of Humans, based on the Curiosity Stream documentary Red
Elvis the Cold War Cowboy, directed by Thomas Ladder and
produced by Talas Films. Check out the doc at Curiosity
Stream dot com to learn more about Dean and Ramona
and to watch his performances from all over the world.
(28:09):
This show is hosted, co written, and executive produced by
Ramona Read. Jason English, Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr and Else
Crowley are executive producers. Ryan Murdoch is the co writer
and senior producer. Jessica Metzker is the senior producer. Jeremy
Tholl That's Me is our editor. Fact checking by Savannah Hugely,
Adam Bisno, and Nicole Lechan. This episode was mixed and
(28:29):
mastered by Zubin Hensler. Thomas Ladder is consulting producer. Dean
Read is voiced by Mark Valley. Patty Read is voiced
by Nicole Britton. Casting support services provided by Breakdown Services.
Additional voices provided by Fabian Verfel, Miranda Hawkins and Nouredd
and Tabney. Music licensing by John Luego for Tructor Entertainment.
(28:50):
Additional music by Jeremy Thal and Zubin Hensler. Narration recorded
at JTB Studios, Los Angeles. Special thanks to John Higgins
with Curiosity Stream. If you're enjoying the show, leave a
review in your favorite podcast app. Check out The Curiosity
Audio at Work for podcasts covering history, pop culture, true crime,
and more. School of Humans
Warning to listeners. This episode discusses suicide, so please take
care where and when you listen. If you are someone
you know maybe struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call
the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at eight hundred to
seven three, talk to anytime day or night, or chat online.
(00:33):
I remember the last conversation I had with Papa. He
called for my birthday. It was expensive, so it was short.
He asked what I was up to, said I love
you and happy birthday, things like that. We talked about
(00:56):
him coming back to the US. It was a pretty
normal conversation. A few weeks later, was taking finals at
Beverly Hills High and admin came to my classroom asked
for the teacher to come outside. A minute or so later,
the teacher came back and told me to go to
(01:19):
the principal's office. Her face was serious. I knew something
was up. The principal told me that I needed to
go home right away and said no more than that.
My mom and my stepdad were sitting on the couch
(01:39):
when I arrived. I could tell my mom had been crying.
I sat down. They held my hand and just told
me that my papa was dead. When I asked how
he died, she said they found him in the lake,
the same lake I'd swam it with Papa just the
(01:59):
summer before. My life changed. In that very moment, it
felt like the end. We had all these plans. I
didn't know that it was really the beginning. Thirty five
(02:27):
years later, after a life spent trying to forget the past,
I found myself going back to that moment. In my
mom's notes, I found a bunch of pages of an
old calendar, ripped out from a two ring binder. On
one side of each page is the month and date.
On the other side are lines for writing notes. The
(02:49):
first one Tuesday June, my mom writes Garrett list called
Mother and a phone call from Mom at eleven a m.
Garrett list also known as Frank Reek the last man
to talk to Papa, also a stas even format. The
note went on, Dean is dead swimming accident. He went
(03:12):
swimming this morning, maybe a heart attack. Then Wednesday June,
Ramona cancels graduation, passport and airline ticket. Ruth Anne leaves
today Thursday June nineteen work last night two hours for office.
Left for Germany with Ramona. That trip to Germany for
the funeral. It's stuck with me and with my mom.
(03:36):
Viebka at hotel said it was suicide, marriage problems, American
consul Ranada's house. The truth Police report see the body
Dean's funeral, foul play, many questions, love your brother, but
(04:00):
hate your I'm Ramona read and this is read Elvis
to think that piece in love would just say hey,
Then I learned the life is not only a gay Hey.
Each man must fight and fight a game. But never never,
(04:25):
never let your life just flow away. Eight Let your
life have value every day, Episode six, The Search Well.
In July seventeen ninety six, Presidium of the People's Police
spell in Criminal Investigation Division final Reports concerning the death
(04:49):
under suspicious circumstances of the United States citizen Dean Cyril
Read on September twenty two, nineteen thirty eight. So Dean
we goes missing. Two days after this fact is known,
the car is found near the Lake Admire. Vesta had
a communications for the Stasi records archive in Berlin. The
(05:10):
Stasi springs into action, and first thing is they go
to the wife and they want to know what happened
when she last saw him. And the stars. He finds
out they had a huge fight, after which Dean Reach
stormed out of the house late at night. On the
basis of this information and the automobile, the German People's
Police initiated an extensive search and investigation. These lead to
(05:33):
the discovery of the body of Dean Read approximately one
three hundred feet from the lake side at about oh
eight hundred twenty hours on June sevent My cousin Jim Reid,
so the official version from the East Germans that we
had heard that he had pulled his car over the
side of the road, dark road at night and um
(05:56):
just to splash water on his face or or compose himself,
that he was upset and then somehow toppled into the
water and drowned. It's it's just inconceivable. I mean, here's
a here's a guy that had been a collegic level
gymnast um. I mean could still vault onto a horse,
she jumped motorcycles, he could swim laps in a pool.
(06:19):
That that's not believable to her family. The autopsy performed
at the Forensic Institute of the Medical Division of the
Humboldt University in Berlin, reached the conclusion, taking into account
the post mortem changes due to the time the body
lay in the vata. That depth was caused by drowning
under the influence of toxic medicine. No evidence of traumatic
(06:44):
violence was found. The official version is that he may
have come to the lake, that he felt a little warm,
splashed some water on his face, and because he had
this medication in the system, fell into the lake and
was unable to swim. I knew Papa had been having
trouble sleeping. He took sleeping pills. The criminal investigations ruled
(07:04):
out the suspicion of a crime against Dean Read. At first,
the story we heard was it was an accident. As
no evidentially basis for suicide is present, it can be
presumed that Dean Read died by accidental drowning and that
there was no criminally relevant fault on the part of
(07:25):
another person. But my mom and I didn't buy it
Dean's funeral see the body foul play. Neither did the press.
Denver Post June East German's close mouthed on entertainer's death.
(07:45):
Sunday Times June Deathan Glynne for the factor who changed
his Tune World News Digest August one mystery and pop
star's death Entertainment Tonight, August eleven. Questions have been raised
to the East German government, but little has been revealed.
The U. S. State Department has for an investigation. It's
(08:07):
unlikely we'll ever know exactly what happened. To read it
was becoming a pr nightmare for the East Germans. Their
story started changing. Remember that phone call from Frank Creek
a k a. Garrett List on the night my father
went missing. At ten forty pm, Dean called me at
my apartment. You're my only friend. Can I sleep at
(08:31):
your place tonight? I agreed. I waited until two thirty
I am for Dieen to arrive, but he never did.
Let's gave an official statement where he claims Papa told
him he was going to kill himself. He said, I'm
leaving and I said that's not possible anymore. We signed
(08:54):
the contract and he said again, you didn't understand me correctly.
I am living this life. I can't live his Granada anymore.
I can't act in this movie with her. But if
I don't let another act in this movie, people are
going to start saying and said, oh, Mary. She's ruined
and I don't know what to do anymore. I am
(09:15):
leaving this life to me. If Papa said I'm leaving
this life, maybe he meant I'm going back home. I'm
leaving East Berlin. That was the plan he told me.
After all. At the funeral is where my mom met List,
and right from the start she didn't trust him. I
(09:38):
think lest lied about the phone call. I don't remember
meeting List, but he's there in the pictures. Either way,
It's hard for me to trust what a Stasi informant says.
The story continued to swirl in the media. Relatives believe
pop thing I was murdered. Singer's death still a mystery. Then,
(09:58):
about six months after he died, the Stasi released some
new evidence, a suicide note. Apparently the suicide note had
been in my father's car the size. He had it
for a while, but held on to it immediately. The
note raised red flags to me. It made the East
(10:19):
German government seemed even more suspicious if it was a
real note. I wonder, why hadn't we seen this already.
Weren't they obligated to at least tell me his family
the truth. Here's how Dagmar explains the timing of it. All.
Suicide means there are reasons, and that would be ideologically complicated,
because why would you commit suicide and socialism when you
(10:42):
are a poster boyd for how great it is to
live there. So it had all kinds of negative bylines
if you admit to the suicide. So I think it
took six months with the started to say all these
speculations don't really stop. We need to give out another
piece of evidence that makes the suicide a very clear option.
With the note here. The out itself is long and
(11:06):
kind of rambling. It's addressed to one of the men
in charge of radio and TV production in the g
d R. I am sorry, my friend. You are a
model for me, as so many fair socialists of Chili
to Lebanon. It's written in German, which I think is
a little strange. My death has nothing to do with politics.
(11:29):
That not our enemies, the fascists and reactionaries explained it
as such. The note puts much of the blame on Rnata,
their failing relationship and the doom film they were working
on together. I love Nada, but I can find no
way out of my problem. I have to film a difficult,
important film in a week with Nata. It can't go well.
(11:52):
She constantly screams at me that I'm only a showman
and have no courage to commit suicide. I wonder how
Rnata felt the note made her out to be the villain.
At the funeral and the days after, I remember she
was out of it. She barely spoke. This had been
a very difficult time for her, as you can imagine today,
(12:16):
she's in her late seventies. I've never felt ready to
ask her about what happened back then, at least not yet.
For many people in East Germany, the suicide explanation fit.
I was on vacation in the Baltic Sea coast, had
this little tiny television set, and I heard the news
(12:40):
Dean died, and I said to my wife, he committed
suicide my dad's friend and East German interpreter, Victor Grossman.
And what made me feel that was I knew that,
first of all, Dean's popularity was fading, and noticeably fading,
(13:00):
and he was no longer a youthful hero. His chance
of being were less and less. I knew that his
that other singers were pushing him out. I knew that
he was having troubles with his wife. I knew that
his chances of starting a new career in the United
States had pretty well been stymied by this awful program
(13:23):
with Mike Wallace in the sixty Minutes Show, And all
of these points made me think, ah ha, it's just
probably too much for him, and perhaps some incidents set
it off, perhaps not in any case that he decided
ended I'm not going to fight it anymore and gave
(13:45):
up de Reid fan Lana the one who ran out
of her house crying when she heard about my father's death.
She now thinks he took his own life. I sincerely
believe that he killed himself, and I do not blame
him for it. If you were in his shoes, I
would like to see you get through tremendous amount of
injuries that your head on, your body, cutting funding for
(14:09):
your movies, your relationship with the woman you love going
into shambles. If that is not enough to bring you down,
then I don't know what is. But Lana, I didn't
really know my father. I knew him, or at least
(14:30):
I thought I knew him, and I was getting to
know him even better. Could he could he really have
done something like this. As I've been making this podcast,
I've tried to stick to the facts tell papostory in
all its complexity. But dealing with his death, I have
to be honest. It's it's hard to be neutral. I
(14:53):
want to find other explanations. Consider this. Here's what he
said in an interview with ABC just a year before
he died, when asked about returning home. If I can't
have this one thing that I would like to be
in my country with my people, then I'm not going
to commit suicide because of it. It's a weird thing
(15:15):
to say out of nowhere, unless he was trying to
tell us something. In fact, he said something oddly similar
to entertainment tonight. I don't think it's probably important exactly
where I die. I think it's important how I die.
I think it's important that my death has a value
in the same way that I think that life must
(15:36):
have a value. But in his supposed suicide note, he
said this, my death has nothing to do with politics.
I would much rather have died also in Lebanon or Chili,
in the fight against our enemies, the criminals who have
tortured and killed my friends everywhere. But I also do
not achieve that now. He put his life on the
(15:58):
line so many times for his political beliefs, it's hard
for me to accept that he'd write that. It feels
even more convenient for the Stasi that he'd spell it
out so clearly. Papa's friend Neil had questions as well, say,
commits suicide. He's a very dramatic person. He wouldn't have
just gone off in a whimper like that. It would
(16:20):
have been dramatic. So then the third theory that we
heard was that he may have been killed by the
East German secret police, the Stasi, who were known to
(16:42):
do such work with political dissidents. My cousin Jim again,
so I guess of the three theories that one seemed
to resonate the most with the family. I mean, we've
heard stories of people being shot for trying to climb
the wall between East and West Berlin, and um, I
guess from what we'd heard that anything that reflected poor
(17:04):
and the Immunist Party and the regime UH and that
would have probably been a stain on their reputation. That
anybody who was making it so well they're behind the
iron curtain would even want to come back to the
U S and its evil capitalistic ways. My mom seemed
convinced of this theory, and her notes she lays it
(17:26):
all out. He was going to use this last film
for his entrance into the USA. They did not like this,
political pressure from DEFA Films in the Central Committee to
withdraw going to America. DEFA was the state owned film
studio of East Germany, the ones financing and producing my
(17:46):
father's film. They sent out heavy duty spies on Dean
in the last month of his life. The authorities had
to quickly build up a case. They had to get
rid of Dean. He was a bad boy in their eyes.
He was talking too much with the West, not following
the party line, appeared unstable to the conservative Germans. They
had spent too much time on him and he was
(18:09):
being a traitor to them, his wife, et cetera. They
did not want any embarrassment from Dean living in the
USA because they could not control him. Neil is pretty
blunt about his suspicions. It was pretty sure that he
had been assassinated. It was the most logical conclusion one
could arrive at, and that would be my first thought.
(18:33):
And since hasn't really changed. There's no evidence I found
to change my mind on that. After my father's death,
Neil was in touch with my grandmother Ruth. He remembers
seeing my father's appointment book among the belongings she had collected.
She had gone to Dean's memorial in East Berland and
she had only picked up a few things and the
one thing she picked up was his appointment book. She
(18:54):
showed me, said what do you know about this? She
opened the appointment book he had and big letters, capital letters,
called BBC, call ABC, called all the news services, and
we covered the whole page. Had he lived three more days,
he was going to make an announcement. I'm not sure
if a press conference was ever scheduled, but I did
(19:16):
you know that my dad had planned an interview with
British journalist and author Russell Miller. That interview was supposed
to take place two days after he disappeared. I wonder
what was he going to announce? My grandmother Ruth that
maybe he had inside information about Chernobyl. In fact, one
(19:36):
location for the film he'd been planning was inside the
fallout zone, and there was a summit coming up between
Reagan and gorbachof that signaled big changes in Newest Soviet relations.
Maybe he knew some secrets that could derail it. That
explanation could be a little far fetched. Maybe he was
(19:56):
going to announce his intention to leave East Berlin, leave
his career, his wife, and head back to the US
the two it is. We just don't know what he
wanted to say to the world. But did the Stasi know?
Would they consider his talk of leaving the g d
R and embarrassment or worse a threat. Could that have
(20:20):
been enough for the Stasi to kill him? This was
purest nonsense because he could leave any time he wanted.
He didn't have to flee. He left for the West
all the time. He went to West Berlin whenever he
wanted to. He had been in the United States for
a long time. Victor doubts that Papa had secrets the
stars he didn't want him to reveal. And as for secrets,
(20:42):
if he had had any secrets that he wanted to tell,
he could have told him to Mike Wallace on television.
He had a perfect chance and every other chance to
say when he was in the West. So this was
absolute nonsense from the Stasi's perspective. Dagmar thinks it doesn't
fit either. Why would the stars he killed and Read
There's nothing to gain, there's nothing to cover up in
(21:03):
that moment. He's not an aid gents, not um in
any way a danger to anything the stars he is doing.
The potential that under extreme circumstances the stars he would
even resort to killing a person has very a set
of defined criteria. So to apply this potential remote potential
(21:27):
to Dean Read does not really fit within the logic
um He was not an enemy of state, and even
his more recent openness to America wouldn't necessarily turn him
into an object of such great danger and hatred that
he needed to disappear because worldwide icon a very well
(21:48):
known singer, actor producer in the Eastern European world. If
he disappears or even is dead, it creates many more
problems for the study than they could potentially even solve
anything that they think they needed solving. Unless it wasn't
an intentional murder. Maybe they just wanted to talk some
(22:09):
sense into him, see if he changed his mind and
then somehow things got out of hand. It wasn't outside
the realm of possibility that perhaps he'd been run off
the road there and um either poisoned or killed and
then thrown in the lake or drowned. My father had
lots of other enemies, right wing forces in Argentina, Chile,
(22:32):
maybe the Soviets too, And of course let's not forget
the US. He was a man without a country to
an American. He's a trader anyway. But at the same
time he also alienates everybody in the East because he
truly hasn't really renounced his capitalist roots, because he obviously
wants to go back, so he manages to make both
(22:55):
sides mad at him. And let's not rule out the
possibility of some random person with a grudge. I've been
hearing my mom in my head for decades. A body
was found. But was it Deans or is he in
a camp somewhere in Russia prison I dismissed this idea
for years. I thought she was crazy for thinking this.
(23:17):
This wasn't one of her Hollywood scripts. But now I
can't help But wonder was was his death staged? See
the body? It was foul play? KGB goon many questions.
I've been on this search for almost four years and
(23:38):
still don't have any hard evidence makes me angry, determined.
I don't know where this journey will take me. The
search for truth will demand so much work, international travel, translations,
forensic examinations. Not to mention money and time, But make
(24:00):
no mistake, I'm going to put in the work m
because for me, the only thing I can do is
keep searching all of the hives, the sky and waves
(24:20):
on the bye we as a search for you. I
traveled to these, not travel to the way. I don't
care how long it takes. Don't ever take race. I'm
not a doubling back and do You're in my bone
and I can see you. Not a day with Dolidy
John Sunlight in the stall search. Papa sent me a
(24:53):
cassette a month before he died. When I first got
it and listened to it over and over, shared it
with all my friends. It was the only time you
sent me a recording and the last time I heard
from him higher a morning every loveday. I'm in a
little village outside of Progue and just finished my long play.
(25:14):
I hope you like it. During one of our long
conversations on that Moscow trip, I had confided to him
that I had a secret boyfriend My mom didn't know,
but he understood. I wonder who Jildia maad you, Marilyn Manroir.
Only you and I know that when Papa died, I
boxed the tape up. It was too painful to be
(25:35):
reminded of him now, though I treasure it. All of
my friends here wanted to help me make this one
little song just for you. Did. I'm not blood may Bo,
(26:02):
I'm not gonna Mary in the Spring. I'm in a
lone with a pretty little girl. Where the down and
rum am im justest country board money money have I none?
(26:44):
But I have got sid in the start, and I've
got gold moll and Sun, and I've got gold more
(27:26):
have a nice to be a. I love him three
very much. Thank you so much for listening to this show.
It's obviously very personal for me. If you want to
reach out with tips, questions, or comments, you can email
(27:47):
me at red Elvis podcast at gmail dot com. Red
Elvis is a co production of I Heart Podcasts and
School of Humans, based on the Curiosity Stream documentary Red
Elvis the Cold War Cowboy, directed by Thomas Ladder and
produced by Talas Films. Check out the doc at Curiosity
Stream dot com to learn more about Dean and Ramona
and to watch his performances from all over the world.
(28:09):
This show is hosted, co written, and executive produced by
Ramona Read. Jason English, Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr and Else
Crowley are executive producers. Ryan Murdoch is the co writer
and senior producer. Jessica Metzker is the senior producer. Jeremy
Tholl That's Me is our editor. Fact checking by Savannah Hugely,
Adam Bisno, and Nicole Lechan. This episode was mixed and
(28:29):
mastered by Zubin Hensler. Thomas Ladder is consulting producer. Dean
Read is voiced by Mark Valley. Patty Read is voiced
by Nicole Britton. Casting support services provided by Breakdown Services.
Additional voices provided by Fabian Verfel, Miranda Hawkins and Nouredd
and Tabney. Music licensing by John Luego for Tructor Entertainment.
(28:50):
Additional music by Jeremy Thal and Zubin Hensler. Narration recorded
at JTB Studios, Los Angeles. Special thanks to John Higgins
with Curiosity Stream. If you're enjoying the show, leave a
review in your favorite podcast app. Check out The Curiosity
Audio at Work for podcasts covering history, pop culture, true crime,
and more. School of Humans
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