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Christopher Reeve

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Christopher Reeve

Christopher Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, director, producer and writer renowned for his film portrayal of Superman/Clark Kent. In 1995 Reeve was paralyzed in a riding accident and for the rest of his life he was a wheelchair user, becoming a spokesperson for disabled people and for stem cell research.

Because of the similar surnames, people sometimes surmise that Christopher Reeve is related to George Reeves, an actor who portrayed a previous incarnation of Superman on television. The two are not related.

Acting career

Reeve was born in New York City to writer Franklin Reeve and journalist Barbara Johnson. He attended Cornell University as a member of the class of 1974, but left before earning his degree and began studying at the Juilliard Drama School under John Houseman. While at Juilliard, he became friends with Robin Williams, as well as with Kevin Conroy who would later be the voice actor for the animated Batman television series.

Reeve's first big break as an actor came in 1975 when he was selected to co-star opposite Katharine Hepburn in the Broadway play A Matter Of Gravity. Reeve stayed with the play throughout its year-long run and was given very favorable reviews. He and Hepburn became very close. Reeve credited the legendary actress with giving him many valuable lessons on acting. Hepburn in turn praised her young co-star. She predicted great things for him and joked that he would "support me in my old age." Reeve is reported to have joked back, "I don't think I'll live that long Miss Hepburn."

Reeve continued to work on the stage, as well as on the soap opera Love of Life'.' His first role in a Hollywood film was a small part as a submarine officer in the disaster movie Gray Lady Down in 1977.

With his stunning good looks and tall stature, Reeve is said to have drawn eyes when walking into auditions. This paid off when he beat out thousands of others for the role of Superman in the 1978 film directed by Richard Donner. This film was an enormous success and inspired three sequels. Coincidentally, Christopher Reeve's good friend Robin Williams also became a star that same year with the television show Mork & Mindy. Superman was the kind of part Reeve usually disdained. He once said, "I want to challenge myself in my roles, not run around on screen with a machine gun." However, Reeve did find that he could play the character with depth and challenge himself with the role. He said that there had to be something more to the Clark Kent character, otherwise you just had a "pair of glasses standing in for a character." Christopher Reeve essentially redefined Superman, no small feat considering what a global icon the character was and still is. To this day, people see Superman in Christopher Reeve.

In 1980, Reeve co-starred with Jane Seymour in Somewhere in Time, a time travel romance. Although this film was not popular at the time it was released, it has since inspired a wide "cult" following. Seymour thought so highly of Reeve that she named one of her children after him.

In 1984, Reeve won critical acclaim for his role as a 19th century southern lawyer in The Bostonians. He often said this was the best movie role of his career. It was immediately afterwards that he scored another triumph on the stage. This time it was on a London stage. Reeve had always been fond of England and jumped at the chance to co-star with his friend Vanessa Redgrave in The Aspen Papers which was an adaptation of a Henry James novel. Critics were astounded by his performance and headlines blurted "Superman can act!"

In 1987 he travelled to Chile, at that time under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, to stand in solidarity with several dozen actors and writers who had been threatened with death for their left wing views. Aboard his aircraft, he piloted them to safety and was widely praised as a humanitarian hero. In the same year, the fourth Superman sequel was released. Reeve helped write the screenplay because he wanted to send a powerful message about world peace. The plot focused on Superman ridding the world of nuclear weapons. Also in 1987, Reeve starred in the gritty Street Smart as a reporter who falsified a story about a pimp. Morgan Freeman won an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actor for his role as the pimp "Fast Black". Reeve's performance was dismissed by the critics; one even mocked, "Look up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane... it's Newsman!". In 1988, Reeve co-starred with friends, Burt Reynolds and Kathleen Turner, in the comedy Switching Channels. This was a modern day remake of the 1930s stageplay "The Front Page" and also provided the first comical role for Reeve. The movie flopped and Reeve was unable to land a major film role for the next four years.

Reeve had a great love for the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He served as an apprentice and on its Board of Directors. Despite becoming famous as Superman, he returned each summer until his accident. Reeve often faulted fellow actors for shunning stagework claiming they were dishonoring their craft. Reeve appeared in over 150 plays during his career.

Later life

Reeve discusses stem cell research at a conference at MIT, March 2, 2003

On May 27, 1995, Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from his horse, "Eastern Express," in a cross country riding competition in Culpeper, Virginia. Reeve later admitted that he briefly thought of suicide after realizing the extent of his disability. He credits his wife Dana Reeve with pulling him out of his depression. She told him, "I still love you no matter what. You are still you." Reeve has often said that these were the words that literally saved his life. He largely retired from the production of films after his paralysis, instead devoting his time to rehabilitation therapy. With his wife Dana, he opened the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center, a facility in Short Hills, New Jersey, devoted to teaching paralyzed people to live more independently. He and Dana also chaired the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, which funds research on paralysis and works to improve the lives of the disabled. To date, the Foundation has awarded $55 million in research grants and $7.5 million in quality-of-life grants. After Chris' death, Dana continued to chair the Foundation. Reeve also lobbied against the U.S. government's restrictions on stem cell research (and, based on this, his widow endorsed John Kerry for president in 2004 shortly after his death). [1]

Reeve also appeared in television movies after his accident. For example, in 1998 he appeared in a remake for TV of the famous film Rear Window, originally directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This remake is set in the time in which it was made and is characterized by its depiction of adaptive devices for wheelchair users. This clearly distinguishes the film from the original. For example, in the new film he sends emails by using speech recognition software (instead of the telephone used in the original).

On April 25, 1998 Random House published Reeve's autobiography, Still Me.

On February 25, 2003, he appeared in the television series Smallville as Dr. Swann, who provides young Clark Kent with insightful clues as to his origins. The episode, "Rosetta", was warmly received by critics and the viewing public as a fitting connection from one generation's Superman to the next. Reeve appeared in the role again in the April 14, 2004 episode "Legacy". The character of Dr. Swann died in the episode "Sacred," which aired on February 23, 2005. Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane in the Superman films continued the plot as Swann's assistant. Her character, Dr. Bridgette Crosby, was eventually killed in the episode entitled "Spirit", which aired on April 20,2005.

On October 25, 2004, A&E aired Reeve's second directorial project, "The Brooke Ellison Story." The film, starring Lacey Chabert and based on a true story, is about the life of an 11-year old girl who becomes a quadriplegic in a car accident (and becomes the first quadriplegic to graduate from Harvard University.)

Reeve died of heart failure on October 10, 2004 after suffering cardiac arrest and falling into a coma the previous day. He was 52 years old. In the week prior to his death, Reeve was being treated at Northern Westchester Hospital for a pressure ulcer, a common ailment for paralytics, that had subsequently become seriously infected.


Selected quotes

"I was worried that only acting with my voice and my face, I might not be able to communicate effectively enough to tell the story, but I was surprised to find that if I really concentrated, and just let the thoughts happen, that they would read on my face. With so many close-ups, I knew that my every thought would count."

"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable."

"If there is no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do."

Selected filmography

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An autographed photo of Reeve as Superman.
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With Jane Seymour in Somewhere In Time.

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