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Before a horseback riding accident paralyzed him from the neck down, Christopher Reeve was best known for his portrayal of Superman in the 1978 film directed by Richard Donner. The film was Reeve's second appearance on the big screen, after a role in Gray Lady Down, earlier that year. He made three sequels to Superman, and, in an interview he once said that when he asked Sean Connery how to avoid being typecast, Connery answered, "First you have to be good enough that they ask you to play it again and again."

Christopher Reeve was born on September 25, 1952, in New York. He studied at Cornell University, while at the same time working as a professional actor. In his final year of Cornell, he and Robin Williams, who became a life-long friend, were selected to study at the Julliard School of Performing Arts. When it became financially difficult for him to continue his studies, Reeve took a role in the soap opera Love of Life. In 1976, he dropped out of Julliard to take a role in the Broadway play, A Matter of Gravity, starring Katharine Hepburn. Reeve since appeared in many feature films, TV movies and some 150 plays. He also hosted many specials and documentaries. Some of his better-known films include, Somewhere in Time (1980), Deathtrap (1982), The Bostonians (1984), The Remains of the Day (1993), and Above Suspicion (1995). In addition to his early stage work, Reeve appeared in The Marriage of Figaro in New York, Summer and Smoke with Christine Lahti in Los Angeles, and he toured with Love Letters in several major cities. He also starred in a well-received production of The Aspern Papers in London's West End with Vanessa Redgrave and Dame Wendy Hiller. He liked to spend summers at the Williamstown Theater Festival.

Politically active, Reeve was a founding member and past president of the Creative Coalition, an advocacy group of artists, and was a passionate supporter of the National Endowment For The Arts. In 1987, he faced tear gas and real personal danger when Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman asked him to travel to Chile and lead a demonstration in support of 77 artists targeted with death warrants by the Pinochet government. For his successful efforts to free the artists, Reeve received a special Obie Award in 1988.

In May, 1995, Reeve was thrown from his horse during a riding event, and, landing on his head, broke the top two vertebrae in his spine. Left paralyzed from the neck down, Reeve became an active advocate for bringing greater public awareness to the needs of those with spinal cord injuries. He and his wife created a fundraising foundation called the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation to raise research money and provide grants to local agencies that focus on quality of life for the disabled. He was also an outspoken advocate for the need for stem cell research.

Despite his injury, Reeve continued to work, both as an actor and as a director, winning accolades for his role in a TV production of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, and acclaim for his directorial debut of the HBO-film In the Gloaming. His autobiography, Still Me, was a bestseller, and he won a Grammy for his spoken album, of the same title.

Reeve died of heart failure on October 10, 2004, after being treated for a systemic infection that resulted from a pressure sore, a common affliction for people living with paralysis. He was survived by two children, Matthew and Alexandra, from his relationship with Gae Exton, and by his son Will and wife Dana Morosini, whom he married in 1992.

Last updated: May 17, 2005.

• Born: 25 September 1952
• Birthplace: New York, New York
• Died: 10 October 2004 (heart failure)
• Best Known As: The Superman star who later was paralyzed

Christopher Reeve's leading role in Superman (1978) made him a star, but it was his recuperation after a 1995 horse riding accident that made him a symbol of persistence and courage. Reeve was a little known stage actor from New York when he was chosen out of 200 candidates to star in a big-budget movie version of the comic book hero Superman. He appeared in three sequels, Superman II (1980, with Gene Hackman), Superman III (1983, with Richard Pryor) and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), and starred in several other films, stage plays and TV movies. In May of 1995 Reeve was thrown from his horse in a jumping competition and sustained a near-fatal injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Confined to a wheelchair, he went on to make public appearances and eventually resumed his career, doing mostly voice work and some directing. He also wrote about his recovery in the book Still Me (1999).

Christopher Reeve was not related to actor George Reeves, who played Superman in the 1950s television series The Adventures of Superman.

• Born: Sep 25, 1952 in New York City, New York
• Died: Oct 10, 2004
• Occupation: Actor, Director
• Active: '80s-'90s
• Major Genres: Drama, Action
• Career Highlights: Switching Channels, Street Smart, The Remains of the Day
• First Major Screen Credit: Superman: The Movie (1978)

Biography

Though he has played a variety of leading roles, tall, dark, and wholesomely handsome Christopher Reeve will always be the definitive Superman to an entire generation of "Man of Steel" fans. That his definitive character was such a model of physical prowess only serves to intensify the tragedy of Reeve's post-Superman years, marked by a 1995 horseback riding accident that left him almost completely paralyzed.

A native of New York City, Reeve was born to journalist Barbara Johnson and professor/writer Franklin Reeve on September 25, 1952. When he was four, his parents divorced, and Reeve and his brother went with their mother to Princeton, NJ, after she married her second husband, a stockbroker. Reeve became interested in acting at the age of eight, an interest that complemented his musical studies at the time. The following year, he made his professional acting debut in a production of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta at Princeton's McCarter Theater. He would continue to work with the theater through his early teens and further enhanced his resumé at the age of 15, when he received a summer apprenticeship to study drama in Williamstown. The following year, he secured his first agent.

Reeve went on to major in English and music at Cornell University. Following his graduation, he pursued a master's degree in drama at Juilliard and then studied under actor John Houseman's tutelage before heading to Europe to work at London's Old Vic and the Comedie Française of Paris. Upon his 1974 return stateside, Reeve took over the role of Ben Harper on the long-running soap opera Love of Life; he stayed with the show through 1978. During this period, he made his Broadway debut, starring opposite Katharine Hepburn in a production of A Matter of Gravity.

Though he had made his feature-film debut with a small role in the undersea adventure Gray Lady Down (1977), Reeve did not become a star until he beat out a number of big name actors, including Robert Redford, Sylvester Stallone, and Clint Eastwood, to don the metallic blue body stocking and red cape in Richard Donner's 1978 blockbuster Superman: The Movie. Though the film abounded with exuberant, sly humor, Reeve played his Superman straight, giving him great charm, a touch of irony, and a clumsy wistfulness, thereby creating a believable alien hero who masquerades as a bungling newsman and pines for the love of unknowing colleague Lois Lane. The film was one of the year's most popular and earned Reeve a British Academy Award for Most Promising Newcomer. He went on to reprise the role in the film's three sequels, none of which matched the quality and verve of the original.

In a concerted effort to avoid typecasting, Reeve attempted to prove his versatility by essaying a wide variety of roles. In 1980, while Superman II was in production, he returned to Broadway to appear as a gay amputee in Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July. That same year, he also starred in the romantic fantasy Somewhere in Time, playing a Chicago playwright who travels back in time to capture the attentions of a beautiful woman (Jane Seymour). Though generally cast as a good guy, Reeve occasionally attempted darker characters. In Deathtrap (1981), he played a crazed playwright, while he portrayed a corrupt priest in the dismal Monsignor (1982) and a reporter entangled in the prostitution industry in Street Smart (1987). Reeve returned to television in Sleeping Beauty, an entry in Shelley Duvall's distinguished Faerie Tale Theater. He subsequently had success appearing in television movies such as Anna Karenina (1985) and Death Dreams (1992). In the late '80s, Reeve became involved in various social causes and co-founded the Creative Coalition. He was also active with Amnesty International, even going to Chile in 1987 to show support for imprisoned authors. His interest in improving the world is apparent in the earnest but much-panned Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), for which he wrote the story.

By the mid-'90s, Reeve was still busy juggling his film, television, and stage work. It all abruptly came to a halt in June 1995, when he fell from a horse during a steeplechase race. Having broken several key bones in his neck, Reeve was left completely paralyzed and could not even breathe without special assistance. The doctors' prognosis for his recovery remained grim, but Reeve still retained hope that advances in medical science would someday allow him to walk again. In 1996, he helped establish the UCI Reeve-Irvine Research Center, which specializes in spinal cord injuries; Reeve's work with the center was indicative of the strength and fortitude he had consistently displayed since his accident. In addition to his offscreen commitments, Reeve continued to work in film and television, making his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed made-for-cable drama In the Gloaming (1997) and starring in the 1998 TV-movie remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.

Reeve credited much of his post-accident survival to his wife, former cabaret singer Dana Morosini. The two married in 1992, after Reeve separated from Gae Exton. He and Exton -- a modeling executive whom he met while filming the first Superman in England -- never married, but had two children together. He also had a son with Morosini.

On October 10, 2004, after years as an outspoken advocate for stem-cell and spinal-cord-injury research, Reeve passed away from heart failure at the age of 52. A year and a half later, his wife Dana died of lung cancer.

Prior to their deaths, the Reeves began to develop a pet project, the CG-animated feature Everyone's Hero, with voices by an all-star line-up of performers. The picture told the story of a young boy in the 1930s whose talking bat is stolen by a crooked security guard. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

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Christopher Reeve (born 1952) is an actor who has worked on behalf of those with disabilities ever since he suffered an injury that left him a quadriplegic.

Inspirational, brave, determined this is how actor and activist Christopher Reeve has been described ever since a devastating accident in 1995 left him paralyzed from the neck down. Best known for his starring role in four Superman movies, Reeve saw his life change forever in a mere moment. His tireless efforts to secure funding for spinal cord research may one day lead to a cure for paralysis. "I think God sent Chris to be the man to do this because of his heart and courage and awareness and fight, " declared his longtime friend and fellow actor Mandy Patinkin in People magazine. "The ironies are unbelievable. He's more than Superman."

A native of Manhattan, Reeve was the oldest of two sons born to Franklin D. Reeve, a novelist, translator, and university professor, and Barbara Pitney Lamb Johnson, a journalist. Reeve's parents were divorced when he was about four years old and he moved with his mother and brother to Princeton, New Jersey. Although he grew up there amid affluence, following his mother's remarriage to a stockbroker, he nevertheless had to cope with the lingering anger and tension that characterized his parents' relationship.

Reeve would often pass the time away during his youth playing the piano, swimming, sailing, or engaging in some other solitary activity. And while he was still just a child around ten or so the stage began call. His very first role was in a Princeton theater company's production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Yeoman of the Guard, and after that experience, Reeve was hooked. Later, as a gawky teenager lacking in self-confidence, he found that acting helped him overcome his feelings of clumsiness and inadequacy. "[My life] was all just bits and pieces, " Reeve explained to Time magazine reporter Roger Rosenblatt. "You don't want to risk getting involved with people for fear that things are going to fall apart. That's why I found relief in playing characters. You knew where you were in fiction. You knew where you stood."

Reeve starred in virtually every stage production at his exclusive private high school and also spent the summer months immersed in the theater, either as a student or an actor. By the time he was sixteen, he was a bona fide professional with an Actors' Equity Association membership card and an agent.

After graduating from high school in 1970, Reeve attended Cornell University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English and music theory in 1974. Meanwhile, he continued his drama education, serving as a backstage observer at both the Old Vic in London and the Comedie-Francaise in Paris before enrolling in the Juilliard School for Drama in New York City to pursue graduate studies.

Reeve's first major acting assignment came shortly after his graduation from Cornell when he joined the cast of the television soap opera "Love of Life." He remained with the program for two years, during which time he also performed on stage in the evenings with various New York City theater companies, including the Manhattan Theater Club and the Circle Repertory Company. Reeve made his Broadway debut in 1975 in the play A Matter of Gravity, an offbeat comedy starring Katharine Hepburn. Even though it received lackluster reviews and closed after only a few weeks, it provided Reeve with the opportunity to learn valuable lessons about his craft from one of the greatest actresses of the century.

Later that same year, Reeve headed to California and won his first movie role, a bit part in a 1978 nuclear submarine disaster movie titled Gray Lady Down. But when no other work was forthcoming, he returned to New York City and appeared in an off-Broadway play that opened in January 1977.

Then, to Reeve's surprise, Hollywood came calling with an offer to try out for the role of Superman in an upcoming film of the same title. (After approaching several big-name actors who turned them down or who just didn't suit the part, the project's producers and director had decided to go after an unknown.) At first, Reeve thought the idea was downright silly and very un-theatrical, but then he read the script and loved it. So when he was invited back for a screen test, he was determined to beat out the other hopefuls for the part. Reeve prepared for two solid weeks, experimenting with complete makeup and costume changes for both Superman and Clark Kent. He aced the screen test and the part was his.

Filming on Superman began in the spring of 1977 and took about eighteen months to complete, partly because of its technical complexity and certain logistical problems. When it premiered in December 1978, it met with almost universal critical acclaim and astounding box-office success. Suddenly, Reeve was a megastar with all of the baggage that entailed, including countless demands on his time, a total loss of privacy, and the danger of being typecast forever as the hunky "Man of Steel."

Deluged with offers, Reeve accepted a part in a low-budget romantic drama as his next project. Somewhere in Time, which also starred Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer, was released in 1980 to less-than-enthusiastic reviews and a lukewarm reception at the box office. Since then, however, it has developed a cult-like following among those who find its dreamy quality and pretty scenery irresistible.

Reeve's next project was Superman II, which he had agreed to do when he signed on for the first film. It, too, was spectacularly successful upon its debut in mid-1981, setting what was then a record by taking in five million dollars on a single day. The critics also liked it, with some even saying that it was better than the first movie.

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Reeve enjoyed an increasingly busy film career. Besides reprising his most famous role in Superman III (1983) and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), which he also helped write, Reeve appeared in about a dozen other pictures, including Deathtrap (1982), Noises Off (1992), The Remains of the Day (1993), Speechless (1994), and Village of the Damned (1995). Reeve was also involved in a number of television productions during this same period, among them the movies Anna Karenina (1985), The Rose and the Jackal (1990), Death Dreams (1991), The Sea Wolf (1993), and Above Suspicion (1994). In addition, he appeared in several documentaries for which he served as host and narrator. He also appeared on Faerie Tale Theatre in a production of "Sleeping Beauty" and in an episode of Tales from the Crypt.

In between working in film and television, Reeve often returned to the stage, both on and off-Broadway and in regional venues such as the Williamstown (Massachusetts) Theatre. During the summer of 1980, for example, he appeared in Williamstown in The Cherry Orchard, The Front Page, and The Heiress. Later that same year, he opened on Broadway in the hit drama Fifth of July and remained with the cast for five months. He then returned to Williamstown in the summer of 1981 to perform in The Greeks. Reeve's subsequent stage appearances included The Aspern Papers in London in 1984 and New York productions of The Marriage of Figaro (1985) and Love Letters. In Williamstown, he performed in Holiday, John Brown's Body (1989) and The Guardsman (1992).

On May 27, 1995, Reeve's world was shattered in a matter of seconds when he was thrown from his horse head first during an equestrian competition in Virginia. The impact smashed the two upper vertebrae in his spine, leaving him completely paralyzed from the neck down and able to breathe only with assistance from a ventilator. Reeve remained in intensive care for five weeks as he fought off pneumonia, underwent surgery to fuse the broken vertebrae in his neck, and weathered several other life-threatening complications of his injury. Doctors initially gave him no more than a fifty percent chance of surviving. Once he was stabilized, he was then transferred from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility for six months of therapy and learning how to adjust to his paralysis.

With his characteristic grit and determination, Reeve set about the task of putting his life in order. He mastered the art of talking between breaths of his ventilator. He learned how to use his specialized wheelchair, which he commands by blowing puffs of air into a straw-like control device. Always hungry for the smallest sign of progress, he did countless exercises, competing against himself to improve and grow stronger. All the while, he later recalled, "You're sitting here fighting depression. You're in shock. You look out the window, and you can't believe where you are. And the thought that keeps going through your mind is, This can't be my life. There's been a mistake."'

Reeve astounded his friends and admirers by making his first public appearance on October 16, 1995, less than six months after his accident. The occasion was an awards dinner held by the Creative Coalition, an actors' advocacy organization he had helped establish. Reeve joked with the audience about what had happened to him and immediately put everyone at ease, then introduced his old friend Robin Williams, who was being honored for the work he had done on behalf of the group.

The awards dinner was just the beginning for Reeve, who has since channeled his considerable energies into a wide variety of endeavors. In March 1996, he appeared before a worldwide television audience at the Academy Awards to introduce a special segment on movies that display a social conscience. In August of that same year, Reeve was in Atlanta to serve as master of ceremonies at the Paralympic Games and then went on to Chicago, where he delivered an emotional opening-night speech to the Democratic National Convention. Reeve has also kept busy with countless speaking engagements, delivering motivational talks to eager audiences all over the country.

During the spring of 1996, Reeve took on his first acting job since his accident when he agreed to do the voice of King Arthur in an animated feature entitled The Quest for Camelot. Later that year, in the fall, he made a cameo appearance in the television movie A Step Toward Tomorrow playing a disabled patient who offers psychological support to a young man injured in a diving mishap. And in April 1997, Reeve demonstrated his talents behind the camera when he made his debut as a director of the Home Box Office (HBO) movie In the Gloaming about a family struggling to cope with the impending loss of a son to AIDS. Before his accident, Reeve was an activist on behalf of children's issues, human rights, the environment, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has since assumed the role of national spokesman for the disabled especially those people who, like him, have suffered spinal-cord injuries. As a famous actor and one of the most visible disabled people in the United States, Reeve is using his celebrity status not only to secure financial support for research but also to lobby for insurance reforms that would increase the lifetime benefits cap for catastrophic illnesses or injuries in employer-sponsored health plans from the industry average of $1 million to at least $10 million. He is also the founder of the Christopher Reeve Foundation, which raises funds for biomedical research and acts as an advocate for the disabled, and serves as chairman of the American Paralysis Association.

Meanwhile, Reeve continues to cope with the daily trials and occasional triumphs related to his quadriplegia. "You don't want the condition to define you, " he once commented, "and yet it occupies your every thought." While he may never be completely free of his respirator, he does manage to go without it for several hours at a time. He can move his head and shrug his shoulders, and he reports some sensation in one of his legs and one of his forearms. He exercises regularly to keep his body flexible and to prevent his muscles from atrophying, noting that "the more I do, the more I can do." Yet Reeve must also deal with unpredictable spasms that send his body into embarrassing and potentially dangerous contortions, and in 1997 he was hospitalized twice for blood clots.

Reeve is determined to walk again; one of his fondest dreams, has him standing up on his fiftieth birthday in the year 2002 and offering a toast to all of the people who helped him get to that point. "When John Kennedy promised that by the end of the 1960s we would put a man on the moon, " Reeve told Rosenblatt of Time, "everybody, including the scientists, shook their heads in dismay. But we did it. We can cure spinal-cord injuries too, if there's the will. What was possible in outer space is possible in inner space."

Further Reading

Reeve, Christopher, Still Me, Random House, 1998.

Chicago Tribune, April 13, 1993; June 3, 1996.

Entertainment Weekly, November 15, 1996.

Good Housekeeping, August 1997.

Ladies' Home Journal, April 1996.

McCall's, September 1987; January 1991.

Newsweek, June 12, 1995, p. 43; July 1, 1996, p. 56.

New York Times, June 1, 1995; June 2, 1995; June 6, 1995; October 17, 1995; June 2, 1996; October 31, 1996.

People, June 12, 1995; June 26, 1995, pp. 55-56; December 25, 1995-January 1, 1996, pp. 52-53; April 15, 1996; December 30, 1996, p. 71; January 27, 1997, pp. 82-86.

Time, August 26, 1996, pp. 40-52.

Quotes:

"You play the hand you're dealt. I think the game's worthwhile."