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.
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Reeve was born in New York City to writer Franklin Reeve and journalist Barbara Johnson. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree at Cornell University in 1974, after which he was selected to study at Juilliard School of Performing Arts under John Houseman. While at Juilliard, he became friends with a wildly improvisational classmate named Robin Williams.
Acting career
Reeve's first big break as an actor came in 1975 when he was selected to co-star opposite Katherine 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 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 Grey Lady Down in 1977. In 1978, he was selected to portray the international icon Superman in the 1978 film directed by Richard Donner. This film was an enormous success and inspired three sequels. Strangely, in this same year, Christopher Reeve's good friend Robin Williams also became a star with the tv show Mork And Mindy. Superman was the kind of part Reeve usually disdained. He was a stage actor at heart who preferred doing classical period plays and films that really required him to "act". He once said, "I want to challenge myself in my roles, not run around on screen with a machine gun."
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, especially among college students. 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.
Reeve always had a great love for the Williamstown Theater in northern Massachusetts. He had apprenticed at this famous theater and also served on its Board of Directors. Even after becoming famous as Superman, he would return every summer until his accident to appear in one of its plays. Reeve often faulted fellow actors for shunning stage work saying that they were dishonoring their craft. Reeve appeared in over 150 plays during his career.
Later life
On May 27, 1995, Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from his horse, "Eastern Express", in a riding competition at Culpeper, Virginia. 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 also lobbied against the U.S. government's restrictions on stem cell research. [1]
When he visited research laboratories, he always insisted on scheduling time to meet with the bench researchers, as well as with their bosses, because he felt the people doing most of the hands-on work often did not get enough recognition.
Reeve also appeared in TV movies after his accident, in his wheelchair. As an example he appeared in 1998 in a re-make for TV of the famous film Rear Window, originally by Alfred Hitchcock. This re-make is set in the time in which it was made and is characterized by its depiction of (useful) gadgets for wheelchair users. This distinguishes the film clearly 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".
Reeve died of heart failure on October 10, 2004 after suffering cardiac arrest and falling into a coma the previous day. 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
All quotes by Christopher Reeve.
"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."
Selected filmography
- Rear Window (1998) (TV)
- Village of the Damned (1995)
- The Remains of the Day (1993)
- The Sea Wolf (1993) (TV)
- Noises Off (1992)
- Switching Channels (1988)
- Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987)
- Anna Karenina (1985) (TV)
- The Bostonians (1984)
- Superman III (1983)
- Monsignor (1982)
- Deathtrap (1982)
- Somewhere in Time (1980)
- Superman II (1980)
- Superman (1978)
- Love of Life (1974-1976) TV Series
External links
