In Remembrance: Christopher Reeve

     Christopher Reeve, best remembered for his defining role of Superman in the quartet of superhero films in the late 1970s/early 1980s, has passed away on Sunday, October 11, 2004 in New York, NY. He was 52.

     Born in New York City on September 25, 1952, Reeve’s parents divorced when he was four. Moving with his mother and brother to Princeton, New Jersey, he began acting when he was 10. By age 16 he had earned his Actor’s Equity card. He studied at Cornell University, while simultaneously working as a professional stage actor. During his final year at Cornell, Reeve was picked to study under John Houseman at the prestigious Julliard School of Performing Arts in New York. (Robin Williams was the only other student selected at that time.)

     In 1974, Reeve landed a role on the daytime television soap opera Love Of Life, which lasted for two years. In 1976 he made his Broadway debut opposite Katherine Hepburn in the play A Matter Of Gravity.

     Reeve auditioned for the role of comic book superhero Superman in 1976, winning the part after a long, extensive search on the part of the producers. Reeve underwent a bodybuilding regime supervised by David Prowse, who had played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. In accordance to the film’s director Richard Donner’s insistence on bringing verisimilitude to the production, Reeve played the role straight, approaching it as an actor would any dramatic role. In later years, he would admit to modeling the mannerisms of Superman’s alter-ego mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent on Cary Grant’s character in Bringing Up Baby (1938). The film was released in December 1977 and was an instant success, making Reeve as prominent as his co-stars Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman. Although not released until 1980, a portion of the first sequel in the series, Superman II, was filmed simultaneously as Superman.

     Reeve, careful to avoid being typecast in his “Man of Steel” role, would pursue a variety of roles. He played a writer in the romantic time-travel fantasy Somewhere In Time (1980). He would try his hand at comedy in films like Deathtrap (1982), Switching Channels (1988) and Noises Off (1992). He also appeared in two Ivory/ Merchant historical dramas- The Bostonians (1984) and Remains Of The Day (1993). Two more Superman films followed in 1983 and 1987, though they were not greeted as well critically or commercially as the first two were.

     An accomplished equestrian, Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down in a 1995 horseback riding accident. Determined to fight his disability, he worked hard to recover from what doctors had called one of the worse types he could have sustained. Within a year he was able to breath for short periods without the use of a respirator and made a difficult cross-country journey to appear at the Academy Awards.

     Reeve lent his star power to fundraising causes for spinal cord injury research. He also became an outspoken proponent for the expansion of embryonic stem cell research having testified before the U. S. Senate for continual support and openly criticized President George W. Bush’s 2001 decision to limit federal stem cell research funding.

     Reeve also didn’t allow his accident to end his career. He made his debut as a director with the 1997 television movie In The Gloaming, the story of a young man dying of AIDS who returns home to spend his last days with his mother. In 1998 he starred in a television movie remake of the Hitchcock classic Rear Window. Reeve returned to the Superman mythos playing the enigmatic Dr. Virgil Swann (named after Superman comic book artist Curt Swan) opposite Tom Welling’s teenage Clark Kent on two episodes of the TV series Smallville.

     Reeve was working on an animated feature for release on 2006. Entitled Yankee Irving, the film tells the story of a boy who has to overcome several obstacles to realize a dream. IDT Entertainment, the film’s producer, has stated that they plan on completing the film.