Dream poem by Reeve

 I grew up on the Superman portrayed by Christopher Reeve, and I always acted out the scenes from the movies as a child. My parents even bought me the pajamas and the costume, which I would wear proudly. I loved the movies and I could not get enough. When I saw Chris on the big screen acting out the part, I believed every nuance of the character and became fascinated in not just comics, but science fiction as well. These were the days when science fiction and comic books were the essentials of being a kid. And it was not just the cartoons and movies, but the TV shows as well. The heroes that we looked up to and still do today.

Well, enough about that, the reason I chose to write this article is because Chris was a remarkable actor that was able to give the world so much inspiration through his talents. We will now begin a brief journey into the world that was Christopher Reeve.

 

Upon graduating high school, Chris studied and graduated from Cornell, where he and Robin Williams were selected to study at Juilliard, under THE John Houseman.

         After making Superman in 1978 he had two children to Gae Exton, Matthew (1979) and Alexandra (1982). He later had a son with Morosini, Will (’92). The salary for Superman was $250,000 not to mention the role that launched his acting career. In 1980 Somewhere In Time was made at the same time as Superman II. III was made in ’83, and IV was in ’87. He also starred in Noises Off (’92) and later went on to horror films with John Carpenter’s Village Of The Damned. He guest appeared in numerous TV movies and other movies, however, his legacy that will be forever remembered was the Superman movies. He produced some made for TV movies including a self-documentary, REAR WINDOW, and directed two TV movies: The Brooke Ellison Story (’04) and In The Gloaming (’97).

Superman flying

Picture of Reeve at an awards ceremony

 Shortly after making Village of The Damned (’95), one month after it’s release he was riding his horse at an event in Virginia. The day was May 27. He got thrown from his horse and was paralyzed from the neck down. He contemplated suicide; fortunately his wife was there to convince him otherwise. With her support he was able to make it through that hurdle.                          Together, Dana and Christopher were to open the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center, which operates a website, publishes a Resource guide, and houses a vast collection of paralysis-related publications. Ironically, the accident that paralyzed him was during a shoot for horseback riding safety. The center was opened May 3, 2002 in Short Hills, NJ.

 

The last role he played in before the accident was Above Suspicion (’95) where he acted the part of a paralyzed individual.

Another piece of interesting trivia is that Jane Seymour named her son after Christopher.

Christopher Reeve lobbied to get funding for new medical procedures, specifically stem cell research. Candidate John Kerry recently noted this during a debate. Reeve dedicated the past decade of his life to spinal cord injury research. He was doing this during his last week.  The man aspired to be an actor and a humanitarian and will forever be immortalized in this world as the one man who became a hero for all. Not just on celluloid, but here in the real world, he contributed so much hope to so many people who will never forget his legacy.  On Saturday, October 09, 2004 he fell into a coma from cardiac arrest. He never regained consciousness, and at 5:30 pm New York time he departed this world. He has been and ever shall be remembered as the man of steel.

Superman logo

Information compiled from imdb.com

Image material reference (from top to bottom):

electron.cs.uwindsor.ca/ ~becker5/superman.jpg

www.capedwonder.com/ contact.html

www.cinefantastico.com/ superman.html

http://www.kryptonsite.com/awardsreeve.jpg