Christopher Reeve

Overview

Born
September 25, 1952 · New York City, New York, USA
Died
October 10, 2004 · Mount Kisco, New York, USA (heart failure)
Nicknames
- Chris
- Toph
- Tophy
Height
6′ 4″ (1.93 m)

Biography

Family

Spouse
Children
Parents
Relatives

Trademarks

Black hair and light bold blue eyes
Towering height and athletic physique
His iconic performance as Superman/Clark Kent

Trivia

At the time of his death, he had regained partial movement in his fingers and toes, and said he could feel a pin prick anywhere on his body as well as differentiate hot and cold temperatures.
While Reeve was filming Somewhere in Time (1980), the local theater decided to show his breakout hit Superman (1978). Many Somewhere in Time cast members joined locals for the event. Early into the screening, the sound went out. Reeve, who was seated next to co-star Jane Seymour, stood up in the audience and delivered all the lines.
Was roommates with Robin Williams at Juilliard. They remained close friends for the remainder of his life. Williams helped pay his medical bills during his final years and dedicated his Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award to Reeve.
After he died, a number of memorial cartoons to commemorate his death were Superman-themed. Many artists drew Reeve as Superman flying away from the wheelchair. In one picture, Superman came to Reeve's grave with flowers. In another picture, a grief-stricken Superman reads the news of Reeve's death in the Daily Planet newspaper and says to the reader, "He was my hero." In another, Captain America, Spider-Man and Batman come to Reeve's grave with Batman, commenting, "He really was a super man." In another, a young boy in a wheelchair tells the reader, "He was the Man of Steel. He had incredible vision. He used his powers to save people. Nothing could stop him. And I think before that he acted in some Superman movies." Some pictures depicted Reeve arriving in heaven dressed as Superman; in one, he says to Gabriel, "You can keep the wings." In another, dressed as a regular angel, he declines the wings by saying, "No thanks, I'd rather walk.".
The last character he played before his riding accident was a paralyzed individual in Above Suspicion (1995), which was released six days before the accident.

Quotes

Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean.
What makes Superman a hero is not that he has power, but that he has the wisdom and the maturity to use the power wisely. From an acting point of view, that's how I approached the part.
A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
[on Robin Williams' visiting him in the hospital shortly after the accident] There was this guy wearing a blue scrub hat and a yellow gown and with a Russian accent, being some insane Russian doctor... I laughed for the first time, and I knew that life was going to be okay.
I have seen first-hand how Superman actually transforms people's lives. I have seen children dying of brain tumors who wanted as their last request to be able to talk to me, and have gone to their graves with a peace brought on by knowing that their belief in this kind of character is intact. I have seen that Superman really matters. They're connecting with something very basic: the ability to overcome obstacles, the ability to persevere, the ability to understand difficulty and to turn your back on it.