Christopher Reeve was born on September 25, 1952, in New York City. His father, Franklin Reeve, was an author and poet, his mother, Barbara Lamb, a journalist. They split up when Christopher was four and he moved with his mother and younger brother Benjamin to Princeton, New Jersey, where Lamb married an investment banker. Reeve was a hard working student and after graduating from Princeton Day School he went on to Cornell University. But before he finished his degree, his love of the performing arts inspired him to transfer to Juilliard. It was then that Reeve met Robin Williams, which would soon turn into a lifelong friendship. Later, when Reeve was ill, Williams helped to pay his medical bills, citing Reeve as his inspiration and dedicating his Cecil B De Mille Lifetime Achievement Award to him.

Reeve found it difficult to pay the bills at Juilliard, so took a part in the TV movie Enemies, with George Pentecost, and an ongoing role in the TV show Love of Life, with Audrey Peters and Michael Allinson. He dropped out when he got the chance to star on Broadway in A Matter of Gravity, opposite his idol Katharine Hepburn. The two became very close and there were rumors of romance, but Reeve said that the forty-four year age gap made that unlikely. Reeve's performance was highly acclaimed, and marked the beginning of a distinguished theatrical career. Despite his success in films, Reeve never gave up theater work. He also had a tendency to turn down major movie roles (including the lead in The Running Man, which went to Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the lead in American Gigolo, which launched Richard Gere's career) in favor of more complex and interesting character parts. Reeve cited his personal career highlight as his performance as a lawyer in The Bostonians, an adaptation of the Henry James novel with Vanessa Redgrave and Jessica Tandy.

It was Superman, however, that made Reeve a star. He won the role when he was just twenty-four, and beefed himself up for the part with the aid of weightlifting champion and Darth Vader actor Dave Prowse. The film was a massive success and led to three sequels also starring Reeve, with Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, and Margot Kidder. His personal devotion to the role, which he was always willing to perform spontaneously when approached by young fans, assured him lasting popularity.

Alongside his acting career, Reeve was involved in politics, facing riots and tear gas in Chile to help Ariel Dorfman save eighty imprisoned artists from the death penalty under the military dictatorship. It was his idea to focus the fourth Superman film on the issue of nuclear weapons, but unfortunately funding problems led to cutbacks and the film was not a success.

In 1995, while working on an equestrian safety campaign and shortly after playing a paralyzed character in Above Suspicion, with Joe Mantegna and Kim Cattrall, Reeve was thrown from his horse, severing his spine. Pioneering surgery saved his life, but thereafter he was confined to a wheelchair, relying on a respirator. Nevertheless, Reeve persevered, lobbying for better representation for disabled people in Hollywood. He appeared in a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, opposite Daryl Hannah, and played the young Clark Kent's mentor in TV series Smallville. Reeve also worked as a director, and published two biographies, Still Me and Nothing is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life. He campaigned tirelessly for stem cell research, which might offer cures for people suffering from various forms of paralysis. His Christopher Reeve Foundation continues to award research grants and also quality of life grants to severely disabled individuals.

Personally, Reeve made huge advances, working hard and recovering from his injuries to an unprecedented extent, regaining control over fingers and toes. He hosted the 1996 Paralympics and spoke at a Democratic Party Convention. Unfortunately, he was still beset by the infections common in paralyzed people. It was one of these which led, in 2004, to the heart attack that killed him. Reeve is survived by mother Gae Exton, and children Matthew, Alexandra, and Will. His wife, Dana, whom he thanked for saving him from suicide, died from lung cancer two years later.

YUDDY