1952–2004
Who Was Christopher Reeve?
Christopher Reeve was an award-winning actor best known for his portrayal of Superman. The New York City native began acting at age 8 and later briefly attended Juilliard before leaving early to film the soap opera Love of Life. In 1978, Reeve rose to fame as the titular superhero of Superman and went on to star in several sequels. He also appeared in a number of other movies, including Anna Karenina, The Remains of the Day, and Somewhere in Time. In 1995, the actor became paralyzed from the neck down following a horseback riding accident. Reeve founded what became the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation in 1996 to promote research on spinal cord injuries. He died from heart failure in 2004 at age 52.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Christopher D’Olier Reeve
BORN: September 25, 1952
DIED: October 10, 2004
BIRTHPLACE: New York, New York
SPOUSE: Dana Reeve (1992–2004)
CHILDREN: William, Matthew, and Alexandra
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Libra
Early Life and Career
Christopher D’Olier Reeve was born on September 25, 1952, in New York City. His mother, Barbara Pitney Lamb, was a journalist, and his father, Franklin D. Reeve, was a writer and professor. Christopher’s parents divorced when he was 4 years old, after which he and his younger brother, Benjamin, moved to Princeton, New Jersey, with their mother. Both Barbara and Franklin later remarried, giving him five half-siblings and two step-siblings.
Christopher became interested in acting at an early age. At age 9, he was cast in his first play—a regional theater production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Yeoman of the Guard. When Reeve was 15, he participated in a summer apprenticeship at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts, which only further strengthened his love for acting.
“Pretty soon I realized I was committed to this,” Reeve told journalist Don Shewey for the 1986 book Caught In the Act: New York Actors Face to Face. “I felt it was something I could do that nobody else was doing—the way kids look for some kind of experience that sets them apart from the group.”
The following summer, Reeve landed his first professional job when he was hired at the American Repertory Theater’s Loeb Drama Center in Boston, where he was paid only $440 for 11 weeks of work.
While attending Princeton Day School, Reeve excelled academically and participated in several school plays. He was also involved in his school’s drama and glee clubs and played several sports, including soccer, tennis, and baseball. After graduating high school in 1970, Reeve enrolled at Cornell University, where he double majored in English and music theory. He also performed in various stage productions at the college.
Near the end of his freshman year, Reeve landed his first talent agent, who pressed him to stay in school and audition for roles that filmed during the summer months. In his senior year, he continued his studies at The Juilliard School’s advanced drama program, which allowed him to finish his degree at Cornell. There, he met Robin Williams, who became his roommate and close friend.
During his time at Juilliard, Reeve was cast as Ben Harper on the soap opera Love of Life. While the show’s schedule wasn’t supposed to interfere with his classes, demand for his character increased, and he was later forced to leave the program in 1974, the same year he graduated from Cornell. The following year, he landed a role in the Broadway play A Matter of Gravity. He played the grandson of Katharine Hepburn’s character, Mrs. Basil.
Superman Franchise
Reeve made his movie debut in 1978 as a naval officer in the submarine disaster movie Gray Lady Down. Later that year, he catapulted to fame when he starred at the titular superhero of Superman. In an impressive feat, the relatively unknown actor beat out over 200 candidates, winning over casting directors with his ability to create two distinct personas for the Man of Steel and his alter ego, Clark Kent.
Director Richard Donner was initially concerned Reeve was too skinny to play Superman, so he underwent a rigorous workout regimen after being cast, gaining around 30 pounds of muscle. Aside from his physique, the actor was highly praised for his performance, winning a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA) for Most Promising Newcomer in 1979.
“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,” he later recalled. “From an acting point of view, that’s how I approached the part.”
The popularity of the Oscar-winning film—and Reeve’s winning portrayal—spawned the release of several sequels. Reeve reprised his role in 1980 with Superman II, followed by Superman III in 1983. His last portrayal of the notorious superhero was in 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
As much as he enjoyed the role, Reeve hadn’t anticipated how difficult it would be as an actor to distance himself from Superman. “What I underestimated, though, was how much that role means to the public at large,” he told journalist and author Don Shewey. “For me, it was a really fun job, but for them—the world is looking for heroes, and it’s hard to let go.”
More Movies
Seeking out more diverse roles, Reeve starred in a number of other movies amid his time filming the Superman franchise. In 1980, he scored a leading role in the romantic drama Somewhere in Time, about a man who travels in time to meet a woman he saw in an old photo. Two years later, he starred opposite Michael Caine in dark comedy Deathtrap, based on the Ira Levin play of the same name. In 1985, Reeve played a former military pilot in The Aviator and starred as Count Vronsky in a TV movie adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, during which time he developed a fascination with horseback riding.
Following his tenure as Superman, he appeared alongside Burt Reynolds and Kathleen Turner in the 1988 newsroom comedy Switching Channels before starring in the 1992 farce Noises Off. In 1993, Reeve played a congressman in the Academy Award–nominated drama The Remains of the Day, opposite Anthony Hopkins. According to his son Will, this was the role he was most proud of. Next, he took on the role of an ex-convict in 1994’s Morning Glory. He later starred in John Carpenter’s 1995 horror movie Village of the Damned.
Just one year after a tragic accident left him paralyzed, Reeve returned to acting in 1996 in the film A Step Toward Tomorrow, about a woman who tries to help her paralyzed son. That same year, he narrated the HBO documentary special Without Pity: A Film About Abilities, for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Special. In 1998, Reeve starred in a television production of Rear Window, for which he picked up a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor. He later made a guest appearance in the Superman TV series Smallville, starring Tom Welling in the role of Clark Kent.
Directing
Turning to directing, Reeve sought out projects with health themes. He made his directorial debut with the 1997 HBO drama In the Gloaming, about the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The film earned Reeve an Emmy Award nomination for Best Director. In 2004, he directed the television movie The Brooke Ellison Story, starring Lacy Chabert as a young quadriplegic. Reeve was in the middle of his third directing production when he suddenly died. The film, an animated baseball comedy called Everyone’s Hero, came out in 2006.
Accident and Paralysis Foundation
After learning to ride a horse on the set of Anna Karenina, Reeve took a personal interest in horseback riding, both recreationally and competitively. During an equestrian competition in Virginia in May 1995, he was thrown from his horse and landed headfirst, sustaining a severe spinal cord injury.
Paramedics acted fast after the accident to help Reeve, whose head was barely connected to his body. Although the doctors were able to reattach his skull to his spinal column, the damage to his top cervical vertebrae was permanent, leaving Reeve paralyzed from the neck down.
Unable to move or breathe without assistance, Reeve required the use of a wheelchair and respirator. In the months after his accident, the actor was in so much physical and emotional pain he contemplated suicide, but his wife, Dana, gave him the support he needed to persevere, according to his 1998 memoir, Still Me.
Devoting himself to learning about his condition and helping others, Reeve became involved in activism and charity work to support people with disabilities. In 1996, he established the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation to fund spinal cord injury research and forge medical breakthroughs. The organization merged with the American Paralysis Association in 1999 and was later renamed the Christopher & Dana Reeves Foundation in 2007.
Reeve’s activism also extended beyond the foundation. He used his platform to champion the importance of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and even testified before Congress a number of times, starting in 1997 when he advocated for federal funding of stem cell research.
In 1998, Reeve persuaded ABC to host a variety show fundraiser for spinal cord research. The program, Christopher Reeve: A Celebration of Hope, was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special.
Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or self-harming behaviors, call or text 988 to get help from the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Wife and Children
As a young actor, Reeve was in a long-term relationship with model Gae Exton. The pair met on the set of 1978’s Superman and began dating, but soon broke up just before the actor started filming Somewhere in Time (1980). Reeve then fell in love with Jane Seymour, his co-star in Somewhere in Time, but got back together with Exton after learning she was pregnant. She gave birth to their son, Matthew, in 1979. Four years later, their daughter, Alexandra, was born in 1983. After 10 years, Reeve and Exton officially split in 1987.
That same year, Reeve met his actor and singer Dana Morosini at the Williamstown Theater Festival, which he had frequented since his youth. They soon started dating, but Reeve was initially wary of marriage on account of his parents’ divorce. After going to therapy, however, he changed his mind and proposed to Morosini. The couple married in 1992, and she took his last name. Dana was pregnant at the time, and their son, Will, was born later that year.
After his accident in 1995, she was instrumental in helping Reeve cope with his paralysis and gave him the support he needed to live a full life. Dana was also the driving force behind his spinal injury foundation. They were married for 12 years until his death in October 2004. Dana later died of lung cancer in March 2006.
Two years later, a book about their relationship, Somewhere in Heaven: The Remarkable Love Story of Dana and Christopher Reeve, was released.
Laters Years and Death
While Reeve had little hope of recovery from his paralysis, he defied medical expectations in 2002 when he regained some movement and sensation in his hands and feet. The following year, he underwent an experimental operation that allowed him to breathe without a respirator for hours at a time. Still, his condition left him susceptible to other illnesses over the years, and he was frequently hospitalized for ulcers, pneumonia, blood clots, and even a collapsed lung.
After receiving treatment for an infected ulcer, Reeve died from cardiac failure on October 10, 2004. He was 52.
Remembered for his contributions as both an actor and an activist, Reeve’s legacy lives on. The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation continues to fund crucial research to improve outcomes for people who are paralyzed.
Since his death, Reeve has received several honors. In 2006, Cornell University honored him with a memorial plaque and named a scholarship program after him. In 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act to enhance funding for paralysis research.
Documentaries and Books
Reeve’s life has inspired several documentaries and books, starting with two memoirs of his own. The original Superman published Still Me in 1998 and Nothing is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life in 2002. He narrated the audiobooks for the two books, both of which received Grammy Award nominations for Best Spoken Word Album.
Also in 2002, the actor’s elder son, Matthew, directed the documentary Christopher Reeve: Courageous Steps. It earned Reeve, as the film’s narrator, his fourth Emmy nomination, this time for Outstanding Nonfiction Special.
Another documentary about Reeve’s life, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, released in 2024. The project detailed his rise to fame, horseback riding accident, and activism through interviews with his children, ex-partner Gae Exton, and other close friends. The same year, the television documentary Christopher Reeve: The Eternal Superman, came out in France.
Quotes
- Never accept ultimatums, conventional wisdom, or absolutes.
- 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.
- Your body is not who you are. The mind and spirit transcend the body.
- So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.
- I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I live my life. I don’t mean to be reckless, but setting a goal that seems a bit daunting actually is very helpful toward recovery.
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Catherine Caruso joined the Biography.com staff in August 2024, having previously worked as a freelance journalist for several years. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, where she studied English literature. When she’s not working on a new story, you can find her reading, hitting the gym, or watching too much TV.
