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Infobox_Biography |
  subject_name=Christopher Reeve |
  image_name=Christopher Reeve.jpg |
  image_caption=actor|Actor, film
director|director, film producer|producer,
screenwriter|writer and advocate for stem
cell|stem cell research. Known for role as
Superman. |
  dead=dead |
  date_of_birth=September 25, 1952 |
  place_of_birth=New York City |
  date_of_death=October 10, 2004 |
  place_of_death=Mount Kisco, New York|Mount
Kisco, New York

Christopher Reeve (September 25, 1952 –
October 10, 2004) was an United States|American
actor, film director|director, film
producer|producer and screenwriter|writer renowned
for his film portrayal of Superman|Superman/Clark
Kent. In 1995 Reeve was paralyzed in a riding
accident and for the rest of his life he was a
wheelchair user, becoming a spokesperson for
disabled people and for stem cell research.

Because of the similar surnames, people sometimes
surmise that Christopher Reeve is related to
George Reeves, an actor who portrayed a previous
incarnation of Superman on television. The two are
not related.

==Acting career==

Reeve was born in New York, New York|New York City
to writer Franklin Reeve and journalist Barbara
Johnson.  He received a Bachelor of Arts degree at
Cornell University in 1974, after which he was
selected to study at Juilliard Drama School under
John Houseman.  While at Juilliard, he became
friends with Robin Williams, as well as with Kevin
Conroy who would later be the voice actor for the
animated Batman television series.

Reeve's first big break as an actor came in 1975
when he was selected to co-star opposite Katharine
Hepburn in the Broadway play A Matter Of Gravity.
Reeve stayed with the play throughout its year
long run and was given very favorable reviews. He
and Hepburn became very close. Reeve credited the
legendary actress with giving him many valuable
lessons on acting. Hepburn in turn praised her
young co-star. She predicted great things for him
and joked that he would "support me in my old
age". Reeve joked back "I don't think I'll live
that long Miss Hepburn".

Reeve continued to work on the stage, as well as
on the soap opera Love of Life His first role in a
Hollywood film was a small part as a submarine
officer in the disaster movie Grey Lady Down in
1977. In 1978, he was selected to portray the
international icon Superman in the 1978 film
directed by Richard Donner. This film was an
enormous success and inspired three sequels.
Coincidentally, Christopher Reeve's good friend
Robin Williams also became a star that same year
with the television show Mork & Mindy. Superman
was the kind of part Reeve usually disdained. He
was a stage actor at heart who preferred doing
classical period plays and films that really
required him to "act". He once said, "I want to
challenge myself in my roles, not run around on
screen with a machine gun".

In 1980, Reeve co-starred with Jane Seymour
(actress)|Jane Seymour in Somewhere in Time
(movie)|Somewhere in Time, a time travel romance.
Although this film was not popular at the time it
was released, it has since inspired a wide "cult
film|cult" following. Seymour thought so highly of
Reeve that she named one of her children after
him.

In 1984, Reeve won critical acclaim for his role
as a 19th century southern lawyer in The
Bostonians. He often said this was the best movie
role of his career. It was immediately afterwards
that he scored another triumph on the stage. This
time it was on a London stage. Reeve had always
been fond of England and jumped at the chance to
co-star with his friend Vanessa Redgrave in The
Aspen Papers which was an adaptation of a Henry
James novel. Critics were astounded by his
performance and headlines blurted "Superman can
act!"

In 1987 he travelled to Chile, at that time under
the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, to stand in
solidarity with several dozen actors and writers
who had been threatened with death for their left
wing views. Aboard his aircraft, he piloted them
to safety and was widely praised as a humanitarian
hero. In the same year, the fourth Superman sequel
was released. Reeve helped write the screenplay
because he wanted to send a powerful message about
world peace. The plot focused on Superman ridding
the world of nuclear weapons|nuclear weapons. Also
in 1987, Reeve starred in the gritty Street Smart
as a reporter who falsified a story about a pimp.
Morgan Freeman won an Academy Award nomination as
best supporting actor for his role as the pimp
"Fast Black". Reeve's performance was dismissed by
the critics; one even mocked, "Look up in the sky,
it's a bird, it's a plane... it's Newsman!". In
1988, Reeve co-starred with friends, Burt Reynolds
and Kathleen Turner, in the comedy Switching
Channels. This was a modern day remake of the
1930|1930s stageplay "The Front Page" and also
provided the first comical role for Reeve. The
movie flopped and Reeve was unable to land a major
film role for the next four years. 

Reeve had a great love for the Williamstown
Theatre Festival in  Williamstown, Massachusetts.
He served as an apprentice and on its Board of
Directors. Despite becoming famous as Superman, he
returned each summer until his accident. Reeve
often faulted fellow actors for shunning stagework
claiming they were dishonoring their craft. Reeve
appeared in over 150 plays during his career.

==Later life==
On May 27, 1995, Reeve was paralysis|paralyzed
from the neck down after being thrown from his
horse, "Eastern Express," in a cross-country
equestrianism|cross country riding competition in
Culpeper, Virginia. Reeve later admitted that he
briefly thought of suicide after realizing the
extent of his disability. He credits his wife Dana
Reeve with pulling him out of his depression. She
told him, "I still love you no matter what. You
are still you." Reeve has often said that these
were the words that literally saved his life. He
largely retired from the production of films after
his paralysis, instead devoting his time to
rehabilitation therapy. With his wife Dana, he
opened the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis
Resource Center, a facility in Short Hills, New
Jersey|Short Hills, New Jersey, devoted to
teaching paralyzed people to live more
independently.  He and Dana also chaired the
Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, which
funds research on paralysis and works to improve
the lives of the disabled. To date, the Foundation
has awarded $55 million in research grants and
$7.5 million in quality-of-life grants. After
Chris' death, Dana has continued to chair the
Foundation. Reeve also lobbied against the U.S.
government's restrictions on stem cell research
(and, based on this, his widow endorsed John Kerry
for president in 2004 shortly after his death).
http://www.accessibility.com.au/news/internat/reev
e_vs_biggies.htm
Image:Christopher_Reeve_MIT.jpg|right|framed|Reeve
discusses stem cell research at a conference at
MIT, March 2, 2003

Reeve also appeared in television movies after his
accident, for example, in 1998 in film|1998 he
appeared in a re-make for TV of the famous film
Rear Window, originally by Alfred Hitchcock. This
re-make is set in the time in which it was made
and is characterized by its depiction of (useful)
gadgets for wheelchair users. This distinguishes
the film clearly from the original. For example,
in the new film he sends emails by using speech
recognition software (instead of the telephone
used in the original). 

On April 25, 1998 Random House published Reeve's
autobiography, Still Me.

On February 25, 2003, he appeared in the
television series Smallville (TV
series)|Smallville as Dr. Swann, who provides
young Clark Kent with insightful clues as to his
origins. The episode, "Rosetta", was warmly
received by critics and the viewing public as a
fitting connection from one generation's Superman
to the next. Reeve appeared in the role again in
the April 14, 2004 episode "Legacy". The character
of Dr. Swann died in the episode "Sacred," which
aired on February 23, 2005. Margot Kidder, who
played Lois Lane in the Superman films continued
the plot as Swann's assistant. Her character, Dr.
Bridgette Crosby was eventually killed in the
episode entitled "Spirit", which aired on April
20,2005.

On October 25, 2004, A&E aired Reeve's second
directorial project, "The Brooke Ellison Story."
The film, starring Lacey Chabert and based on a
true story, is about the life of an 11-year old
girl who becomes a quadriplegic in a car accident
(and becomes the first quadriplegic to graduate
from Harvard University.)

Reeve died of heart failure on October 10, 2004
after suffering cardiac arrest and falling into a
coma the previous day.  He was only 52 years old. 
In the week prior to his death, Reeve was being
treated at Northern Westchester Hospital for a
bedsore|pressure ulcer, a common ailment for
paralysis|paralytics, that had subsequently become
seriously infected.

== Popular culture ==

Reeve was parodied on South Park in an episode
#702 in season 7 called "Krazy Kripples."

The possible over-adulation of Reeve in some
circles once led editors of The Onion to post the
faux headline, "Christopher Reeve placed atop
Washington Monument".

==Selected quotes==
"I was worried that only acting with my voice and
my face, I might not be able to communicate
effectively enough to tell the story, but I was
surprised to find that if I really concentrated,
and just let the thoughts happen, that they would
read on my face.  With so many close-ups, I knew
that my every thought would count."

"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible,
then they seem improbable, and then when we summon
the will, they soon become inevitable."

==Selected Filmography==

*Superman (1978)
*Somewhere in Time (1980)
*Superman II (1980)
*Deathtrap (1982)
*Monsignor (1982)
*Superman III (1983)
*The Aviator (1985)
*Street Smart (1987)
*Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
*Switching Channels (1988)
*Noises Off (1992)
*The Remains of the Day (1993)
*Speechless (1994)
*Village of the Damned (1995)
*The Brooke Ellison Story (2004) (director)

==External links==
Wikiquote
*imdb name|id=0001659|name=Christopher Reeve
*http://www.chrisreevehomepage.com/ An unofficial
web site dedicated to supplying fans with
information on Christopher Reeve.
*http://marriage.about.com/od/entertainmen1/p/reev
emorosini.htm Christopher and Dana Reeve Marriage
Profile
*http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/greatsleep/10
23/biography.html Biography (at a tribute site)
*http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=c
reeve A darkly satirical viewpoint of Christopher
Reeve by The Best Page in the Universe|Maddox
*http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/11/obit
.reeve.ap/index.html CNN obituary
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/373
2462.stm BBC obituary
*http://www.paralysis.org/ Christopher and Dana
Reeve Paralysis Resource Center : Home