October 16, 2004

Some people are born to be great and Hollywood actor Christopher Reeve was one of them. As a reel-life Superman he ruled the heart of all but he was a Superman in his real-life as well, as he became an inspiration for people with disabilities all over the world through his painstaking efforts to overcome total paralysis. The 52-year-old actor passed away on October 10, in Mount Kisco, N.Y. He went into cardiac arrest on Saturday while at his Pound Ridge home, then fell into a coma and died of a heart attack at Northern Westchester Hospital.

Born on September 25, 1952 to journalist Barbara Johnson and professor/writer Franklin Reeve, he was destined to achieve stardom because of his tall, dark and wholesomely handsome features. He was 6 feet 4 inches tall, with a strikingly handsome, athletic built and square-jawed face. Even before “Superman,” he looked like Superman and what made him more believable for kids all over the world was the fact that he performed his own stunts as the Man of Steel.

“Look, I’ve flown, I’ve become evil, loved, stopped and turned the world backward, I’ve faced my peers, I’ve befriended children and small animals and I’ve rescued cats from trees,” Reeve told the Los Angeles Times in 1983, just before the release of the third “Superman” movie. “What else is there left for Superman to do that hasn’t been done?”

His life changed completely in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition. He broke several key bones in his neck and was left completely paralyzed and could not even breathe without special assistance. But with the passage of time, he improved and went on to become a powerful proponent of causes ranging from insurance reform for catastrophic injuries to unleashing the possibilities that scientists believe lie in using embryonic stem cells for research.

Reeve was interested in acting and music since he was eight and that is why he went on to major in English and music at Cornell University. After graduation, he pursued a Master’s degree in drama at Juilliard and later went to Europe to work at London’s Old Vic and the Comedie Frangaise of Paris. Upon his return to the US in 1974, he took over the role of Ben Harper on the long-running soap opera Love of Life and stayed with the show through 1978, or it would be easier to say till he became Superman. He starred along side Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman in the blockbuster Superman: The Movie and gave Clark Kent the charm, a touch of irony and a clumsy wistfulness that made him the bungling newsman, aka Superman. The role earned him a BAFTA (British Academy Award) Award for Most Promising Newcomer and he went on to reprise the role in the film’s three sequels, quite successfully.

Reeve also played some unlike Superman roles, which made his status as an actor rise high. He played a Chicago playwright in Somewhere in Time (1980) who travels back in time to capture the attention of a beautiful woman while in Deathtrap (1981), he played a psychic mystery writer. In the 90s, he acted along side acting giants Charles Bronson (The Sea Wolf) and Anthony Hopkins (Remains of The Day) on TV and his career was moving swiftly when suddenly, it all came to a halt, abruptly after the accident. He didn’t give up and made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed made-for-cable drama In the Gloaming (1997). His roles of a wheelchair-bound man who becomes convinced that a neighbour has been murdered in the TV-movie remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1998) and TV series Smallville, both after his accident, earned him awards and praise from all over the world.

Because of his brilliant characterization of the mumbling Clark Kent and the Man of Steel, Christopher Reeve will always be remembered as the man who donned the metallic blue body stocking and red cape and fought against the evils of life, the American way!