Christopher Reeve: A super man more than Superman

Christopher Reeve as Superman in the '80s.

Source: https://www.aruma.com.au/resources/blog/christopher-reeve-the-life-of-the-man-of-steel/

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There may be no greater irony. The man who played Superman, a hero who could withstand burning buildings, speeding bullets and colliding with speeding trains, being paralyzed from the neck down in a horseback riding accident.

However, no matter what Christopher Reeve did before his accident, it was eclipsed by everything he did after his accident right up to his untimely death.

Celebrating his birth 72 years ago today is a good way to commemorate an acting career that was short, but turned into a life of philanthropy.

Faster than a speeding a bullet…
Since I can remember, Superman was part of my life. Growing up, my older brother and sister had collected Superman comics. When I got old enough I read them too.

So, I was really excited when I heard Superman was coming to life.

“Superman: The Movie” came out in December of 1978. I remember it well because my family had gathered to celebrate Christmas in Lethbridge, and my cousins had all decided to go see “Superman” at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Lethbridge. My cousin Doris was running late, so we had to get going to make the movie. We had just settled into our seats, and the previews had started, when Doris joined us. Her older brother Vern was heading back to Calgary, and dropped her at the theatre.

When the movie began, I remember thinking how weird it was to see all these images I had seen drawn up in comic books, now coming to life. It really was not what I had expected, but that is usually the case.

It all kind of seemed surreal, but it was good.

Probably 15 minutes into the movie, Clark Kent and Superman made their first appearance.

They were played by Christopher Reeve, an actor who just had one movie acting credit to that point, a movie called “Gray Lady Down.”

Reeve looked like the Superman of comic books, and acted pretty much as he was written by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. Clark was a bumbling, stumbling, and stammering but endearing nebbish, while Superman was understated, letting his heroic deeds do his speaking for him.

It would be the first of four movies in which Reeve played the Man of Steel.

The sequels and beyond
I had read the producers shot “Superman: The Movie” and “Superman II” at the same time. That may have been why “Superman II” came out just two years later, in 1980. In the meantime, Reeve made another movie.

In “Somewhere in Time”, which also came out in 1980, Reeve plays a man who falls in love with a woman he sees in a photo from 1912, played by Jane Seymour. He hypnotizes himself into believing he is back in 1912 to find love with her. I recall seeing the first part of this movie in Grade 11, up to when he hypnotizes himself. I found out how it ended at school the next day when my friend David Perlich explained it to me.

Reeve was also in “Deathtrap” opposite Michael Caine and Dyan Cannon, and “Monsignor” with Genevieve Bujold, both in 1982.

The third installment of the superhero series, “Superman III”, came out in 1983 with Richard Pryor joining the party as a new bad guy. I recall my Mom taking me to a matinee of this movie.

Reeve was then in “The Bostonians” opposite Vanessa Redgrave in 1984, and “The Aviator” in 1985, opposite Rosanna Arquette.

In 1987, Reeve was in “Street Smart” with Morgan Freeman, and the final super hero movie, “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace”.

His final movie of the decade was “Switching Cannels” in 1988, opposite Kathleen Turner and Burt Reynolds.

TV time
Christopher Reeve also appeared on TV. He actually got his start on the soap opera “Love of Life” from 1974 to 1976. In the ‘80s, he was in the television film “Anna Karenina” and the documentary “Dinosaur!” in 1985; and “The Great Escape II: The Untold Story” in 1988. He was also in episodes of “The Muppet Show”, “Saturday Night Live”, and “Faerie Tale Theatre.”

The years after
Reeve would keep on acting through the first part of the 1990s, until tragedy struck.

He appeared in the movies “Noises Off”; “Morning Glory”; “The Remains of the Day”; “Speechless”; and “Village of the Damned”.

On television, he made appearances in episodes of “Carol and Company”; “Road to Avonlea”; “Tales from the Crypt”; lent his voice to an episode of “Frasier”; and was in the miniseries western “Black Fox”. He was in TV movies such as “The Rose and the Jackal’; “Bump in the Night”; “Death Dreams’; “Nightmare in the Daylight”; “Mortal Sins”; “The Sea Wolf”; and “Above Suspicion”.

In 1995, he was paralyzed from the neck down after falling from a horse.

After his accident, Reeve did work in TV movies, narrating “Without Pity: A Film About Abilities”; made a cameo in “A Step Toward Tomorrow”; and directed “In the Gloaming”, where he was nominated in 1997 for an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special. He directed and starred in “Rear Window”, where he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor Miniseries or Television Film, and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie. He directed “The Brooke Ellison Story” as well.

Reeve was also in the series “Sesame Street”; “The Practice”; and the Superman-based series “Smallville” for two episodes, which were just awesome.

He was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1997.

Philanthropy
Christopher Reeve had been an activist before his accident but, after his accident, he lobbied for spinal injury research, better insurance coverage for people with disabilities and, with his wife, started the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.

Sadly, in 2004 he died in hospital from heart failure.

He was 52 years old.

Parting thoughts
Christopher Reeve has written two books, “Still Me” and “Nothing is Impossible”. I read them both, and I was struck by how positive and hopeful he was in both of them.

It reflects the same hope and positivity embodied by the Superman ideal.

That’s why Christopher Reeve is a super man more than Superman to me.