Sorry, it has been Confirmed by Cnn.com and Foxnews.com. I had the pleasure of meeting him 4 years ago when he did a speaking engagement here in San Jose. Still had a sense of humor about everything. RIP Mr. Reeve.
That's awful. First Rodney and now Christopher Reeve. Superman is dead. At least he'll be able to walk again now.
`Superman' Star Christopher Reeve Dies 4 minutes ago BEDFORD, N.Y. - Christopher Reeve, the star of the "Superman" movies whose near-fatal riding accident nine years ago turned him into a worldwide advocate for spinal cord research, died Sunday of heart failure, his publicist said. He was 52. Reeve fell into a coma Saturday after going into cardiac arrest while at his New York home, his publicist, Wesley Combs told The Associated Press by phone from Washington, D.C., on Sunday night. His family was at his side at the time of death. Reeve was being treated at Northern Westchester Hospital for a pressure wound, a common complication for people living with paralysis. In the past week, the wound had become severely infected, resulting in a serious systemic infection. "On behalf of my entire family, I want to thank Northern Westchester Hospital for the excellent care they provided to my husband," Dana Reeve, Christopher's wife, said in a statement. "I also want to thank his personal staff of nurses and aides, as well as the millions of fans from around the world who have supported and loved my husband over the years." Reeve broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Va. Enduring months of therapy to allow him to breathe for longer and longer periods without a respirator, Reeve emerged to lobby Congress for better insurance protection against catastrophic injury and to move an Academy Award audience to tears with a call for more films about social issues. "Hollywood needs to do more," he said in the March 1996 Oscar awards appearance. "Let's continue to take risks. Let's tackle the issues. In many ways our film community can do it better than anyone else. There is no challenge, artistic or otherwise, that we can't meet." He returned to directing, and even returned to acting in a 1998 production of "Rear Window," a modern update of the Hitchcock thriller about a man in a wheelchair who becomes convinced a neighbor has been murdered. Reeve won a Screen Actors Guild (news - web sites) award for best actor. "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," Reeve said. "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." In 2000, Reeve was able to move his index finger, and a specialized workout regimen made his legs and arms stronger. He also regained sensation in other parts of his body. He had vowed to walk again. "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," Reeve said. Reeve's support of stem cell research helped it emerge as a major campaign issue between President Bush (news - web sites) and John Kerry (news - web sites). His name was even mentioned by Kerry earlier this month during the second presidential debate. His athletic, 6-foot-4-inch frame and love of adventure made him a natural, if largely unknown, choice for the title role in the first "Superman" movie in 1978. He insisted on performing his own stunts. Although he reprised the role three times, Reeve often worried about being typecast as an action hero. "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. "What else is there left for Superman to do that hasn't been done?" Though he owed his fame to it, Reeve made a concerted effort to, as he often put it, "escape the cape." He played an embittered, crippled Vietnam veteran in the 1980 Broadway play "Fifth of July," a lovestruck time-traveler in the 1980 movie "Somewhere in Time," and an aspiring playwright in the 1982 suspense thriller "Deathtrap." More recent films included John Carpenter's "Village of the Damned," and the HBO movies "Above Suspicion" and "In the Gloaming," which he directed. Among his other film credits are "The Remains of the Day," "The Aviator," and "Morning Glory." Reeve was born Sept. 25, 1952, in New York City, son of a novelist and a newspaper reporter. About the age of 10, he made his first stage appearance in Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Yeoman of the Guard" at McCarter Theater in Princeton, N.J. After graduating from Cornell University in 1974, he landed a part as coldhearted bigamist Ben Harper (news) on the television soap opera "Love of Life." He also performed frequently on stage, winning his first Broadway role as the grandson of a character played by Katharine Hepburn (news) in "A Matter of Gravity." Reeve's first movie role was a minor one in the submarine disaster movie "Gray Lady Down," released in 1978. "Superman" soon followed. Reeve was selected for the title role from among about 200 aspirants. Active in many sports, Reeve owned several horses and competed in equestrian events regularly. Witnesses to the 1995 accident said Reeve's horse had cleared two of 15 fences during the jumping event and stopped abruptly at the third, flinging the actor headlong to the ground. Doctors said he fractured the top two vertebrae in his neck and damaged his spinal cord. While filming "Superman" in London, Reeve met modeling agency co-founder Gae Exton, and the two began a relationship that lasted several years. The couple had two sons, but were never wed. Reeve later married Dana Morosini; they had one son, Will, 11. Reeve also is survived by his mother, Barbara Johnson; his father, Franklin Reeve; his brother, Benjamin Reeve; and his two children from his relationship with Exton, Matthew, 25, and Alexandra, 21. No plans for a funeral were immediately announced. A few months after the accident, he told interviewer Barbara Walters that he considered suicide in the first dark days after he was injured. But he quickly overcame such thoughts when he saw his children. "I could see how much they needed me and wanted me... and how lucky we all are and that my brain is on straight." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- What a real tragedy...its fair to say for him "Death is just a moment when the dying ends." R.I.P. Superman.
OH NO! How depressingly horrible. My sister was a movie extra in a film he has been directing here in New Orleans. She met him only a month ago and said that he was truly amazing in person. And he was just on Larry King! I was hoping this wasn't true, but it must be. His Superman movies were my favorite when I was younger. I just don't know what to say. He had come so far, in fact, he no longer required the device to help him breathe. I had so much respect for him What a loss...
Very unfortunate. I'm assuming he had the best medical care at all times. I guess it was just his time for whatever reason. R.I.P.
Very sad. He was a great man, champion of the spine injured patient. Sounds like he died of sepsis from pressure wound (bedsore) which is big problem in paraplegics. He was trying to help the myopic, politicized world see the need and potential of the spine injured people. I have a 2yo in my practice who has the same injury he had(family beat him on his 1st birthday), and I can only hope he will go as far as Christopher did, hopefully farther, once the idiotic stem cell ban is eliminated. May he rest in peace, and thanks to him and his family. Lee
This story hit home with me. 8 years ago i was in a motorcycle accident, broke my neck (c-6 and c-7) along with my hip and right arm. Long story short, i can walk again and do almost everything i use to do. Chris Reeves was a hero in my book and everytime i would see him i would get a lump in my throat. Rest in peace, the real superman. vince
May he rest in peace. He had a lot to offer in the courage and hope department . I prayed hard for him to beat his injuries. It was not meant to be. He exhibited the ultimate in the fine and noble human spirit. I will miss him.
I have the same injuries as Chris (but with less permanent nerve damage) and I knew his mother, its a lot to go through. It seemed like he was making progress. What a shame. Art S.
I didn't like him as superman BUT he sure did earn that title in real life with his valiant struggle and i think eventual triumph over paralysis. A bed sore did him in. God Bless a real superman.
He just went to Israel on a public plane to investigate medical advances. The trip must of been too much and he just sat too many hours. He was an inspiration.
