Background

Christopher D'Olier Reeve was born on the 25th of September, 1952 in New York City, New York, United States. A native of Manhattan, he was the oldest of two sons born to Franklin D. Reeve and Barbara Pitney Lamb Johnson. Reeve's parents were divorced when he was about four years old and he moved with his mother and brothers, Christopher and Benjamin, to Princeton, New Jersey. Although he grew up there amid affluence, following his mother's remarriage to a stockbroker, he nevertheless had to cope with the lingering anger and tension that characterized his parents' relationship.

Education

Christopher Reeve attended Nassau Street School (now St. Paul School of Princeton) in Princeton, New Jersey and later he went to Princeton Country Day School (now Princeton Day School). He starred in virtually every stage production at his exclusive private high school and was involved with the local professional theatre.

After graduating from high school in 1970, Reeve attended Cornell University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Music Theory in 1974. Meanwhile, he continued his drama education, serving as a backstage observer at both the Old Vic in London and the Comedie-Francaise in Paris before enrolling in the Juilliard School for Drama in New York City to pursue graduate studies, where he was a student under John Houseman.

On May 18, 2005, he was posthumously awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, in New Brunswick, and an honorary degree, a Doctor of Humane Letters at Stony Brook University's commencement on May 20, 2005.

Career

In the spring of 1962, at age nine, Christopher auditioned for and won a bit part in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Yeomen of the Guard, presented at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. The theater company became a second family for Reeve and gave him a calling for life. At McCarter, Reeve worked both on stage and off, performed with and learned from stage veterans, and grew into increasingly substantive roles. At age fifteen Reeve was accepted as an apprentice at the Williams town Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. He performed there for fourteen seasons, even at the height of his film career.

At Juilliard, Reeve attracted the attention of his peers and professors, which opened doors to him in New York’s competitive theater scene. Reeve’s first break came in the summer of 1974 when he was cast as the lovable bad guy Ben Harper in the Columbia Broadcasting System soap opera Love of Life. From February to April 1976 Reeve played the coveted second lead role opposite Katharine Hepburn in A Matter of Gravity during the show’s New York City run. The play gained Reeve favorable notice and prominence. When it closed, Reeve went to Los Angeles to explore his options in film. He accepted a small role in the disaster film Gray Lady Down in 1978, but frustrated in finding more work, he returned to New York City to resume his career on stage. Within weeks he won a role with the Circle Repertory Company in My Life by Corinne Jaecker.

In 1977, Reeve was invited to audition for the lead role in Superman, that came out in 1978. With the popularity of Superman, Reeve was thrust into Hollywood stardom. He enjoyed global recognition and suddenly had more work than he could handle in television, stage, and film, including the Superman sequels.

Among Reeve’s achievements were the love-struck writer Richard Collier in Somewhere in Time in 1980, Ira Levin’s play Deathtrap in 1982, The Bostonians in 1984, Street Smart in 1987, The Remains of the Day in 1993, Above Suspicion in 1995. A riding accident in 1995 had left Christopher Reeve paralyzed from the neck down.

During the spring of 1996, Reeve took on his first acting job since his accident when he agreed to do the voice of King Arthur in an animated feature entitled The Quest for Camelot. Later that year, in the fall, he made a cameo appearance in the television movie A Step Toward Tomorrow playing a disabled patient who offers psychological support to a young man injured in a diving mishap.

As an activist, Reeve traveled to Chile in 1987 and risked his life in support of seventy-seven Chilean actors threatened with execution by the Pinochet regime. In August 1996, Reeve was in Atlanta to serve as master of ceremonies at the Paralympic Games. He has also kept busy with countless speaking engagements, delivering motivational talks to eager audiences all over the country.

In 1996, Reeve founded the Christopher Reeve Foundation to raise funds for medical research on spinal cord injuries and in 1999 became chairman of the board. On 3 May 2002, Reeves opened the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center, an information clearinghouse. Although advocacy was his principal activity after his accident, Reeve also maintained a busy schedule of speaking engagements and continued his work in film.

In April 1997, Reeve demonstrated his talents behind the camera when he made his debut as a director of the Home Box Office, HBO, movie In the Gloaming about a family struggling to cope with the impending loss of a son to AIDS. One of Mr. Reeve's last projects was directing The Brooke Ellison Story in 2004, about a girl who became a quadriplegic at 11 but rose above her disability to graduate from Harvard. Reeve’s autobiography, Still Me was written in 1998 and his memoir, Nothing Is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life in 2002.

Achievements

• 

  Christopher Reeve was the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including the National Courage Award, a special Obie Award, the annual award of the Walter Briehl Human Rights Foundation for his service in Chile, the Lasker Award for Public Service in Support of Medical Research, a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for his performance in Rear Window in 1998, a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for his audiobook recording of Still Me in 1998, and honorary degrees.
  
  Reeve received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on April 15, 1997.
  
  Christopher was nominated for five Emmys for a movie he directed for HBO in 1997, In the Gloaming. He was posthumously inducted into the 2012 New Jersey Hall of Fame for his contributions to Arts and Entertainment.
  
  The Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, which was founded by combining two older organizations in 1998, raised more than $46.5 million for spinal cord research.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • Still Me

    (The whole world held its breath when Christopher Reeve st...)

    1998
  • Nothing Is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life

    (Christopher Reeve has mastered the art of turning the imp...)

    2002

• movie

  • Switching Channels 1988
  • Morning Glory 1993
  • Somewhere in Time 1980
  • Aviator 1985
  • Superman: The Movie 1978
  • The Brooke Ellison Story 2005
  • Remains of the Day 1993
  • Above Suspicion 1995
  • Superman III 1983
  • Street Smart 1987
  • Village of the Damned 1995

Views

Reeve was an activist. Some of the causes Reeve supported were Amnesty International, Save the Children, The National Resources Defense Council, The Lindbergh Foundation, The Environmental Air Force, and People for the American Way. He was a founding member and past president of the Creative Coalition, an advocacy group of artists, and was one of the National Endowment For The Arts most passionate supporters. Environmental issues were of particular interest to Reeve. He addressed the United Nations to encourage the banning of drift net tuna fishing and he played a crucial role in securing a landmark agreement to protect the Hudson River and New York City's reservoir system.

Christopher assumed the role of national spokesman for the disabled especially those people who, like him, have suffered spinal-cord injuries. As a famous actor and one of the most visible disabled people in the United States, Reeve was using his celebrity status not only to secure financial support for research but also to lobby for insurance reforms that would increase the lifetime benefits cap for catastrophic illnesses or injuries in employer-sponsored health plans from the industry average of $1 million to at least $10 million.

Quotations: "Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean".

"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".

"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles".

"I have seen first-hand how Superman actually transforms people's lives. I have seen children dying of brain tumors who wanted as their last request to be able to talk to me and have gone to their graves with a peace brought on by knowing that their belief in this kind of character is intact. I have seen that Superman really matters. They're connecting with something very basic: the ability to overcome obstacles, the ability to persevere, the ability to understand the difficulty and to turn your back on it".

"Your body is not who you are. The mind and spirit transcend the body".

"Hollywood needs to do more. Let's continue to take risks. Let's tackle the issues. In many ways, our film community can do it better than anyone else".

"The key to success is letting the relationships in your life grow to the highest levels they possibly can not putting yourself first in life and remembering that the more you give away, the more you have".

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

"A hero is someone who in spite of weakness, doubt or not always knowing the answers goes ahead and overcomes anyway".

"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".

"I feel that every generation should have a Superman for its own time. I was the right Superman for the 1970s and early 1980s. If they want to do it again, there ought to be a Superman for this time".

Personality

Reeve began riding seriously during the filming of a television version of Anna Karenina in 1985 and became a competitive jumper. During a competition on 27 May 1995 in Culpeper, Virginia, Reeve’s horse balked at a jump. With his hands entangled in the reins, Reeve pitched forward and struck his head on the rail and then the hard turf. His spinal column snapped at the level of the highest cervical vertebra, and the skull separated from the spinal cord. Reeve awoke on 1 June 1995 quadriplegic and dependent on a mechanical ventilator. He also required a respirator to assist his breathing for the rest of his life. However, Christopher Reeve took on a new, even more, heroic role that of an activist for medical research, including the search for a cure for spinal cord injuries.

Reeve was a high achiever in his professional and sporting life and proved himself likewise in his rehabilitation. Highly self-disciplined, he maintained a strict diet to control his weight, undertook a daily three-to-four-hour regimen of activity-dependent therapy, and "willed" his body to remain healthy and whole in preparation to walk again. Years after the injury Reeve regained limited voluntary movement in the extremities and the ability to breathe without the ventilator for short periods. He became a symbol of hope, an advocate for persons with spinal cord injuries, and a spokesperson for the advancement of medical research on disorders of the central nervous system.

Reeve’s characterizations were studied and penetrating, his timing precise, and his diction impeccable. He was intrepid, always testing his limits but never careless.

Physical Characteristics: Christopher Reeve was 6 feet 4 inches tall, with a strikingly handsome, square-jawed face and a strong athletic build.

Interests

• flying, sailing, skiing, and horseback riding

Connections

In London during the filming of the first two Superman films, Reeve met and began a relationship with the British modeling executive Gae Exton. They had two children, Matthew Reeve that was born in 1979 and Alexandra Reeve Givens in 1982. The relationship ended in February 1987.

In 1992, Reeve met and married Dana Charles Morosini. Not long after, the couple gave birth to their child William Elliot Reeve.

Father:

Franklin Reeve

Mother:

Barbara Pitney Lamb Johnson

Daughter:

Alexandra Reeve Givens

Alexandra Reeve Givens was born in December 1982 in London, United Kingdom. She studied at Columbia University School of Law and at Yale University. From 2006 she is on the Board of Directors of Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. From 2008 to 2011, she worked as a Litigation Associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in Greater New York City Area. In 2012, she took the post of Policy Advisor at Elizabeth Warren for Senate in Somerville, Massachusetts, where she served until 2012. From 2013 to 2016, she was an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Law School in Greater New York City Area.

Alexandra entered the United States Senate in 2011 as its Senior Counsel of Senate Judiciary Committee until 2016 and from 2015 to 2016, she was Chief Counsel for IP & Antitrust of Senate Judiciary Committee. From 2016, she is the Executive Director of the Institute for Technology Policy & Law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, District Of Columbia.

Son:

Matthew Reeve

Matthew Reeve was born on the 20th of December, 1979 in London, United Kingdom as Matthew E. Reeve. He is a writer and producer, known for The Land That Never Was, and Hamilton and Second Strike. Reeve produced and directed the documentary "Christopher Reeve: Hope in Motion". Matthew joined the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Board of Directors in 2006. Since then he has played an integral role in driving the Reeve mission forward, frequently serving as a spokesperson whilst also spearheading strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations abroad. Presently, he resides in Stockholm, Sweden.

ex-partner:

Gae Exton

Wife:

Dana Reeve

Dana Reeve was born on the 17th of March, 1961 in Teaneck, New Jersey, the USA as Dana Charles Morosini and died on the 6th of March, 2006 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, the USA. She was an American actress, known for Everyone's Hero, Above Suspicion and Law & Order.

Dana’s father was half Italian and half Polish ancestry. Her mother was of Irish ancestry. Dana attended and graduated from Edgemont High School in Greenville, Westchester County, New York in 1979. She graduated with a major in English literature from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont in 1984. She was a singer and actress who gave up some of her own career to be one of the nation's best-known caregivers for her husband, Christopher Reeve. She received the Mother of the Year award from the American Cancer Society in 2005.

Son:

William Elliot Reeve

William Elliot Reeve was born on the 7th of June, 1992 in Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor, known for The Brooke Ellison Story and Everyone's Hero. His first appearing was in the TV movie, In The Gloaming in 1997. Reeve graduated from Middlebury College in 2014, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and American Literature. He went on to be a production assistant for ABC’s "Good Morning America" before joining ESPN in 2014. He is an ambassador and board member for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, benefiting people affected by spinal cord injuries.

Grandfather:

Colonel Richard Henry Reeve

Colonel Richard Henry Reeve was born on the 25th of September in 1904 in Moorestown, New Jersey and died in 1986 in Tumacacori, Arizona, United States. He was the CEO of the Prudential Financial for over twenty-five years.

Great-grandfather:

Mahlon Pitney

Mahlon Pitney was born on the 5th of February, 1858 in Morristown, New Jersey, and died on the 9th of December, 1924, Washington. He was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1912 to 1922.

Pitney graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), he studied law with his father and took over his father’s practice when the latter was appointed vice-chancellor of New Jersey in 1889. In 1894, Pitney was elected to the U.S. Congress, in which he served until 1899, followed by a term in the New Jersey state Senate and, in 1901, an appointment to the state Supreme Court. In 1908 he became the state’s chancellor. In 1912, he was named to the U.S. Supreme Court to succeed John Marshall Harlan, Sr.

Mahlon Pitney made his most meaningful contributions in the area of labor law. His opinions in Hitchman Coal and Coke Co. v. Mitchell (1917) and Duplex Printing Press Co. v. Deering (1921), which limited the rights of workers to collective bargaining, were elaborations of his earlier opinion in Coppage v. Kansas, in which the court struck down a Kansas statute prohibiting an employer from preventing union membership among his employees by force or coercion. Another memorable opinion, in Frank v. Mangum, drew vigorous dissent from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes on the grounds that it validated mob law. Pitney resigned from the court on December 31, 1922.

Great-grandfather:

Franklin D'Olier

Franklin D'Olier was born on the 28th of April, 1877 in Burlington, New Jersey and died on the 10th of December, 1953. He was an American businessman who served as the first National Commander of The American Legion from 1919 to 1920.

The son of Annie Kay (Woolman) and William D'Olier. As a child, he attended the local school. He graduated from Princeton in 1898. Soon after that, he began his career when entered business with his father of William D'Olier & Company in Philadelphia.

In April 1917, Franklin entered the military service of the United States as a captain in the Quartermaster Corps. He was elected to serve as the first national commander, and Lemuel Bolles of Washington was appointed as the first national adjutant. Indianapolis won the bid in a competition with four other cities, Minneapolis, Detroit, Kansas City, and Washington, to become the permanent home of The American Legion National Headquarters.

Brother:

Christopher Reeve

Brother:

Benjamin Reeve

Friend:

Robin Williams

Robin McLaurin Williams was born on Saturday, July 21st, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois and died on the 11th of August, 2014 in Tiburon, California, USA (suicide by hanging). He was a great-great-grandson of Mississippi Governor and Senator, Anselm J. McLaurin. His mother, Laurie McLaurin (née Janin), was a former model from Mississippi, and his father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, was a Ford Motor Company executive from Indiana. Williams had English, German, French, Welsh, Irish, and Scottish ancestry.

Robin studied political science at Claremont Men's College and theater at College of Marin before enrolling at The Juilliard School to focus on theater. After leaving Juilliard, he performed in nightclubs where he was discovered for the role of "Mork, from Ork" in an episode of Happy Days. The episode, Happy Days: My Favorite Orkan in 1978, led to his famous spin-off weekly TV series, Mork & Mindy in 1978. He made his feature starring debut playing the title role in Popeye in1980, directed by Robert Altman.

Williams also proved to be an effective dramatic actor, receiving Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role in Good Morning, Vietnam in 1987, Dead Poets Society in 1989, and The Fisher King in 1991, before winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Good Will Hunting in 1997.

References

• Christopher Reeve: Young Actor (Childhood of Famous Americans) Celebrated in his later years as a gifted actor and brave humanitarian, an illustrated biography explores the inspirations and life-changing moments in Christopher Reeve's childhood years that helped form him into the man, actor, and person he came to be.
  2007
• Christopher Reeve (A & E Biography) A biography of the actor who became well known for his movie portrayal of Superman and for his activities in support of nerve damage research since the riding accident that left him a quadriplegic.
  1999
• Christopher Reeve Christopher Reeve soared to fame in the role of Superman in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1995 his career was cut short by a freak horseback-riding accident that left him paralyzed. Displaying remarkable courage, Reeve pursued his goal of walking again someday. Meanwhile, he used his fame to help disabled people. By 2004 Reeve was still unable to walk. However, he regained feeling in some parts of his body.
  1997
• Christopher Reeve: Don't Lose Hope! (Defining Moments) Highlights the life of actor Christopher Reeve, best known for playing Superman on the big screen, and his fight for rights for the disabled after a horse-jumping accident left him a quadriplegic.
  2006
• Somewhere in Heaven: The Remarkable Love Story of Dana and Christopher Reeve He was a hero in every sense of the word, the chiseled-from-granite star of four blockbuster Superman films and the romantic classic Somewhere in Time who, after being paralyzed in a freak horseback riding accident, became a symbol of hope for millions. Dana Reeve was no less heroic, standing steadfastly by her husband's side until his surprisingly sudden and unexpected death at age fifty-two. When Dana, a non-smoker, passed away from lung cancer just seventeen months after Chris's death, she left behind their thirteen-year-old son, Will, to be raised by friends and family. Dana was only forty-four years old. That fate could have dealt such a cruel hand to this golden couple seemed unfathomable. That they could endure it all with grace, courage, and humor defied belief.
  2008
• Learning About Courage from the Life of Christopher Reeve A brief biography of the actor famous for playing Superman, discussing his life before and after the accident that paralyzed him and focusing on the courage he has shown.
  1999
• Tribute: The Supermen Behind the Cape: Christopher Reeve, George Reeves Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster Siegel and Shuster created the first of the great comic book superheroes, and their square-jawed defender of justice has been personified by the esteemed actor George Reeves and the heroic in his own right Christopher Reeve. The stories of the men behind the cape give Superman his power.
  2017
• Care Packages: Letters to Christopher Reeve from Strangers and Other Friends This book is a thank-you letter. A long overdue reply to all of the people who, during one of the most difficult and painful periods my family has had to endure, took time and wrote to us; faxed us; phoned or visited us; prayed for us; joined hands for us; sent us flowers, gifts, white light, religious tokens and talismans, books, tapes, drawings, funny stories and jokes that made us laugh, tales of overcoming hardship that inspired us and gave us hope.
  1999
• Superhero: A Biography of Christopher Reeve Superhero is a book on the life of Christopher Reeve, by Chris Nickson, author of biographies of David Boreanaz, Melissa Etheridge, and Matt Damon. Reeve was well known for his portrayal of Superman, but his acting career was cut short by a horse-riding accident that left him paralyzed. But Reeve continued to live his life as a real-world superhero, and this biography tells his remarkable story.
  1998