Man of Still

Actor, activist and political pawn Christopher Reeve has died of complications related to his paralysis at the age of 52. Plucked out of obscurity from the soap opera Love of Life, Reeve proved an ideal choice in the film version of Superman, beating out Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Charles Bronson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood, James Caan and Kris Kristofferson, and try imagining the movie with any of them in the cape. Although trained at Julliard where he was a classmate of Robin Williams, who remained a lifelong friend, he was forever saddled with the typecasting as the cape-man. Course, he really should have used that reversing the rotation of the earth trick to go back and skip at least two of the less than Super-sequels and Monsignor and reconsider turning down such films as American Gigolo, Running Man, The Bounty, Body Heat and Total Recall - and try imagining any of those films with him as the star. Reeve was paralyzed in an equestrian accident and after overcoming early thoughts of suicide, resumed acting, including counseling a young Clark Kent on Smallville, and brought unbridled enthusiasm to his role as an ardent activist for research funding for a cure for spinal cord injuries, and would likely be alive today if George W. Bush hadn’t cut off embryonic stem cell research. (This obituary was approved by moveon.org) Reeve is the latest man to fall victim to the Superman curse, and I’m not talking about The Quest for Peace, following George Reeves’ suicide/murder, Bud Collyer’s heart attack and Dean Cain’s appearance in Gentle Ben 2.