Christopher Reeve (Film director, Film producer, Playwright)

Christopher Reeve was born into a family full of distinguished ancestry, his father a teacher, novelist, poet and scholar, and his maternal grandfather the CEO of the Prudential Financial. His parents divorced in 1956, and Reeve moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where he attended Princeton Day School and excelled in academics, athletics and onstage performances. His father was a demanding figure and the two had a strained relationship, although they were ultimately able to mend it. From a young age Reeve had a passion for acting, starting with an amateur version of the operetta The Yeomen of the Guard. After graduating from Princeton Day School he decided to pursue a career in theatre, despite being accepted to six other universities. Excited by the support of a high-profile New York agent, Reeve arranged meetings with casting agents and producers.

In the summer of 1970, Reeve completed a summer apprenticeship at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and took a three-month leave of absence from college in the following year to travel to Scotland, France and other parts of Europe to gain further experience in the arts. After he returned, he focused solely on his acting career and managed to convince theater director Jim Clause and the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences to allow him to attend Juilliard in New York and have his first year count as his senior year at Cornell. He was one of two students accepted into the Advanced Program and was soon told by John Houseman that unless he was offered a large sum of money to do something else, he should become a serious classical actor. Despite being presented with the chance to join the Acting Company, Reeve declined as he hadn't completed his bachelor's degree yet. After completing his first year at Juilliard in 1974, he graduated from Cornell with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Christopher Reeve had a ten-year relationship with modeling executive Gae Exton while filming the first two Superman movies in England, and during the filming of Somewhere in Time, he and Jane Seymour fell in love. However, Reeve ended the relationship and returned to Exton upon learning that she was pregnant with their son Matthew Exton Reeve, who was born on December 20, 1979, followed by a daughter, Alexandra Exton Reeve, in December 1983. In February 1987, Reeve and Gae Exton separated amicably with joint custody of their children, and Reeve returned to New York. Matthew and Alexandra remained in London with their mother and often spent their holidays with Reeve. In June 1987, Reeve met his future wife Dana Morosini and by 1991 they were living together. Reeve could not commit due to his parents' painful divorce and other failed marriages in his family, so he underwent a year of therapy and then proposed to her. They were married in April 1992 and had a son William who was born on June 7, 1992.

Reeve was exposed to horses in 1985 for the film Anna Karenina and his allergies eventually disappeared. He bought a 12-year-old American thoroughbred horse named Eastern Express, nicknamed "Buck" while filming Village of the Damned. In May 1995, during a competition in Culpeper, Virginia, Reeve's horse made a refusal at the third fence jump and Reeve fell head first on the far side of the fence, shattering his first and second vertebrae. He had suffered a cervical spinal injury which paralyzed him from the neck down and halted his breathing. After being flown to the University of Virginia Medical Center, Dr. John A. Jane performed surgery to repair Reeve's neck vertebrae. Reeve spent a month in the hospital before heading to the Kessler Rehabilitation Center for five months of physical therapy and learning wheelchair skills. He began intense exercise regimen to stimulate his muscles, prevent muscle atrophy and osteoporosis, and was eventually able to make small movements in his fingers and other parts of his body. He eventually moved back to his home in Pound Ridge, New York with round-the-clock care from a team of ten nurses and aides. In 1998, he said "The key is what do you do afterwards... I am competing against decay." Reeve gradually grew in his spirituality, finally settling into Unitarianism which he described as “honor[ing] it and try[ing] to live by it.”

Christopher Reeve (1952-2004) was an American actor best known for playing the iconic role of Superman in the 1978 movie of the same name and its three sequels.

Achievements:

-Won Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1978 movie, Superman
-Received a BAFTA nomination for his role in the 1982 film, Deathtrap
-Received a Saturn Award nomination for his role in the 1984 film, Street Smart
-Received a Saturn Award nomination for his role in the 1986 film, The Morning After
-Received an Academy Award nomination for his performance in the 1992 film, The Remains of the Day
-Won the Saturn Award for Best Actor for his performance in the 1993 film, The Unforgettable Summer
-Received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in the 1995 film, Above Suspicion
-Won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor for his role in the 1997 miniseries, The Brooke Ellison Story
-Received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in the 1998 TV movie, In the Gloaming
-Won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance in a Children's Special for his performance in a 1999 episode of the series, Miracle in the Woods
-Won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999
-Received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for his performance in the 2000 miniseries, The Brooke Ellison Story
-Received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Special for his performance in a 2000 episode of the series, Miracle Run
-Received a Humanitarian Award from The Screen Actors Guild in 2001
-Received a Humanitarian Award from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2002
-Received a Humanitarian Award from The Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 2003
-Received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2004