Christopher Reeve
Actor, director, activist
Born: September 25, 1952, in New York City
Died: October 10, 2004, in Mount Kisco, New York
Grew Up In: Princeton, New Jersey
New Jersey Hall of Fame, Class of 2012: Arts & Entertainment

Although his acting career spanned more than two decades, Christopher Reeve is best remembered for two roles: As Hollywood’s Superman and as a real-life quadriplegic who advocated on behalf of others with spinal-cord injuries.

Raised in New Jersey by his mother—his parents divorced when Reeve was four—the future star attended Nassau Street School and Princeton Country Day School, where he excelled academically and appeared in student plays and musicals. Drawn to acting, he worked odd jobs at the local McCarter Theatre. By age 15, he landed a summer apprenticeship at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts.

At his mother’s insistence, Reeve continued his education at Cornell University and the Juilliard School in New York City. Upon graduation in 1974, he landed his first TV role in the soap opera “Love of Life.” In 1976, Reeve made his Broadway debut opposite Katharine Hepburn in “A Matter of Gravity.”

In 1978, Reeve made his first film appearance as a junior officer in the submarine disaster movie “Gray Lady Down.” The same year, he auditioned for the lead role in a planned big-budget film version of “Superman.” It was an unlikely fit for the 24-year-old Reeve, who was tall but slim and had trained for more serious roles. But Reeve got the part and won critical praise for his invention of a modern, sensitive brand of superhero. The film became a giant worldwide success. Three sequels followed, each with Reeve as the Man of Steel and his mild-mannered alter-ego, Clark Kent.

Even as the “Superman” franchise was soaring (especially the first two films), Reeve sought down-to-earth roles in more serious films, including “Somewhere in Time” (1980), “Deathtrap” (1982), and “The Bostonians” (1984). During this period, he also returned to Broadway, portraying a disabled Vietnam War veteran in Lanford Wilson’s “Fifth of July.” He continued to demonstrate the breath of his acting skills in films such as the comedy “Noises Off” (1992) and the acclaimed drama “The Remains of the Day” (1993).

Reeve enjoyed riding horses as a pastime and in 1989 began participating in equestrian events. On May 27, 1995, the horse he was riding stopped before a jump, hurling Reeve head-first over the fence. The fall left him paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe without a ventilator. After surgery and rehabilitation, Reeve went home to his wife, Dana, and began his new life as a disabled person.

In the years after his accident, Reeve returned to small acting roles and made his directorial debut in 1997 with the HBO drama “In the Gloaming.” He also wrote two autobiographies, “Still Me” and “Nothing is Impossible.”

But most of Reeve’s time after the accident was committed to activism on social issues, and as an advocate for research on spinal-cord injuries and potential treatments. He lobbied for increased insurance benefits for the catastrophically injured and for federal funding on embryonic stem cell research.

Thanks to his high-profile efforts, Reeve was elected chairman of the American Paralysis Association, which later became the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, a Short Hills-based charitable organization dedicated to finding treatments and cures for paralysis caused by spinal cord injuries and other neurological disorders.