Christopher Reeve Trivia | 100 facts about the famous actor

Christopher Reeve was a famous actor, director and activist. He became famous through portraying the character of Superman.

So let’s find out some trivia and facts about the actor and his life.

1. His full name was Christopher D’Olier Reeve
2. He was born on September 25, 1952
3. He died on October 10, 2004
4. He was an American actor, director, and activist
5. He is best known for playing the main character and title role in the film Superman (1978) and its three sequels
6. He was born in New York City
7. He was raised in Princeton, New Jersey
8. Reeve discovered a passion for acting and the theater at the age of nine
9. He studied at Cornell University and the Juilliard School
10. He made his Broadway debut in 1976
11. After his acclaimed performances in Superman and Superman II, Reeve declined many roles in action movies, choosing instead to work in small films and plays with more complex characters
12. He later appeared in critically successful films such as The Bostonians (1984), Street Smart (1987), and The Remains of the Day (1993)
13. And in the plays Fifth of July on Broadway and The Aspern Papers in London’s West End
14. On May 27, 1995, Reeve broke his neck when he was thrown from a horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Virginia
15. The injury paralyzed him from the shoulders down, and he used a wheelchair and ventilator for the rest of his life
16. From his wheelchair, Reeve returned to creative work
17. He directed In the Gloaming (1997)
18. He acted in the television remake of Rear Window (1998)
19. He also made several appearances in the Superman-themed television series Smallville
20. He, also, wrote two autobiographical books, Still Me and Nothing is Impossible
21. Over the course of his career, Reeve received a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, an Emmy Award, and a Grammy Award
22. Beginning in the 1980s, Reeve was an activist for environmental and human-rights causes and for artistic freedom of expression
23. After the accident, he lobbied for spinal cord injury research, including human embryonic stem cell research, and for better insurance coverage for people with disabilities
24. His advocacy work included leading the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and co-founding the Reeve-Irvine Research Center
25. Reeve died on October 10, 2004
26. He died 15 days after his 52nd birthday
27. Reeve’s first role in a Hollywood film was a very small part as a junior officer in the 1978 naval submarine disaster movie Gray Lady Down, starring Charlton Heston
28. He then acted in the play My Life at the Circle Repertory Company with friend William Hurt
29. During My Life, Stark Hesseltine told Reeve that he had been asked to audition for the leading role as Clark Kent/Superman in the big budget film Superman (1978)
30. Lynn Stalmaster, the casting director, put Reeve’s picture and résumé on the top of the pile three separate times, only to have the producers throw it out each time
31. Through Stalmaster’s persistent pleading, a meeting between director Richard Donner, producer Ilya Salkind, and Reeve was arranged
32. The morning after the meeting, Reeve was sent a 300-page script
33. He was thrilled that the script took the subject matter seriously, and that Richard Donner’s motto was verisimilitude
34. Reeve flew to London for a screen test, and on the way was told that Marlon Brando was going to play Jor-El and Gene Hackman was going to play Lex Luthor
35. Reeve still did not think he had much of a chance
36. On the plane ride to London, he imagined how his approach to the role would be
37. He based his portrayal of Clark Kent on Cary Grant in his role in Bringing Up Baby
38. After the screen test, his driver said, “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but you’ve got the part”
39. Portraying Superman would be a stretch for the 24-year-old actor
40. He was 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) tall, but his physique was slim
41. Reeve went through an intense two-month training regimen that former British weightlifting champion David Prowse supervised
42. The training regimen consisted of running in the morning, followed by two hours of weightlifting and ninety minutes on the trampoline
43. He added thirty pounds (14 kg) of muscle to his “thin” 189-pound (86 kg) frame
44. He later made even higher gains for Superman III (1983)
45. Though for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987), he decided it would be healthier to focus more on cardiovascular workouts
46. One of the reasons Reeve could not work out as much for Superman IV was an emergency appendectomy he had in June 1986
47. For his performance, Reeve won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles
48. While filming the first two Superman movies in England, Reeve began a ten-year relationship with modeling executive Gae Exton
49. They had a son, Matthew Exton Reeve, on December 20, 1979, and a daughter, Alexandra Exton Reeve, in December 1983
50. Both were born in London, England
51. In February 1987, Reeve and Gae Exton separated amicably with joint custody of their children
52. Reeve returned to New York
53. Matthew and Alexandra remained in London with their mother and often spent their holidays with Reeve
54. In June of 1987, Reeve met his future wife Dana Morosini, a singer and actress
55. By 1991, they were living together but Reeve, remembering his parents’ painful divorce and other failed marriages in his family, could not bring himself to commit
56. After they almost broke up, Reeve began about a year of therapy, primarily to talk through his fears about marriage
57. They were married in April 1992
58. Their son William was born on June 7 that year
59. The couple remained happily married until Reeve’s death
60. Reeve began his involvement in horse riding in 1985 after learning to ride for the film Anna Karenina
61. He was initially allergic to horses, so he took antihistamines
62. He trained on Martha’s Vineyard, and by 1989, he began eventing
63. His allergies soon disappeared
64. He had suffered leg injuries as a teen while skiing, and he later broke three ribs in a riding accident he described, along with the leg injuries, on The Tonight Show in March 1987
65. On May 27, 1995, Reeve’s horse made a refusal
66. Witnesses said that the horse began the third fence jump and suddenly stopped
67. Reeve fell forward off the horse, holding on to the reins
68. His hands became tangled in the reins, and the bridle and bit were pulled off the horse
69. He landed head first on the far side of the fence, shattering his first and second vertebrae
70. This cervical spinal injury, which paralyzed him from the neck down, also halted his breathing
71. Paramedics arrived three minutes later and immediately took measures to get air into his lungs
72. He was taken first to the local hospital, before being flown by helicopter to the University of Virginia Medical Center
73. He had no recollection of the accident
74. In December 1995, Reeve moved back to his home in Pound Ridge, New York
75. By two years after the accident, Reeve said that he was “glad to be alive, not out of obligation to others, but because life was worth living”
76. Reeve continued to require round-the-clock care for the rest of his life, with a team of ten nurses and aides working in his home
77. Reeve suffered from asthma and allergies since childhood
78. At age 16, he began to suffer from alopecia areata, a condition that causes patches of hair to fall out from an otherwise healthy head of hair
79. Generally, he was able to comb it over and often the problem disappeared for long periods, but he wore a wig for the third and fourth Superman films
80. The condition became more noticeable after he became paralyzed, so he shaved his head
81. In 2002 and 2004, Reeve survived several serious infections believed to have originated from his bone marrow
82. He recovered from three that could have been fatal
83. In early October 2004, he was being treated for an infected pressure ulcer that was causing sepsis, a complication he had experienced many times before
84. On October 4, 2004, he spoke at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago on behalf of the institute’s work; it was his last reported public appearance
85. On October 9, 2004, Reeve attended his son Will’s hockey game
86. That night, he went into cardiac arrest after receiving an antibiotic for the infection
87. He fell into a coma, and was taken to Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York
88. Eighteen hours later, on October 10, 2004, Reeve died at the age of 52
89. No official autopsy was performed on the actor
90. However, both Reeve’s wife Dana and his doctor John McDonald believed that an adverse reaction to a drug caused Reeve’s death
91. His body was cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery, and his ashes were scattered
92. A memorial service for Reeve was held at the Unitarian Church in Westport, Connecticut, which both Reeve and Dana had attended
93. Reeve’s widow, Dana Reeve, headed the Christopher Reeve Foundation after his death
94. Although a non-smoker, she was diagnosed with lung cancer on August 9, 2005
95. She died at age 44 on March 6, 2006
96. The foundation was subsequently renamed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation
97. Reeve’s children Matthew, Alexandra, and William all serve on the board of directors for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation
98. While Will is also a reporter for ABC News
99. In 2015, Alexandra and her husband welcomed a son, Christopher Russel Reeve Givens
100. Google is showing a Doodle in some countries on September 25, 2021, for Christopher Reeve’s 69th birthday