Superman dead?!

[Ally_Kat]

Nikki Finke in Los Angeles is reporting that actor Christopher Reeve is dead, according to sources close to the actor. He died suddenly Sunday. News of his death has not been reported publicly yet. His family will make an announcement Monday at the earliest. Reeve was just mentioned Friday in the second live presidential debate by John Kerry. Noting he was a friend of the paralysed Reeve, Kerry said he was in favor of further stem cell research because Reeve could walk again one day thanks to such science.... MORE...


http://www.drudgereport.com/

[Flash Bastard]

LOL. You beat me to the punch by a minute.

Listening to Drudge tonight, are you?

[Ally_Kat]

nawh, friend just imed me

[Flash Bastard]

Well then, Drudge is the only media outlet reporting this news right now. CNN and Fox has no idea.

Nikki Finke provided the news to Drudge live on his radio show about 30 minutes ago.

In case you were wondering.

[DLRdelight!]

So is this true?

[Ally_Kat]

Well, a journalist wouldn't risk their reputation by reporting something they didn't have a reliable source for

[bueno bob]

Haven't seen anything on MSN yet...will keep my eyes open...

[Ally_Kat]

well, they probably won't report anything until the family stated it officially.

[bueno bob]

True enough...but if one source is running with it, I'm kinda surprised the rest haven't picked up yet.

Next few hours will prove real interesting, and MOTHER FUCK am I going to be pissed!

Even if it's pre-mature, God bless Chris. You have been a definate inspiration for the world to wonder upon.

[bueno bob]

Here's to you, Big Guy!

Even if it's not true, you deserve it anyway.

[sambo]

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11039352%255E1702,00.html

Superman actor Reeve dies
From correspondents in New York
October 11, 2004

US actor Christopher Reeve, best known for his role as Superman, has died, his publicist said.

He was 52.

His near-fatal riding accident nine years ago turned him into a worldwide advocate for spinal cord research.

Reeves had been paralysed since the accident.

He fell into a coma on Saturday after going into cardiac arrest while at his New York home and died yesterday, publicist Wesley Combs said from Washington, DC. Reeve was being treated at Northern Westchester Hospital for a pressure wound that he developed, a common complication for people with paralysis.

In the past week, the wound had become severely infected, resulting in a serious systemic infection.

"On behalf of my entire family, I want to thank Northern Westchester Hospital for the excellent care they provided to my husband," Dana Reeve, his widow, said in a statement.

"I also want to thank his personal staff of nurses and aides, as well as the millions of fans from around the world who have supported and loved my husband over the years."

Reeve broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Virginia.

Enduring months of therapy to allow him to breathe for longer and longer periods without a respirator, Reeve emerged to lobby the US Congress for better insurance protection against catastrophic injury and to move an Academy Award audience to tears with a call for more films about social issues.

He returned to directing, and even returned to acting in a 1998 production of Rear Window, a modern update of the Hitchcock thriller about a man in a wheelchair who becomes convinced a neighbour has been murdered.

Reeve won a Screen Actors Guild award for best actor in a television movie or mini-series.

"I was worried that only acting with my voice and my face, I might not be able to communicate effectively enough to tell the story," Reeve said.

"But I was surprised to find that if I really concentrated, and just let the thoughts happen, that they would read on my face. With so many close-ups, I knew that my every thought would count."

In his public appearances, he was as handsome as ever, his blue eyes bright and his voice clear.

"Hollywood needs to do more," he said in the March 1996 Oscar awards appearance. "Let's continue to take risks. Let's tackle the issues. In many ways our film community can do it better than anyone else. There is no challenge, artistic or otherwise, that we can't meet."

In 2000, Reeve was able to move his index finger, and a specialised workout regimen has made his legs and arms stronger. He also regained sensation in other parts of his body.

The Associated Press

[bueno bob]

That was one dude that deserved to beat his handicap.

He worked hard for a lot of years and was a big inspiration, not only to others suffering with paralysis, but to just people in general.

How can you bitch about your life when he went forward with his so positively, so determined, and so optimistic about the future?

Take care, Chris.

[bueno bob]

From MSN news:

'Superman' star Christopher Reeve dies at 52
Spinal chord advocate fell into a coma Saturday, publicist saysThe Associated Press
Updated: 2:17 a.m. ET Oct. 11, 2004BEDFORD, N.Y. - Christopher Reeve, the star of the “Superman” movies whose near-fatal riding accident nine years ago turned him into a worldwide advocate for spinal cord research, died Sunday of heart failure, his publicist said. He was 52.

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Reeve fell into a coma Saturday after going into cardiac arrest while at his New York home, his publicist, Wesley Combs told The Associated Press by phone from Washington, D.C., on Sunday night.

Reeve was being treated at Northern Westchester Hospital for a pressure wound, a common complication for people living with paralysis. In the past week, the wound had become severely infected, resulting in a serious systemic infection.

“On behalf of my entire family, I want to thank Northern Westchester Hospital for the excellent care they provided to my husband,” Dana Reeve, Christopher’s wife, said in a statement. “I also want to thank his personal staff of nurses and aides, as well as the millions of fans from around the world who have supported and loved my husband over the years.”

Reeve broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Va.

Passionate advocate
Enduring months of therapy to allow him to breathe for longer and longer periods without a respirator, Reeve emerged to lobby Congress for better insurance protection against catastrophic injury and to move an Academy Award audience to tears with a call for more films about social issues.

He returned to directing, and even returned to acting in a 1998 production of “Rear Window,” a modern update of the Hitchcock thriller about a man in a wheelchair who becomes convinced a neighbor has been murdered. Reeve won a Screen Actors Guild award for best actor in a television movie or miniseries.

“I was worried that only acting with my voice and my face, I might not be able to communicate effectively enough to tell the story,” Reeve said. “But I was surprised to find that if I really concentrated, and just let the thoughts happen, that they would read on my face. With so many close-ups, I knew that my every thought would count.”

In his public appearances, he was as handsome as ever, his blue eyes bright and his voice clear.

“Hollywood needs to do more,” he said in the March 1996 Oscar awards appearance. “Let’s continue to take risks. Let’s tackle the issues. In many ways our film community can do it better than anyone else. There is no challenge, artistic or otherwise, that we can’t meet.”

Symbol of recovery
In 2000, Reeve was able to move his index finger, and a specialized workout regimen made his legs and arms stronger. He also regained sensation in other parts of his body.

Reeve’s support of stem cell research helped it emerge as a major campaign issue between President Bush and John Kerry. His name was even mentioned by Kerry earlier this month during the second presidential debate.

As for the strain of traveling to Hollywood, Reeve said: “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.”

His athletic, 6-foot-4-inch frame and love of adventure made him a natural, if largely unknown, choice for the title role in the first “Superman” movie in 1978. He insisted on performing his own stunts.

Although he reprised the role three times, Reeve often worried about being typecast as an action hero.

“Look, I’ve flown, I’ve become evil, loved, stopped and turned the world backward, I’ve faced my peers, I’ve befriended children and small animals and I’ve rescued cats from trees,” Reeve told the Los Angeles Times in 1983, just before the release of the third “Superman” movie. “What else is there left for Superman to do that hasn’t been done?”

Escaping the cape
Though he owed his fame to it, Reeve made a concerted effort to, as he often put it, “escape the cape.” He played an embittered, crippled Vietnam veteran in the 1980 Broadway play “Fifth of July,” a lovestruck time-traveler in the 1980 movie “Somewhere in Time,” and an aspiring playwright in the 1982 suspense thriller “Deathtrap.”

“After the first ‘Superman,’ I had the compulsion to do parts that were really weird,” Reeve told The Associated Press in 1987. “That freaked people out. I’ve passed that.”

More recent films included John Carpenter’s “Village of the Damned,” and the HBO movies “Above Suspicion” and “In the Gloaming,” which he directed. Among his other film credits are “The Remains of the Day,” “The Aviator,” and “Morning Glory.”

Yet Reeve always will be known to movie fans as the strapping, boyishly handsome stage veteran whose charm and humor brought a new dimension to the characters of Superman and his alter-ego, Clark Kent. The film co-starred Margot Kidder as Lois Lane.

Reeve said in public appearances promoting the “Superman” films, he tried to get children to better themselves.

“They should be looking for Superman’s qualities — courage, determination, modesty, humor — in themselves rather than passively sitting back, gaping slack-jawed at this terrific guy in boots,” Reeve said.

Child star
Reeve was born Sept. 25, 1952, in New York City, son of a novelist and a newspaper reporter. He in around 10 when he made his first stage appearance — in Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Yeoman of the Guard” at McCarter Theater in Princeton, N.J.

He starred in virtually all of the theatrical productions at the exclusive Princeton Day School. By age 16, he had joined the actors’ union.

After graduating from Cornell University in 1974, he landed a part as coldhearted bigamist Ben Harper on the television soap opera “Love of Life.” He also performed frequently on stage, winning his first Broadway role as the grandson of a character played by Katharine Hepburn in “A Matter of Gravity.”

Reeve’s first movie role was a minor one in the submarine disaster movie “Gray Lady Down,” released in 1978. “Superman” soon followed. Reeve was selected for the title role from among about 200 aspirants.

Devistating riding injury
Active in many sports, Reeve owned several horses and competed in equestrian events regularly. Witnesses to the May 1995 accident said Reeve’s horse had cleared two of 15 fences during the jumping event and stopped abruptly at the third, flinging the actor headlong to the ground.

Doctors said he fractured the top two vertebrae in his neck and damaged his spinal cord. When he finally was released from a rehabilitation institute in December 1995, he thanked staffed members “who have set the stage for my continued journey.” He underwent further rehabilitation at his home in upstate New York.

While filming “Superman” in London, Reeve met modeling agency co-founder Gae Exton, and the two began a relationship that lasted several years. The couple had two sons, but were never wed.

Reeve later married Dana Morosini; they had one son, Will, 11. His wife became his frequent spokeswoman after the accident.

Reeve also is survived by his mother, Barbara Johnson; his father, Franklin Reeve; his brother, Benjamin Reeve; and his two children from his relationship with Exton, Matthew, 25, and Alexandra, 21.

No plans for a funeral were immediately announced.

A few months after the accident, he told interviewer Barbara Walters that he considered suicide in the first dark days after he was injured. But he quickly overcame such thoughts when he saw his children.

“I could see how much they needed me and wanted me ... and how lucky we all are and that my brain is on straight.”

© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Panamark]

This is very sad news. He was fighting like hell to recover and never gave up hope. You just know that it must have been something really fucking nasty that killed him. He had resolve and determination like no other. I was one that was hoping they would speed up stem cell legislation and research to help people like Christopher Reeve.
To hear that he had to succumb to this other shit, is really sad.

Always sadder when a true fighter loses the fight.

RIP.

[sambo]

As many remember him the best.
Christopher Reeve
RIP 1952 - 2004

[stilleddiesangel]

This mans courage knew no bounds.. RIP Christopher Reeve

[SoCalChelle]

Now he really CAN fly.

RIP

[distortion9]

do you worry that you're not liked
how long till you break
you're happy cause you smile
but how much can you fake
an ordinary boy an ordinary name
but ordinary's just not good enough today

alone I'm thinking
why is superman dead
is it in my head
we'll just laugh instead
you worry about the weather and
whether or not you should hate

are you worried about your faith
kneel down and obey
you're happy you're in love
you need someone to hate
an ordinary girl an ordinary waist
but ordinary's just not good enough today

doesn't anybody ever know that the
world's a subway...



R.I.P. Superman

[Mezro]

Christopher Reeve didn't just play Superman...Christopher Reeve was Superman!

Mezro...he walked so tall even while riding in a chair...