Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story Inspires on All Cylinders

There’s always someone who touches your life.  When they’re no longer roaming this realm, you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing.   I was on Broadway waiting backstage in the wings for my next entrance when the news swept like a tidal wave.  Christopher Reeve aka Superman had a nasty fall off a horse and no one seemed to have an update on his condition.  Was he simply injured or had we lost an American icon?

Broadway always supports its own. So, we went into prayer mode brainstorming methods on assisting Dana [Reeve] until Chris got back on his feet.  Unfortunately, that never happened. Reeve ultimately succumbed to paralyzation complications and some years later, Dana would lose a battle with lung cancer. There aren’t enough words in the English language to describe the overwhelming sense of grief and empathy we all felt for his children, especially Will, who had lost his father, mother and a grandparent in less than 18 months at the age of six years old.

Decades before superheroes took over the cinemas, Reeve made the world believe a man could fly and his accident brought worldwide awareness of disability. In “Super/Man,” Reeve’s family and close confidantes demonstrate remarkable candor in their reflections on life before and life after suffering a tragic accident leaving him as quadriplegic dependent on a ventilator to breathe.

Moving backward and forward in time, filmmakers Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui expertly weave a dual narrative exploring the life-changing impact of two pivotal moments in Christopher Reeve’s career – being cast in 1978’s Superman and becoming paralyzed in 1995. Never-before-seen home movies and extraordinary personal archives reveal how Christopher Reeve went from unknown actor to iconic movie star as the ultimate screen superhero.

As devastating as this loss was for the Reeve family, millions of global fans and close knit friends, his life was far from the perfection of a cinematic super hero. There were father issues, never fully committing to the mother of his oldest children and being attacked in the media over his dogmatic pursuit to support research which would help the disabled walk again.

It’s disheartening he didn’t live long enough to watch that dream become a reality through the miracle of stem research.  He never got to see Will become an Emmy nominated news correspondent, Matthew go on to serve on the Board of Directors for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and become a Trustee of UK-based Spinal Research or witness Alexandra serve in the U.S. Senate as the chief counsel Senate Judiciary Committee covering innovation and consumer protection.

This Superman led an extraordinary life, created even more extraordinary human beings and made us all believe the impossible is always possible with a little faith, perseverance and positivity under the most darkest of moments in life.