Early Life:

Christopher D’Olier Reeve was born on 25 September 1952, in New York City, United State of America. His mother, Barbara Lamb, was a journalist and his father, Franklin D’Olier Reeve, worked as an educator, also as a writer and scholar. 

When Reeve was four, his parents divorced and he moved together with his mother and younger brother to Princeton, New Jersey. There he attended Princeton Country Day School, where he was recognized as an outstanding student and also a talented athlete, playing tennis, hockey, soccer, and baseball.

Christopher Reeve also began performing at Princeton Country Day School in 1962, at the age of nine. He was the first cast in a school production of The Yeomen of the Guard and has continued to develop his acting skills in many other plays. 

At age 15, he apprenticed at the Williamstown Theater Festival, a summer theater camp in Williamstown, Massachusetts, which heightened his interest in acting.

Biography:

The Career of Studies:

After graduating from high school in 1970, Reeve immediately considered pursuing an acting career, but ultimately decided to go to college and earn a degree first. He has been accepted into several prestigious universities including Princeton University, Columbia University, Northwestern University, Brown University, and Cornell University. 

Sensing that the temptation to act professionally would be too strong if he attended school in New York City, he decided to enroll at Cornell. However, he continued to perform as a student and joined the Cornell Theater Department. 

His roles include Hamlet in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Pozzo in Waiting for Godot.

Although focused on graduating from Cornell, Reeve decided to work with prominent New York agent Stark Hesseltine, who had sent Reeve a letter after seeing him in the production of A Month in the Country. Hesseltine began representing Reeve, who began traveling to New York once a month to make connections in the city while continuing to work to graduate from Cornell. 

This was a successful strategy, as Reeve toured with a production of Forty Carats during the summer after his first year and signed a contract with the San Diego Shakespeare Festival after his second year.

During his freshman year, Reeve was able to convince Cornell College to allow him to complete his undergraduate studies at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City to focus on acting. 

After a competitive test, he was admitted to the Juilliard Advanced Program with Robin Williams. After spending a year at Juilliard, he successfully graduated from Cornell in 1974.

Professional Career:

In the early years after college, Reeve starred in various plays, novels, and films. However, his big break came when he landed the role of Clark Kent / Superman in the 1978 movie Superman under the direction of Richard Donner. Reeve’s BAFTA award for his performance. 

Reeve later reprised his role in Superman II, Superman III, and Superman IV. Christopher Reeve became a household name during this time, given the great success of the franchise.

In addition to starring in several other films such as Somewhere in Time, Street Smart, and The Bostonians, Reeve also worked in television and returned to the theater often. 

Later in his professional career, he began to direct. Reeve directed In the Gloaming in 1997, which was nominated for five Emmy Awards. He also produced and starred in Back Window in 1998, for which he won the Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as a Golden Globe Nomination.

Reeve also wrote two autobiographies. The first, Still Me, was released in 1998 and was on the New York Times bestseller list for a total of eleven weeks, earning Reeve a Grammy for Best Lyric Album. Reeve’s second book, Nothing Is Impossible, was published in 2004.

Christopher Reeve Net Worth:

Christopher Reeve was an American actor and director who had a net worth of $10 million at the time of his death in 2004. Reeve was best known for playing the role of Superman in the 1978 movie Superman and its three subsequent sequels. 

Later in life, Reeve was paralyzed from the shoulders down after a horseback accident. Reeve then served as director, wrote two autobiographies, and became involved as an environmental activist and advocate for spinal cord research.

Superman’s salary:

Christopher won $ 250,000 for 1978’s “Superman”, $ 500,000 for 1980’s “Superman 2” and $ 1 million for “Superman 3 and 4” (1983 and 1987).

Married life and equestrian accident:

Reeve started a relationship with Gae Exton, a model while filming Superman. In 1979, the couple had a son, Matthew Exton Reeve. They had their daughter, Alexandra Exton Reeve, in 1983. After a ten-year relationship, Reeve and Exton decided to go their separate ways and decided to keep shared custody of their children. 

In 1987, Reeve met singer and actress Dana Morosini, whom he married in 1992. Reeve had his third child with Morosini, William, that same year.

Reeve’s life changed dramatically after a terrible horse accident. Reeve has become a skilled rider since learning to ride in 1985 for a role in a movie. He had started to participate in dressage competitions. 

In 1995, Reeve was in the process of completing a jump when his horse suddenly came to a halt, knocking Reeve off the horse and breaking his first and second vertebrae.

Reeve was hospitalized for several days before regaining consciousness and learning he was paralyzed from neck to toe. Months of rehabilitation and physiotherapy followed. Reeve has remained very committed to an intensive exercise program, helping him regain some little finger movements and feel wider temperature ranges.

He received nearly 400,000 letters from fans and supporters after the accident.

Life after an accident:

Reeve was inspired by his time in rehab and has been heavily involved in legislation and disability rights. He was eventually elected president of the American Paralysis Association and vice-president of the National Organization on Disability. 

Reeve also founded the Christopher Reeve Foundation, which aims to encourage research to find a cure for paralysis. Reeve wrote both autobiographies during this time and has remained deeply attached to his family.

Death:

Reeve died on 10 October 2004 after falling into a coma. He left behind his wife Dana and son William, as well as his two children, Matthew and Alexandra, from his previous relationship with the Gae Exton model. Two funerals were held for him, one at his church in Connecticut and the other at the Juilliard School.