Death of a Superman

Christopher Reeve, who died yesterday at 52, refused to accept what fate dealt him. After becoming synonymous in the public mind with the Man of Steel, having played the last son of Krypton in the four Superman films of the late 1970s and 1980s, Reeve appeared in a number of Hollywood and TV films. But he generally never outflew his caped character.

Until, that is, he fell from a horse in May 1995, snapping his spinal cord. Paralyzed from the neck down, he seemed condemned to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

But Reeve did not see it as a condemnation, rather as a challenge. While he never walked again, he put himself through years of physical therapy and saw it as a major triumph when he was able to move a finger five years after the accident.

Nor did he let his condition stunt his creative life. He returned to acting, appearing in a number of TV films and series, including "The Practice," the super-teen "Smallville" and a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. He even took the director's (wheel)chair to helm several TV productions, including 1997's "In the Gloaming."

He and his wife opened the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center in New Jersey, dedicated to helping other paralytics realize their potential and go on living rather than seeing their condition as a sort of living death. When the issue of stem cell research took the spotlight, with its potential for therapy and possibly even cure for paralysis and other conditions, Reeve publicly criticized President Bush for blocking all but a trickle of federally-funded research.

He served as a source of inspiration and hope for people around the world living with paralysis and other medical conditions, teaching them that being unable to move does not mean they are unable to live. Christopher Reeve might not have actually soared through the clouds as he did on the silver screen, but he was a Man of Steel nonetheless. He will be sorely missed.