Christopher Reeve, the strapping, handsome actor whose most noted role as "Superman," was matched off-screen by his formidable courage advocating stem cell research after a horrific horse riding accident paralyzed him, died on October 10 at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York from heart failure. He was 52.

He was born on September 25, 1952, in New York City, the son a newspaper reporter and novelist. He showed ann interest in acting as a child, making his professional stage debut at the age of 10, in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Yeoman of the Guard in Princeton, New Jersey.

After he graduated high school, Reeve entered Cornell University, and after earning his B.A. in drama, he studied under John Houseman at the Juilliard School of Performing Arts. His first big break came in 1974, when he landed a two-year stint with the role as the sly bigamist Ben Harper on the soap opera Love of Life. In 1976 he made his Broadway debut opposite Katherine Hepburn in A Matter of Gravity. Around this time, Reeve auditioned for the role that change his life and career: that of Superman. He was picked out of 200 applicants, and he had to hold his own against heavyweight stars like Gene Hackman and Marlon Brando, but once Superman hit the movie houses in 1978, Christopher Reeve became a household name.

Apart from the Superman movies (both the follow-ups Superman II (1980), and Superman III (1983) would be huge moneymakers), Reeve chose roles that would, as he described it, "escape the cape." He played a lovestruck time-traveler opposite Jane Seymour in Somewhere in Time (1980); a budding playwright who is involved in a gay affair with mentor Michael Caine in Deathtrap. (1982); for many critics, his best performance, as a soulless news reporter who will stop at nothing for a news story in Street Smarts (1987); skillfully handled farce in Noises Off (1992); and effectively played an aristocrat in The Remains of the Day (1993).

His career and life took a tragic turn on May 27, 1995 in Culpepper, Virginia when Reeve, an accomplished horseman, broke the top two cervical vertebrae and injured his spinal cord when he was thrown from his horse and landed on his head during competitive trials. He enduring months of therapy to allow him to breathe for longer periods without a respirator, and once his health improved, he lobbied Congress for better insurance protection against catastrophic injury.

With renewed zeal, Reeve, with his wife Dana, founded the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. With his star power, he managed to raise $42.5 million for neuroscience. And he would become a strong advocate for embryonic stem cell research, and was a vocal critic against President Bush's decision in 2001 to limit federal funding on stem cell research.

Reeve successfully returned to acting in Rear Window (1998), 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 TV movie or miniseries. He also made some impressive forays into television in the last year, most notably ABC's hit series The Practice, and WB's Smallville.

In addition to his wife, Reeve is survived by their 12-year-old son, Will; two children from a previous relationship with Gae Exton, Matthew, 25, and Alexandra, 21; his mother and father; and a brother, Benjamin.

by Michael T. Toole