Christopher Reeve: A Real-Life Superman

Transcript

00:00He cemented his place in Hollywood history with his iconic portrayal of Superman,

00:04but Christopher Reeve continues to inspire 20 years after his death.

00:09The strikingly handsome, larger-than-life actor lived with purpose and passion,

00:13both before and after a horrific equestrian accident left him paralyzed.

00:19But as we mark the 20th anniversary of his death at 52 on October 10, 2004,

00:24Reeve now stands as a touchstone of courage and the power of optimism,

00:28proving nothing is impossible.

00:30An insider tells us in this week's Cover Story,

00:33"...people close to Chris said that from the beginning, even before the accident,

00:38there was something bigger than being an actor, something bigger than Superman.

00:42He was on some larger human mission from the start."

00:45At a muscular 6'4", not only did the actor look like the superhero,

00:49he furthered the mystique by performing his own stunts.

00:52Offscreen, he piloted his own plane, flying solo across the Atlantic twice,

00:57sailed, skied, and, as fate would have it, took up equestrian competition.

01:02On May 27, 1995, competing with his thoroughbred buck in a cross-country event in Virginia,

01:09the horse balked during a routine jump.

01:12Christopher was thrown headfirst, slamming into a crossrail and then the turf,

01:17shattering his spine between the first and second vertebrae,

01:20causing paralysis from the neck down.

01:23And while he thought about giving up, his wife, Dana, remained by his side.

01:27And the day before he died, Christopher spent his last day of consciousness

01:30doing what he loved to do.

01:31This was written by Dana in a letter to her family, friends, and supporters

01:36of the film star and activist, saying that he attended his son Will's hockey game,

01:41watched the Yankee game with Will, and gobbled up one of his favorite meals, turkey tetrazzini.

01:45By the next day, Christopher was in a coma and hospitalized near his home in Bedford

01:50due to an infection from a pressure wound that spread throughout his body.

01:54His death was attributed to heart failure.

01:57Tragically, the loss didn't end there.

01:59Just 17 months after her husband's death, Dana, a non-smoker,

02:04died from lung cancer at the age of 44.

02:07Author Christopher Anderson tells Us Weekly,

02:09"...it seemed unfathomably cruel. Dana was more than just resilient.

02:13Despite everything, she was joyful about life — fun, witty, warm, disarmingly down-to-earth.

02:18Dana didn't want to be called a saint, but if she wasn't a saint,

02:22she certainly is the closest thing I've ever seen to one."