Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 452-454. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.
Brother: Benjamin Reeve (b. 1953). Half-brothers: Jeff Johnson and Kevin Johnson.
Children, with Gae Exton: Matthew Reeve (b. 1979) and Alexandra Reeve (b. 1982).
Cousin of Elizabeth Hubbard.
Died at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York, after suffering heart failure while being treated for a severely infected pressure wound (common among paralyzed people).
Following Superman (1978), he was offered a number of scripts for action films, one of which he claims was a script for a film about the Viking Eric the Red. He turned them down because he felt they didn't require much in the way of acting. Instead, he chose Somewhere in Time (1980) as his first post-Superman film, against the advice of his agent, because he liked the script and the character.
Gained 30 pounds for the role of Superman.
Godfather of Christopher Keach, Jane Seymour's son.
He had a love of Scotland and its countryside. He often visited Scotland with his family.
He is the tallest out of the eight actors who have played Superman, the others being Kirk Alyn, George Reeves, John Newton, Gerard Christopher, Dean Cain, Tom Welling, and Brandon Routh.
He was inducted into the 2012 New Jersey Hall of Fame for his contributions to Arts and Entertainment.
He went to Chile in 1987 during the military dictatorship to support about 80 Chilean artists (actors and directors) whose lives were threatened by the death squads of dictator Augusto Pinochet.
His friend Jane Seymour used to call him Superfoot because of his tendency to step on her toes while filming their dance scenes from Somewhere in Time (1980).
His last theatrical film, John Carpenter's Village of the Damned (1995), paired him with Mark Hamill, who provided the voice of the Joker in the animated "Batman" (1992).
His weight trainer for Superman (1978) was British weight-lifting champion David Prowse, who played Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983).
January 2004: He was decorated by the Chilean government for his humanitarian work, with the Bernardo O'Higgins Order, by the Chilean chancellor in his home in New York.
Made his Broadway debut starring opposite Katharine Hepburn in a production of "A Matter of Gravity" in 1976. Hepburn became very fond of him, both as an actor and as a person, and teased him that he would take care of her when she retired. Ironically, Reeve's reply was "Miss Hepburn, I don't think I'll live that long."
Received a two-minute standing ovation at the 68th Annual Academy Awards in 1996. He was introducing a film montage recognizing how Hollywood has tackled social issues.
Said he had originally planned for 1995 to be his comeback year, with lead roles in Village of the Damned and Above Suspicion and other major roles in the works, including a film reuniting him with director Richard Donner. Unfortunately his comeback was cut short by his tragic horse riding accident.
Said that after he was paralyzed, it was his wife's support that kept him from choosing death over living on a respirator.