So long, Superman

From CNN.com

Actor Christopher Reeve has died at the age of 52, a day after lapsing into a coma.

Reeve went into cardiac arrest Saturday while at his home in Pound Ridge, New York, then fell into a coma and died Sunday at a hospital surrounded by his family.

In the last week, Reeve had developed a serious systemic infection from a pressure wound, a common complication for people living with paralysis. He was hospitalized Saturday.

Reeve's life changed completely after he broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition.

In 2000, Reeve was able to move his index finger, and a specialized workout regimen made his legs and arms stronger. He also regained sensation in other parts of his body. He vowed to walk again.

"I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I live my life. I don't mean to be reckless, but setting a goal that seems a bit daunting actually is very helpful toward recovery," Reeve said.

Before the accident, his athletic, 6-foot-4-inch frame (1.93 meters) and love of adventure made him a natural, if largely unknown, choice for the title role in the first "Superman" movie in 1978. He insisted on performing his own stunts.

Reeve was born September 25, 1952, in New York City, son of a novelist and a newspaper reporter. About the age of 10, he made his first stage appearance -- in Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Yeoman of the Guard."

Reeve's first movie role was a minor one in the submarine disaster movie "Gray Lady Down," released in 1978. "Superman" soon followed. Reeve was selected for the title role from among about 200 aspirants.

Active in many sports, Reeve owned several horses and competed in equestrian events regularly. Witnesses to the 1995 accident said Reeve's horse had cleared two of 15 fences during the jumping event and stopped abruptly at the third, flinging the actor headlong to the ground. Doctors said he fractured the top two vertebrae in his neck and damaged his spinal cord.

We will miss you.