Christopher Reeve's Real Name: Christopher D'Olier Reeve

Quick answer: Christopher Reeve was born Christopher D'Olier Reeve on September 25, 1952, in New York City. He played the title role in Superman (1978) and three sequels. After a 1995 riding accident left him paralyzed, he became a leading advocate for spinal-cord research. He died on October 10, 2004, at 52 (Britannica; Biography.com).

Real name and early life

Biography.com gives his full name as Christopher D'Olier Reeve. The Hollywood Walk of Fame's biography uses the same form and explains that D'Olier is a family name: his father was Franklin D'Olier Reeve, and his great-grandfather Franklin D'Olier was the first national commander of the American Legion. The Library of Congress name authority files him as "Reeve, Christopher, 1952-2004."

According to Biography.com, his mother, Barbara Pitney Lamb, was a journalist, and his father, Franklin D. Reeve, was a writer and professor. They divorced when Christopher was four, and he and his brother, Benjamin, moved with their mother to Princeton, New Jersey. Britannica says he acted in school plays and with a local professional theater there. He studied at Cornell University and the Juilliard School, worked at theaters in Europe, and spent two years on the soap opera Love of Life.

Career highlights

Reeve appeared on Broadway with Katharine Hepburn in A Matter of Gravity (1976) and made his film debut in Gray Lady Down (1978). Superman followed the same year and made him a star. Britannica says he did not want to be tied only to that role. His other films include Somewhere in Time, Switching Channels (1988), Noises Off (1992), and The Remains of the Day.

On May 27, 1995, Reeve was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Virginia and broke his neck. ABC News, reporting the Reuters account of his death, said the injury left him unable to breathe without a respirator or move without a wheelchair, though he always said he hoped to walk again. He became a visible advocate in Washington for research funding. In 1999, Britannica says, he established the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, now the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. He kept working in television, starring in a 1998 Rear Window and directing The Brooke Ellison Story (2004).

Reeve went into cardiac arrest at his home and died on October 10, 2004, at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York. His publicist said he had been treated for a severely infected pressure wound. Robin Williams, his roommate at Juilliard, called him "a tremendous activist and artist."

Name notes for searchers

D'Olier is his middle name, carried down from his father's side of the family. He was always credited as Christopher Reeve. His wife was actress Dana Reeve, née Morosini.