曾风靡全球的美国电影《超人》男主角饰演者——克里斯托夫·里夫于美国当地时间10月10日因心脏病突发不幸去世，享年52岁。9年前，里夫在一次马术比赛中意外落马。障碍赛的横木撞碎了他第一颈椎，第二颈椎部分受伤，造成无法正常呼吸，需要依赖呼吸器。因手脚丧失知觉和运动能力，此后这位“超人”不得不终日坐在轮椅上。里夫受伤后非常坚强，不仅担任导演而且还在1998年重返银屏，参加了《后窗》的演出。

Christopher Reeve, who portrayed a hero in the "Superman" films and embodied one as an advocate for spinal cord research after being paralyzed in an accident, has died. He was 52.

Reeve went into cardiac arrest Saturday at his home in Westchester County, New York, after developing a serious systemic infection during treatment for a pressure wound. He slipped into a coma and died Sunday afternoon at a hospital near his home.

Reeve's wife, Dana, issued a statement thanking "the millions of fans around the world who have supported and loved my husband over the years."

"He put up with a lot," his mother, Barbara Johnson, told the syndicated television show "The Insider." "I'm glad that he is free of all those tubes."

Reeve first gained renown when he was selected from 200 candidates to play the title character in the 1978 movie "Superman," which was followed by three sequels. But he made a bigger impact on the public consciousness after becoming paralyzed in May 1995, following an equestrian accident in Virginia.

The actor went through months of therapy to train himself to breathe without the continuous aid of a respirator. He then became an advocate for the disabled, lobbying Congress, appearing at the Academy Awards and returning to acting and directing. His name was mentioned by Sen. John Kerry during Friday's presidential debate when the talk turned to stem cell research.

Reeve himself was vocal on the subject. In 2001, while President Bush considered a decision on stem cell research -- he eventually allowed federal funding of research using existing stem cell lines -- Reeve spoke to CNN's John King about the impact of delaying study.

"That would be a big mistake because you could spend the next five years doing research on the adult stem cells and find that they are not capable of doing what we know that embryonic cells can do now," he said. "And five years of unnecessary research to try to create something that we already have would cause -- well, a lot of people are going to die while we wait."

Christopher Reeve was born September 25, 1952, in New York City, the son of a novelist and a newspaper reporter. He appeared on the soap opera "Love of Life" while attending college at Cornell University; his senior year, he was also one of two students selected to attend New York's prestigious Juilliard School to study under John Houseman.

He debuted on Broadway in 1976 in the play "A Matter of Gravity," opposite Katharine Hepburn, and later starred in Lanford Wilson's work "Fifth of July," playing a gay, crippled Vietnam veteran.

But it was "Superman" that thrust Reeve into stardom . At an athletic 6-foot-4, the actor appeared to be a model for the superhero (an image helped by the fact that he performed many of his stunts, including dangerous "flying" exercises) -- and yet, with the merest addition of some glasses and a meek voice, easily turned into the shy and hesitant Clark Kent, often overpowered by Margot Kidder's brash Lois Lane.

Reeve made frequent attempts to avoid typecasting. He starred as a playwright who goes back in time to meet a beauty in "Somewhere in Time" (1980), Michael Caine's rival in the film version of Ira Levin's play "Deathtrap" (1983) and an unscrupulous reporter in "Street Smart" (1987), the film that helped make Morgan Freeman a star.

Among his other films were "The Bostonians" (1984), "Switching Channels" (1988), "Noises Off" (1992) and "The Remains of the Day" (1993).