“Superman” actor Christopher Reeve, who turned personal tragedy into a public crusade and from his wheelchair became the nation’s most recognizable spokesman for spinal cord research, has died. He was 52.
Reeve went into cardiac arrest Saturday while at his Pound Ridge home, then fell into a coma and died Sunday at a hospital surrounded by his family, his publicist said. He was 52.
Rest in peace, Chris.
Tarzan wasn’t a ladies’ man
He’d just come along and scoop ’em up under his arm
Like that, quick as a cat in the jungle
But Clark Kent, now there was a real gent
He would not be caught sittin’ around in no
Junglescape, dumb as an ape doing nothingSuperman never made any money
For saving the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair the world will never see
Another man like himHey Bob, Supe had a straight job
Even though he could have smashed through any bank
In the United States, he had the strength, but he would not
Folks said his family were all dead
Their planet crumbled but Superman, he forced himself
To carry on, forget Krypton, and keep goingTarzan was king of the jungle and Lord over all the apes
But he could hardly string together four words: “I Tarzan, You Jane.”Superman never made any money
For saving the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair the world will never see
Another man like himSometimes when Supe was stopping crimes
I’ll bet that he was tempted to just quit and turn his back
On man, join Tarzan in the forest
But he stayed in the city, and kept on changing clothes
In dirty old phonebooths till his work was through
And nothing to do but go on homeSuperman never made any money
For saving the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair the world will never see
Another man like him
— Crash Test Dummies, ‘Superman’s Song‘
“Superman’s Song” by Crash Test Dummies from the album Ghosts That Haunt Me, The (1991, 4:34).