Superman curse
The Superman curse refers to a series of supposedly related misfortunes that have plagued creative people involved in adaptations of the DC Comics character Superman in various media, particularly actors who have played the role of Superman on film and television. The "curse" is frequently associated with George Reeves, who starred in Adventures of Superman on television from 1952 to 1958, and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 45; and Christopher Reeve, the portrayer of the superhero in four theatrical films from 1978 to 1987, who was paralyzed in a 1995 horseback riding accident, and died nine years later at age 52 from heart failure.
The curse is often invoked whenever misfortune is experienced by actors and other personnel who work on Superman adaptations, so much so that some talent agents cite the curse as the reason for the difficulty in casting actors in the role in live-action feature films.
A more prosaic explanation for the alleged 'curse' is that given the high number of people involved in the many adaptations and treatments of the Superman story over the years, a number of significant misfortunes would inevitably occur, as they would do in any substantial sampling of random individuals.
Superman actors
The following actors who played Superman have sometimes been cited as victims of the "Superman curse".Kirk Alyn
Kirk Alyn played Superman in two low-budget 1940s serials, but failed to find work afterward due to typecasting. As a result, he was relegated to voice roles, commercials, and uncredited screen roles. He later appeared as Lois Lane's father in the 1978 Superman film. Alyn had Alzheimer's disease later in his life and died in 1999 at the age of 88.Lee Quigley
Lee Quigley, who played the infant Superman in the 1978 film, came from an unstable home and suffered schoolyard bullying. He died in 1991 at age 14 from inhalant abuse.George Reeves
George Reeves played Superman in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men and the ensuing television series Adventures of Superman. Like Alyn, he was too closely associated with the role to find further work. On June 16, 1959, days before he was to be married, Reeves was found dead of a gunshot wound at his home with his Luger pistol near him. The death was ruled a suicide, but controversy surrounds the death, as Reeves's fingerprints were never found on the gun, and he had been having an affair with the wife of MGM exec Eddie Mannix. It was Reeves's death that inspired the conspiracy theories and the urban legend of a curse associated with the character.Christopher Reeve
Christopher Reeve played Clark Kent / Superman in the 1978–1987 Superman film series: Superman: The Movie, Superman II, Superman III, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Subsequently, he was subject to typecasting and found difficulty acquiring roles, being relegated to Superman sequels and supporting roles. Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from his horse in a cross-country equestrian riding event on May 27, 1995. He died on October 10, 2004, fifteen days after his 52nd birthday. No official autopsy was performed, but both Reeve's wife Dana and his doctor John McDonald believed that an adverse reaction to a drug caused Reeve's death. In one of his last roles, Reeve portrayed supporting character Dr. Virgil Swann on the WB/CW television series Smallville.Other alleged victims
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, who played Jor-El in the 1978 film, is cited for the misfortune he suffered in his private life, such as his son Christian's shooting of his half-sister Cheyenne's boyfriend in 1990 and subsequent five-year imprisonment, Brando's own admission in court that he had failed his son and daughter, his daughter's 1995 suicide and his later reclusiveness. He died in July 2004, aged 80, three months before his Superman co-star Christopher Reeve. Footage of him would later be posthumously used in 2006's Superman Returns.Margot Kidder
Margot Kidder, who played Superman's love interest Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve, had bipolar disorder. In April 1996, she went missing for several days and was found by police in a paranoid, delusional state.Kidder dismissed the notion of a curse, remarking in a 2002 interview: "That is all newspaper-created rubbish. The idea cracks me up. What about the luck of Superman? When my car crashed this August, if I hadn't hit a telegraph pole after rolling three times, I would have dropped down a 50ft to 60ft ravine. Why don't people focus on that?"
Kidder aged 69 died on May 13, 2018, in Livingston, Montana. A coroner ruled her death a suicide, stating that she died as a result of a self-inflicted drug and alcohol overdose.
Richard Pryor
Comedian Richard Pryor, who starred as Gus Gorman in Superman III, previously had a drug addiction that led to a near-fatal suicide attempt. Three years later, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He died of a heart attack on December 10, 2005, at the age of 65.Dana Reeve
The curse has been mentioned regarding the death of actress Dana Reeve, who, despite being a non-smoker, died of lung cancer in 2006 at the age of 44.Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman, sold the rights to their creation to DC Comics for a relatively small amount of money, in contrast to the amount of money the character has generated over the decades. Despite the repeated efforts over the course of the rest of their lives to recover legal ownership of Superman, and a share in the immense profits that the character brought for DC Comics, DC's copyright on the character was renewed. By the 1950s, Shuster's worsening eyesight prevented him from drawing, and he worked as a deliveryman in order to earn a living.Comic book artist Jerry Robinson claimed that Shuster had delivered a package to the DC building, embarrassing the employees. He was summoned to the CEO, given $100, and told to buy a new coat and find another job. By 1976, Shuster was almost blind and living in a California nursing home. In 1975, Siegel launched a publicity campaign, in which Shuster participated, protesting DC Comics' treatment of him and Shuster. In the face of a great deal of negative publicity over their handling of the affair, DC's parent company Warner Communications reinstated the byline dropped more than 30 years earlier and granted the pair a lifetime pension of $20,000 a year, plus health benefits. The first issue with the restored credit was Superman #302. Siegel died in 1996 and Shuster in 1992.