# The dirt on Christopher Reeve? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668 "2009-01-30T02:58:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/41 "2009-01-30T16:21:03Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > I have read many times here that Superman was quite the jerk. Am I really the first to link to [www.superdickery.com](http://www.superdickery.com)? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/42 "2009-01-30T16:22:31Z")
John Ritter thought Reeve was picking up on his girlfriend, Carol Burnett, once, but it was just a misunderstanding. They were just having a nice long conversation in her hotel room. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/43 "2009-01-30T16:33:30Z")
He had an unhingeable jaw which he used for swallowing large prey. He tried to devour his own young. Some may call that assholishness. I see it in context - nature is beautiful but merciless. The stronger offspring survived. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/44 "2009-01-30T16:39:33Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > My FIL was his theater professor and thought he was a nice enough kid. The only bad thing he said about him was that his acting (then) was “a little stiff.” Now? A lot stiffer. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/45 "2009-01-30T16:41:07Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I heard he hated bacon. [Wrong “Super”](http://www.judaicaheaven.com/Detail.bok?no=32). ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/46 "2009-01-30T16:46:34Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I’ll take this back into his professional realm but I always thought Christopher Reeve was the worst thing about Superman. > He made an iconic comic book hero into a really annoying character. I hated his acting. Thank you! Someone had to say it. He’s as bland as wallpaper paste. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/47 "2009-01-30T17:28:36Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > I did hear that the accident was partly his fault because the type of riding he was doing was beyond his capabilities. He was attempting jumps that were dangerous with his level of experience. I don’t know if it’s true. Not at all true. I used to work on a horse farm around the corner from where the accident occured, and both train and teach in the same sport. Reeve was considered well skilled, well horsed, and well instructed for his level. (Which was Training Level in the sport of Eventing.) He had been riding seriously for over 6 years and trained with some of the top instructors in the U.S. He had also placed third in a regional championship in the fall of 1994. He had a freak accident. His horse, Eastern Express refused jump three, which was _very unusual behavior for this horse_ who was never known to stop. Reeve went forward, over the horse’s neck, his hands tangled in the reins, and he fell with his full weight on his head. He was wearing approved (and required) safety gear, namely a concussion-absorbing helmet and a body-protection vest. He took his sport and safety seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/48 "2009-01-30T18:11:00Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > A male movie star is nice to a woman fan. Hmmm. > > Now tell me he would have done the same with male fans and I’d think he was a genuinely great guy. **Annie** , change your gender and go back in time and then get back to us! ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/49 "2009-01-30T18:23:04Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > **Annie** , change your gender and go back in time and then get back to us! No, that was another one of his movies… ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/50 "2009-01-30T18:31:53Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > When Reeve was doing 5th of July on Broadway, I bought a window card and met him at the stage door to get his signature. He was very impressed, signed it, and asked me where I got it. I told him a store up the street was selling them, and then I _walked down the street with Christopher Reeve_ to show him where to get them. He was very nice, asked me what I thought of the show and other Broadway shows. He bought some of the cards and autographed a few for the store to sell. I saw that play too! But I just had him sign the playbill. At the time, his SO was Gae Exton, with whom he had 2 children. When asked in interviews at the time why they didn’t marry, he gave the standard, “We don’t need a piece of paper to show we’re together.” Obviously, Ms. Exton bought the line. Later he left her for, AND MARRIED Dana, who was, IIRC the nanny or babysitter for the kids. And that’s the worst I’ve heard about him. Sure was good-looking, though. **sigh** ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/51 "2009-01-30T18:36:47Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > Well, take this entirely as gossip, but my friend tended bar while going to college in North Adams near the Williamstown Theater in western Massachusetts. Christopher Reeve was always around. Anyway, according to my friend’s co-worker (told you it was gossip!), sometime in the late 80s Reeve went into a small store and asked to use the phone. The guy behind the counter couldn’t help himself and asked, “Why? Do you need to change into Superman?” Reeve allegedly replied, “F\*\*\* you. Where’s the phone?” That needn’t be jerkish. How many times do you think he had heard that lame joke? ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/52 "2009-01-30T18:46:57Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > I have heard of the ‘great, another boat rag’ story, but I think he was just enough of a pud to think that he was trying to be witty, rather than rude. Any chance you’ll clue us in as to what the hell you’re talking about, here? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/53 "2009-01-30T18:48:31Z")
I heard from a friend who heard it from her hair stylist who heard it from his boyfriend whose cousin was a waiter at a club in Boston where Christopher Reeve’s cousin worked that before the accident and whenever the horse wasn’t available he used to ride homeless people and make them jump fences, and when they didn’t clear one correctly he had them shot. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/54 "2009-01-30T18:51:26Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > **Annie** , change your gender and go back in time and then get back to us! Shoot. If I’d had any indication whatsoever he was hitting on me (he certainly was not), I’d go back in time and take him up on the offer. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/55 "2009-01-30T19:03:03Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > Any chance you’ll clue us in as to what the hell you’re talking about, here? The boat rag story is in post [132](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10715526&postcount=32) in the “What celebrities are bastards?” thread. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668/56 "2009-01-30T20:19:27Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I heard from a friend who heard it from her hair stylist who heard it from his boyfriend whose cousin was a waiter at a club in Boston where Christopher Reeve’s cousin worked that before the accident and whenever the horse wasn’t available he used to ride homeless people and make them jump fences, and when they didn’t clear one correctly he had them shot. Well, who doesn’t? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dirt-on-christopher-reeve/483668.md?page=2)