Superman curse
The Superman curse refers to a series of supposedly related misfortunes that have plagued creative people involved in adaptations of 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 gunshot wound at age 45 under disputed circumstances ; and Christopher Reeve, who played the superhero in four theatrical films from 1978 to 1987, 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.
Deceased Superman actors who allegedly became victims of the curse
The following actors who played Superman have sometimes been cited as victims of the "Superman curse".Kirk Alyn
played Superman in two low-budget 1940s serials, but failed to find work afterward because he was too closely identified with the role. As a result, he was relegated to voiceovers, 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 Superman as a baby in the 1978 film, died in 1991 at age 14 of solvent abuse.George Reeves
played Superman in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men and the ensuing television series Adventures of Superman. Like Alyn and Reeve, 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 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
played Superman/Clark Kent in the Superman film series, Superman: The Movie, Superman II, Superman III, and . Like Kirk Alyn, Reeve was so closely identified with the character that it was difficult for him to acquire lead parts in other films. He was largely 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. Reeve died on October 10, 2004 aged 52, 15 days after his birthday. No official autopsy was performed on the actor, but both Reeve's wife Dana and his doctor John McDonald believed that an adverse reaction to a drug caused Reeve's death.Other alleged victims
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, three months before his Superman co-star Christopher Reeve. Footage of him would later be posthumously used in 2006's Superman Returns.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 died on May 13, 2018 in Livingston, Montana after a drug and alcohol overdose. Her death was ruled a suicide.
Richard Pryor
Comedian Richard Pryor, who had previously had a drug addiction that led to a near-fatal suicide attempt, starred as villain Gus Gorman in 1983’s Superman III, but later took Superman's side near the end of the movie and became a hero. Three years later, he announced that 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
and Joe Shuster, the writer and artist who co-created 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. Jerry Robinson claimed that Shuster had delivered a package to the DC building, embarrassing the employees. He was summoned to the CEO, given $100.00, 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.Max and Dave Fleischer
Brothers Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer of Fleischer Studios, who produced the Paramount Superman cartoons began to quarrel with one another and their studio suffered financial disaster. After selling to Paramount Studios, the new owners fired the two brothers. One of them died in poverty.DVD Crew of ''Superman Returns''
The curse was invoked after three people involved in the creation of the Superman Returns DVD were injured. One of them fell down a flight of stairs, another was mugged and physically assaulted, and a third smashed into a glass window. Director Bryan Singer remarked, "My DVD crew absorbed the curse for us."Allison Mack
, who played Chloe Sullivan on the TV series Smallville, was accused of sex trafficking and forced human labor and was arrested in April 2018 on those charges. An article on Fox News speculated whether this was related to the curse.Christopher Dennis
Well known Hollywood Boulevard Superman Christopher Dennis battled drug use and homelessness for several years. He was subsequently found dead inside a clothes donation box on November 2nd, 2019. He and Superman movie actor Christopher Reeve both died at the age of 52.Lane Smith
played Perry White in The TV series. Smith was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in April 2004. He died of the disease at his home in Northridge, California on June 13, 2005 at the age of 69.Kevin Spacey
played Lex Luthor in Superman Returns. In October 2017, Spacey was accused of several Sexual harassments and assaults from various men. including actor Anthony Rapp who accused Spacey of making a sexual advance toward him in 1986, when Rapp was 14. In December 2018, he was charged with indecent assault and battery in relation to an accusation by anchorwoman Heather Unruh that he sexually assaulted her 18-year-old son, but by July 2019, the criminal charge had been dropped. As a result of the allegations, Netflix cut ties with Spacey, shelving his film Gore and removing him from the last season of House of Cards. Spacey's role as J. Paul Getty in Ridley Scott's film All the Money in the World was reshot with actor Christopher Plummer in his place. In 2018, Billionaire Boys Club was released with Spacey's role unchanged.Bryan Singer
directed the 2006 film, Superman Returns. When Singer directed the Queen biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody, he was fired from the film shortly before its completion in December 2017, for absence and clashing with the cast and crew, Dexter Fletcher was hired as Singer's replacement as director to complete the film. Since 1997, a number of boys and men have alleged that Singer sexually assaulted them as minors. Singer has denied all of the allegations. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts removed Singer's name from Bohemian Rhapsody's 2019 nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film because of the allegations against him.Johnny Lewis
played a minor character in the show Smallville.In 2012, police were called by neighbors after Lewis violently attacked two people at the property next door and his elderly landlady Catherine Davis was heard screaming. Upon arriving, officers from the Los Angeles Police Department found Lewis' body on the home's driveway. Davis was found dead inside the house, having suffered severe head injuries; her pet cat Jessie was also found dead in a bathroom. Neighbors reported that Lewis had jumped over a fence to the next-door property, assaulted a house painter and the homeowner and then jumped back over the fence onto his property. According to the LAPD, Lewis then either fell or jumped from the roof, garage, or patio of Davis' house. Davis' death was investigated as a homicide, and it was later determined that Lewis had killed Davis by manual strangulation and blunt force trauma to her head, and also killed her cat.
Lewis had a history of drug abuse, leading to speculation by his attorney that the actor may have suffered a drug-induced psychosis when he allegedly killed his landlady. However, toxicology reports came back negative for alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, psychedelic drugs, or anti-psychotic medication.