Superman (Salkind films) adopted a high protein diet. He added of muscle to his thin frame. He later made even higher gains for "Superman III" (1983), though for "" (1987), he decided it would be healthier to focus more on cardiovascular workouts. One of the reasons Reeve could not work out as much for "" was an emergency appendectomy he had in June 1986. Reeve was never a Superman or comic book fan, though he had watched "Adventures of Superman" starring George Reeves. Reeve found the role offered a suitable challenge because it was a dual role. He said, "there must be some
Christopher Reeve thrown from a horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Virginia. He used a wheelchair and required a portable ventilator to breathe for the rest of his life. He would go on to lobby on behalf of people with spinal cord injuries and for human embryonic stem cell research, founding the Christopher Reeve Foundation and co-founding the Reeve-Irvine Research Center. Christopher D'Olier Reeve was born in New York City on September 25, 1952, the son of Barbara Pitney Lamb (1929–2000), a journalist, and Franklin D'Olier Reeve (1928–2013), a teacher, novelist, poet, and scholar. Reeve was of almost entirely English descent,