Somewhere in Heaven: The Remarkable Love Story of Dana and Christopher Reeve (27 page)

CHAPTERS 1 AND 2

Interview subjects and conversations with Edward Herrmann, Senator John Kerry, Peter Kiernan, Katharine Hepburn, Ariel Dorfman, Richard

Matheson, Jack O’Brien, Charles Tuthill, Donald Margulies, the late Charl- ton Heston, Jennifer Van Dyke, the late John Houseman, Johnny Mandel, the late Francesco Scavullo, Ira Levin, James Bacon, Denise Richer, Enid Bagnold, Cranston Jones, and Suzanne Morelle. Articles and other published sources for this period included Douglas Martin, “Christopher Reeve, 52, Symbol of Courage, Dies,” the
New York Times
, October 12, 2004; Jim Fitzgerald, “Superman Dies at 52,” Associated Press, October 11, 2004; Joe Holley, “A Leading Man for Spinal Cord Research,” the
Washington Post
, October 11, 2004; Mark Hansel, “Christopher Reeve: Courage After the Cape,” Associated Press, October 11, 2004; Ann Oldenbury, “Superhero to the End,”
USA To- day
, October 11, 2004; Lisa Fleisher, Alison Gendar, Dave Goldiner, “Christo- pher Reeve Taught People Two Words: Hope and Cure,” the New York
Daily News
, October 12, 2004; Roger Ebert, “He Showed Us The Real Hero,”
Chicago Sun-Times
, October 12, 2004; Ken Regan as told to Alanna Nash, “Remembering the Reeves,”
Reader’s Digest
, October 2006; Glenys Roberts, “Superman to the Very End,” the London
Daily Mail
, October 12, 2004; Bill Hoffman, Cindy Adams, Valerie Perrine, Lou Lumenick, “America Hails Christopher Reeve,” the
New York Post
, October 12, 2004; Tom Gliatto, Samantha Miller, Michelle Tauber, Jason Lynch, et al, “Heart of a Hero: Christopher Reeve,”
People
, October 25, 2004; Dirk Johnson, “A Job For Su- perman: The Death of Christopher Reeve Leaves Embryonic Stem-Cell Ac- tivism Without One of Its Star Generals,”
Newsweek
, October 25, 2004; Joanna Powell, “Woman of Steel,”
Good Housekeeping
, August 1997; “On the Road to Movie Stardom,” Blaine Harden, the
Washington Post
, March 13, 1977; Gene Siskel, “A Leader By Inspiration,” the
Chicago Tribune
, November 19, 1978; Ver- non Scott, “A Serious Actor Tackles the Man of Steel,” United Press Interna- tional, November 26, 1978; Jack Kroll, “Superman to the Rescue,”
Newsweek
, January 1, 1979; Kristin McMurran, “It’s Superman!”,
People
, January 8, 1979; Marguerite Michaels, “He Insists He Can Act,”
Parade
, June 27, 1982; Judith Michaelson, “Is There Life After Superman?” the
Los Angeles Times
, August 20, 1984; Compton Miller, “Happily Unmarried,”
The Sunday Times
of London, December 9, 1984.

CHAPTERS 3 AND 4

Information for these chapters was based in part on interviews and conversa- tions with Dr. John Jane, Dr. Mo Nadkarni, Dr. Steven Kirshblum, A. R. Gurney, Richard Matheson, Ariel Dorfman, William Baldwin, Michael Frankfurt, Robin Bronk, Dr. Patricia Morton, Rebecca Lewis, Dr. Marcalee

Sipski Alexander, Dr. Oswald Stewart, Lendon Gray, Annette Witheridge, James Watson, Jerry Pam, David McGough, Robin Bowman, John Bryson, and Erica Druin.

Published sources included Jeannie Park, Vicki Sheff-Cahan, “Eat Your Heart Out, Lois,”
People
, April 20, 1992; Dave Zurawik, “Exit Superman, Enter a Shy Richard Collier,”
Detroit Free Press
, August 12, 1979; Michael J. Bandler, “It Isn’t Easy Being Superman!”
McCall’s
, September 1987; Jerry Parker, “Christopher Reeve Leaps Beyond Superman,”
Newsday
, August 12, 1984; Christine Arnold, “Christopher Reeve Tries to Shed Superman Im- age,” the
Miami Herald
, January 18, 1981; Christopher Reeve,
Still Me
(New York: Random House, 1998); Patricia O’Hare, “He’s Not Just Making ‘Noises,’ ” the New York
Daily News
, April 8, 1992; Meredith Berkman, “Up, Out, and Away,”
Entertainment Weekly
, November 5, 1993; Chris Nickson,
Superhero: A Biography of Christopher Reeve
(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998); “Actor Hurt Horsing Around,” the Associated Press, May 29, 1995; Kyle Smith, “Reel-Life Superman’s Tale of Whoa,” the
New York Post
, May 29, 1995; Linda Massarella, “Vigil for Superman: Family Gathers as Mystery Deepens Over Stricken Actor,” the
New York Post
, May 31, 1995; Lois Ro- mano, “Riding Accident Paralyzes Actor Christopher Reeve,” the
Washing- ton Post
, June 1, 1995; “Christopher Reeve, Thrown from Horse, Suffers Paralysis,” Associated Press, June 1, 1995; Karen Freifeld, “Man of Steel Is Paralyzed,”
New York Newsday
, June 1, 1995; George Rush, “Broken Dreams,” New York
Daily News
, June 1, 1995; Linda Massarella, Lou Lumenick, Rita Delfiner, Kyle Smith, the
New York Post
, June 1, 1995; Lawrence K. Altman, “Actor Thrown from Horse Is Dependent on Respirator,” the
New York Times
, June 2, 1995; Katy Kelly, “Reeve Doing Well After Surgery,”
USA Today
, June 6, 1995; “Reeve’s Spirits Are High After Surgery,” Associated Press, June 7, 1995; Kendall Hamilton and Alden Cohen, “A Tragic Fall for Superman,”
Newsweek
, June 12, 1995; Andrea Peyser, “Little Horse Sense Could Have Saved Superman: Trainer,” the
New York Post
, June 12, 1995; Sandy Gonzalez, “Reeve’s Steady Improvement Impresses Docs,” the
New York Post
, July 12, 1995; Liz Smith, “Superman’s Heartwarming Pledge: I’ll Never Give Up,” the
New York Post
, September 15, 1995; George Rush and Joanna Molloy, “Reeve’s Laughter Contagious as Creative Types Turn Comics,” the New York
Daily News
, October 18, 1995; Nadine Brozan, “‘Superman’ Star Is Back Before the Public,” the
New York Times
, October 17, 1995; “Friends, Indeed,”
People
, October 30, 1995; Kyle Smith, “Reeve Bares Own Brave Heart at Oscars,” the
New York Post
, March 26, 1996.

CHAPTERS 5, 6, AND 7

For these chapters, the author drew on conversations with, among others, Peter Kiernan, Brooke Ellison, Dr. Steven Kirshblum, Michael Feinstein, Senator John Kerry, Michael Frankfurt, Senator Tom Harkin, Erica Druin, Donald Margulies, William Baldwin, Rebecca Lewis, Harry Benson, Dan Strone, Robin Bronk, Bill Diehl, and Jack O’Brien.

Michelle Green, “Love and Courage,”
People
, April 15, 1996; Trip Gabriel, “Man of Steel Resolve: Christopher Reeve Champions Spinal Injury Re- search, Promises He’ll Be ‘Up and Around,’ ” the
New York Times
, April 16, 1996; Liz Smith, “We Draw Strength from Each Other,”
Good Housekeeping
, June 1996; Roger Rosenblatt, “Super Man,”
Time
, August 26, 1996; Lawrie Mifflin, “After a Life in Front of a Camera, A New One Behind It,” the
New York Times
, October 13, 1996; Steve Daly, “A New Direction,”
Entertainment Weekly
, November 15, 1996; Karen S. Schneider and Jane Shapiro, “Local Hero,”
People
, January 27, 1997; Ileane Rudolph, “What She Does for Love,”
TV Guide
, March 22, 1997; Todd Shapera, “Dana Reeve Makes Debut on Broadway,” the
New York Times
, October 25, 1998; Adrian Havill,
Man of Steel: The Career and Courage of Christopher Reeve
(New York: Signet, 1996); Jeannie Williams, “Fall Breaks Reeve’s Arm But Not His Spirit,”
USA Today
, April 9, 1997; Howard Kissel, “Wife Has Super Job: Dana Reeve Sets Sights on a New Role,” the New York
Daily News
, March 16, 1998; Denitia Smith, “A Life with a Before and an After,” the
New York Times
, April 30, 1998; Chip Crews, “The Role He Can’t Escape,”
The Washington Post
, May 3, 1998; Nancy Shute, “Reeve’s Super Struggle,”
U.S. News and World Report
, May 11, 1998; Jeffrey Zaslow, “I Have to Give—Instead of Taking,”
USA Today Week- end
, Mary 15, 1998; “Superman Star Vows Super Feat: Reeve Says He’ll Walk in 5 Years,” Reuters, June 1, 1998; “A Life Redefined,”
Life
, November, 1998; Ileane Rudolph, “The Triumph of Christopher Reeve,”
TV Guide
, Novem- ber 21, 1998; Tom Carson, “Morbid Curiosity: Christopher Reeve Makes Hitchcock Uplifting in
Rear Window
Remake,” the
Village Voice
, December 1, 1998; Christopher Reeve,
Nothing Is Impossible
(New York: Random House, 2002); Kevin O’Sullivan, “Robin Williams: Tears I Cried for Super- man,” the London
Mirror
, March 6, 1999; Melina Gerosa, “In Sickness and in Health,”
Ladies’ Home Journal
, November 1999; Dana Reeve,
Care Packages
(New York: Random House, 1999); Charles Krauthammer, “Restoration, Reality and Christopher Reeve,”
Time
, February 14, 2000; Ellen Barry, “Christopher Reeve Urges Biotech Industry to Help Him Walk Again,” Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, March 28, 2000; Christopher Reeve, “My Life Today,”
Ladies’ Home Journal
, August 2002; Andrew Walker,

“Christopher Reeve: Living in Hope,” BBC News Profiles, March 1, 2002; Oliver Burkeman, “Man of Steel,”
The Guardian
, September 17, 2002; G. Wayne Miller, “Christopher Reeve Makes His Case for Stem Cell Research,” Knight-Ridder, October 2, 2002; Paul Recer, “Christopher Reeve’s Brain Can Function Normally If Spinal Cord Fixed,” AP Worldstream, December 9, 2002; Sona Mark Kennedy, “Christopher Reeve’s Wife Explores the Familiar Terrain of Heartache and Loss,” AP Worldstream, September 26, 2003; Cal Fussman, “Christopher Reeve: What I’ve Learned,”
Esquire
, January 2004; Sharon Churcher and Caroline Graham, “Farewell My Superman: The Griev- ing Mother of Christopher Reeve Talks for the First Time of Her Son’s Courage as His Life Slipped Away,” the London
Mail on Sunday
, October 17, 2004; CNN Transcript, “Remembering Christopher Reeve,”
Larry King Live
, October 17, 2004; Lisa Birnbach, “Do Something for Someone,”
Parade
, May 1, 2005; Jim Fitzgerald, “Christopher Reeve’s Wife Has Lung Cancer,” Asso- ciated Press, August 9, 2005; Chip Crews, “Dana Reeve Gets Diagnosis of Lung Cancer,” the
Washington Post
, August 10, 2005; Jim Fitzgerald, “Christopher Reeve’s Widow Dies at Age 44,” Associated Press, March 7, 2006; Nadine Brozan, “Dana Reeve, 44, Devoted Caretaker and Advocate, Is Dead,” the
New York Times
, March 8, 2006; Adam Bernstein, “Dana Reeve: Widow Advocated for Paralysis Research,” the
Washington Post
, March 8, 2006; Jim Smolowe, Fan- nie Weinstein, Sharon Cotliar, Mary Green, Sean Scully, Sandra Marquez, and Alicia Dennis, “Dana Reeve: Brave to the End,”
People
, March 27, 2006; Ryan Parry, “Supermum’s Final Act of Love,” the London
Mirror
, May 25, 2006.

S EL ECT ED B IBLIOGRAP HY

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Bellomo, Michael.
The Stem Cell Divide: The Facts, the Fiction, the Fear Driving the Greatest Scientific, Political, and Religious Debate of Our Time
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Dorfman, Ariel.
Death and the Maiden
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Dougan, Andy.
Robin Williams: A Biography
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Ellison, Jean and Brooke Ellison.
The Brooke Ellison Story: One Mother, One Daughter, One Journey
. New York: Hyperion, 2004.

Havill, Adrian.
Man of Steel: The Career and Courage of Christopher Reeve
. New York: Signet, 1996.

Holland, Suzanne, Karen Lebacqz, and Laurie Zoloth, editors.
The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy
. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2001.

Houseman, John.
Final Dress
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Leaming, Barbara.
Katharine Hepburn
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Bid Time Return
. New York: Viking Press, 1975.

Nickson, Chris.
Superhero: A Biography of Christopher Reeve
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Martin’s Press, 1998.

Reeve, Christopher.
Still Me
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———. Nothing Is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life
. New York: Random House, 2002.

Reeve, Dana.
Care Packages: Letters to Christopher Reeve from Strangers and Other Friends
. New York: Random House, 1999.

Reeve, Franklin D.
The Toy Soldier and Other Poems
. Calgary, Alberta: Bayeux Arts, 2007.

Scavullo, Francesco.
Scavullo on Men
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Spinal Cord Injury: Functional Rehabilitation
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York: Prentice-Hall, 2001.

Switzer, Jacqueline Vaughn.
Disabled Rights: American Disability Policy and the Fight for Equality
. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2003.

IND EX

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Above Suspicion,
80–81, 124

Academy Awards, 147–53

Affleck, Ben, 186

Alexander, Craig, 128, 141 American Cancer Society, 211
American Gigolo,
32

American Paralysis Association (APA), 136, 149, 163, 170

Amnesty International, 47

Anna Karenina,
37–38

Armstrong, Lance, 215

Arnold, Gary, 77–78

Arro, Dolly, 188

Australia, 191

Aviator, The,
35

Bagnold, Enid, 28, 217

Baldwin, Alec, 120, 150

Baldwin, William, 60

Bartlett, Rob, 179, 180

Bedford, N.Y., Reeves’ farmhouse in, 71, 85, 139–40, 143–44

Behn, Aphra, 14

Bell, Jonathan, 192 Big Apple Circus, 145 Bisset, Jacqueline, 37

Black Fox,
73–74

Body Heat,
32

Boehme, Helmut, 91–92

Bogdanovich, Peter, 69, 167
Bonfire of the Vanities, The,
57
Bostonians, The,
35

Boston University School of Medi- cine, 173

Bowman, Robin, 68–69

Brando, Marlon, 31, 32

Brooke Ellison Story, The,
193, 195,

197, 218

Brooklyn Boy,
3–4, 196, 204

Brown, Blair, 60, 77, 132

Burnett, Carol, 69

Bush, George W., 190, 203, 205

Bush, Laura, 203

butterfly house, 86, 111–12