Superman curse

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Cover of the June 16, 1959 edition of New York Post, reporting the death of George Reeves

The Superman curse refers to a series of misfortunes that have plagued creative people involved in adaptations of Superman in various mediums, particularly actors who have played the role of Superman on film and television.

The curse is somewhat well-known in popular culture, largely due to the high-profile hardships of Superman actors George Reeves and Christopher Reeve. Other sources deny the curse, stating that several Superman-related actors, such as Bud Collyer and Teri Hatcher, went on to success after their association with the franchise and that many hardships of "cursed" individuals are common in their respective fields.[1] Nevertheless, the uncertainty proved to be taken seriously among many movie stars when several of them turned down multi-million dollar deals to play a role in the most recent film adaptation.

[edit] Supposed victims of the curse

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Writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster created Superman in the 1930s but their employer DC Comics held the copyright to the character. In 1946, the two sued DC, arguing that they were inadequately compensated for the character. The New York Supreme Court limited their settlement to $60,000 each, a small sum compared to the millions of dollars Superman comic books, films, television series, and merchandise grossed. In 1975, in response to a campaign launched by Siegel and Shuster and joined by many prominent comic book creators, DC agreed to pay the two lifetime pensions of $35,000 a year and give them credit in every adaptation of the character. While Siegel and Shuster were respected in comic book fandom for Superman, neither went on to work on any other high-profile comic books after Superman. Some tellings of the curse state that Siegel and Shuster themselves cursed the character out of anger for the injustice.
Brothers Max and Dave Fleischer founded Fleischer Studios, which produced the original Popeye, Betty Boop and Superman cartoons. Shortly after bringing Superman into animation, the Fleischers began feuding with one another and their studio slumped financially until they were forced to sell to Paramount Pictures. Paramount ousted the Fleischers and rearranged their company as Famous Studios. Although Dave Fleischer went on to a career as a special effects advisor at Universal Studios, Max died poor at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital.
Kirk Alyn played Superman in two low-budget 1940s serials but failed to find work afterwards, saying that casting directors thought he was too recognized as Superman. He eventually retired to Arizona.
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 recognized only for the role. On June 16, 1959, days before he was to be married, Reeves was found dead of a gunshot wound at his home, his Luger was found by him. The death was ruled a suicide but other theories persist.
In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy's staff approved of a Superman story in which the hero touts the president's physical fitness initiatives, scheduled to be published with an April 1964 cover date. On November 22, Kennedy was shot and killed but, at the request of successor Lyndon Johnson, DC published a reworked version of the story [2]
Comedian Richard Pryor, who had previously suffered from a drug addiction that lead to an almost fatal accident, starred as an anti-hero 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 cardiac arrest on December 10, 2005.
Richard Lester, who was the credited director for Superman II (1980) (though Richard Donner directed many sequences which were ultimately used in the film) and entirely directed Superman III (1983) was so distraught by the death of Roy Kinnear during the shooting of The Return of the Musketeers (1989) that he quit directing. Kinnear bled to death following a broken pelvis which he sustained by falling from a horse.
Marlon Brando, who played Superman's biological father Jor-El in Superman: The Movie (1978) underwent various personal tragedies later in his life:
- In May 1990, Brando's first son, Christian, shot and killed Dag Drollet, 26, the lover of Christian's half-sister Cheyenne Brando, at the family's home above Beverly Hills. Christian, 31, claimed the shooting was accidental. After a heavily publicized trial, Christian was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to ten years in prison.
- The tragedy was compounded in 1995, when Cheyenne, said to still be depressed over Drollet's death, committed suicide by hanging herself. She was only 25 years old.
- Marlon Brando's notoriety, his family's troubled lives, his self-exile from Hollywood, and his obesity attracted considerable attention in his later career. On July 1, 2004, Brando died at the age of 80. The cause of his death was intentionally withheld, with his lawyer citing privacy concerns. It was later revealed that he died of lung failure brought on by pulmonary fibrosis. He had also been suffering from liver cancer, congestive heart failure and diabetes, which was causing his eyesight to fail.
Both John Haymes Newton and Gerard Christopher, who starred as the title character in the Superboy television series (1988–1992), fell into obscurity after their respective tenures as the character. The same case can be made for Stacy Haiduk, who played love interest Lana Lang on the show.
Lee Quigley (who played the baby Kal-El in the 1978 Superman movie) died in March 1991, at the age of fourteen, after inhaling solvents.
Christopher Reeve played Superman in the Superman: The Movie and three sequels throughout the 1980s. On May 27, 1995, Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from his horse in a cross country riding event. He died on October 10, 2004 due to heart failure stemming from his medical condition.
Margot Kidder, who played Superman’s love interest Lois Lane opposite Reeve suffered from intense bipolar disorder. In April 1996, she went missing for several days and was found by police in a paranoid, delusional state [3].
On July 2, 1996, on the anniversary of their grandfather's suicide, Superman IV (1987) co-star Mariel Hemingway's older sister Margaux was found dead at age 41. She had taken an overdose of sedatives. Though Margaux's death was ruled a suicide, Mariel disputed this finding.
Lane Smith, who played Clark Kent and Lois Lane's boss Perry White on the Lois & Clark television series, was diagnosed with the rare Lou Gehrig's Disease in April 2005 and died of the disease on June 13, 2005.
Dana Reeve, the widow of Christopher Reeve and co-founder of the Christopher Reeve Foundation with her late husband, publicly revealed that she was diagnosed with lung cancer on August 9, 2005, despite the fact that she was not a cigarette-smoker. She died of the cancer on March 6, 2006 at the age of 45.
It can be noted that actors who played villains in the movies have not suffered from the curse. Some of the villain actors experienced just the opposite. Gene Hackman (who played Lex Luthor) for example had a hugely successful acting career even long after the Superman movies despite his recent retirement. The same can be said for Terence Stamp (who played General Zod in Superman 1 and Superman 2).