“Dear Diary –
The passing of one of the truly good guys called to mind a summer evening in the mid-1980’s when I encountered two middle-aged women on Columbus Avenue. From the map they were wrestling and their cameras I deduced that they were not from around here, and I asked if I could help with directions. They were visiting from Tennessee and admitted that they were looking for places where they might spot celebrities. I asked if they had ever heard of Christopher Reeve. They fairly swooned.
I said that I had noticed him on the other side of 72nd street, lined up for the ATM. When they asked if I knew him, I replied after a pause that I did (technically true, although he did not know me) and took them across the street. As I approached him I hastened to explain I was a New Yorker and would never dream of disturbing his privacy but that the two women hopping up and down on the curb were huge fans of his visiting from out of town.
He immediately beckoned them over and engaged them in an animated conversation about their visit, grandchildren and the like. As the line crept forward he quietly asked me if I could do him a big favor. I glanced around to see if there was a lump of Kryptonite I could fall on, but instead he asked one of the women for her camera and handed it to me. He put one arm around each of their shoulders and asked if I would mind taking a picture.
After seeing the joy he brought that day, when he could’ve given them the old ‘I’m a famous actor’ brushoff, I was never surprised by all his later good works and courageous fight. A super man, indeed…”
– Jon Lindsey, NY Times Metropolitan Diary
Top: Portrait of 24 year-old Christopher Reeve taken almost half a century ago during a sitting for his Superman waxwork figure at sculptor Logan Fleming’s studio. The finished piece would be on display at the Movieland Wax Museum for many years…