Christopher Reeve and Robin Williams
Could the “Superman” actor have saved his friend?
Inseparable friends: Robin Williams (l.) and Christopher Reeve met at drama school in the 1970s.
© imago/ZUMA Wire
Glenn Close talks about former friends Christopher Reeve and Robin Williams. Would Williams still be alive if Reeve had survived?
In the new documentary “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story”, actress Glenn Close (76) once again focused on the decades-long friendship between Reeve (1952-2004) and his fellow actor Robin Williams (1951-2014). In their opinion, Williams could even still be alive if his best friend Reeve hadn’t died beforehand. “I always felt like Robin would still be alive if Chris were still there,” the Golden Globe winner said in the film according to a report in People magazine.
Williams committed suicide in 2014 at the age of 63 and struggled with severe mental health problems throughout his successful time as an actor. Reeve died almost exactly ten years earlier – at the age of 52 – as a result of his riding accident. The actor fell from a horse at a horse show on May 27, 1995 and broke two cervical vertebrae. Reeve was subsequently unable to move his body down from the neck until his death.
Reeve and Williams met as young men in the early 1970s at New York’s famous Juilliard School. The two were trained at the renowned acting school and even lived together in a shared apartment during this time. A deep friendship then developed between the two, which continued until Reeve’s death.
Glenn Close: Friendship between Christopher Reeve and Robin Williams was ‘life-giving force’
Back in 2017, Glenn Close, who was friends with both Reeve and Williams, said at a gala hosted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation that she was “convinced” that Oscar winner Williams was still alive, albeit the “Superman “-actor would still be alive. The two’s friendship was a “life-giving force that sustained both of them,” Close said at the time.
“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” celebrated its world premiere at the Sundance Festival on January 21, 2024 and moved guests to tears at the premiere in the cinema. In addition to the three Reeves children Matthew, Alexandra and Will, numerous of Reeve’s friends also have their say in detail. In addition to Glenn Close, for example, colleagues Whoopi Goldberg (68), Susan Sarandon (77) and Jeff Daniels (68).
The film also contains a funny anecdote mentioned in Reeve’s 1998 memoir “Still Me” and recounted by Williams himself in an archival interview. In it, the “Good Will Hunting” actor poses as a proctologist to surprise Reeve, who is in the hospital after his fall.
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