[1] The "curse" is frequently associated with George Reeves, who starred in Adventures of Superman on television from 1952 to 1958, and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 45;[2] and Christopher Reeve, the portrayer of the superhero in four theatrical films from 1978 to 1987, who was paralyzed in a 1995 horseback riding accident, and died nine years later at age 52 from heart failure.
Kirk Alyn played Superman in two low-budget 1940s serials, but failed to find work afterward due to typecasting.
[5][9] Lee Quigley, who played the infant Superman in the 1978 film, came from an unstable home and suffered schoolyard bullying.
On June 16, 1959, days before he was to be married, Reeves was found dead of a gunshot wound at his home with his Luger pistol near him.
[17] Marlon Brando, who played Jor-El in the 1978 film, is cited for the misfortune he suffered in his private life, such as his son Christian's shooting of his half-sister Cheyenne's boyfriend in 1990 and subsequent five-year imprisonment, Brando's own admission in court that he had failed his son and daughter, his daughter's 1995 suicide and his later reclusiveness.
Margot Kidder, who played Superman's love interest Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve, had bipolar disorder.
When my car crashed this August, if I hadn't hit a telegraph pole after rolling three times, I would have dropped down a 50ft to 60ft ravine.
A coroner ruled her death a suicide, stating that she died as a result of a self-inflicted drug and alcohol overdose.
[22] Comedian Richard Pryor, who had previously had a drug addiction that led to a near-fatal suicide attempt, starred as Gus Gorman in Superman III.
In the face of a great deal of negative publicity over their handling of the affair (and with the Superman film coming soon), DC's parent company Warner Communications reinstated the byline dropped more than 30 years earlier and granted the pair a lifetime pension of $20,000 a year, plus health benefits.
[15][24] Allison Mack, who played Chloe Sullivan on the TV series Smallville, was accused of sex trafficking and forced human labor and was arrested in April 2018 on those charges.
He has also made guest appearances in two other Superman-related series: in an episode of Smallville as the villainous Dr. Curtis Knox, and a recurring role in Supergirl as the title character's foster father, Jeremiah Danvers.
[15][36] Routh eventually played Ray Palmer (the Atom) on other DC Comics-related projects, is a recurring character in Arrow and The Flash, and is a regular in the spin-off series Legends of Tomorrow (occasionally, his role as Superman is referenced in the Arrowverse[37]).
He told attendees at Fan Expo Canada that while he did have doubts about taking on the part of the character, they stemmed from the secrecy with which the producers initially withheld details about the production, and not the purported curse, to which he had not paid any mind.
[39] He later reappears as Clark Kent in the 2019–2020 Arrowverse crossover storyline "Crisis on Infinite Earths", as a husband and father who has given up his powers, and is therefore immune to the kryptonite with which Lex Luthor attempts to kill him.
[41] Henry Cavill played Clark Kent / Superman in the films of the DC Extended Universe, spanning Man of Steel (2013) to Black Adam (2022).