Christopher Reeve dies

Actor Christopher Reeve has died, it was announced today.

He died in hospital yesterday from heart failure without regaining consciousness. He was 52.

His wife Dana paid tribute to medical staff and to the "millions of fans from around the world" who had sent him messages of support since his accident.

The couple have an 11-year-old son Will. Reeve had two children from a previous marriage, Matthew, 25, and 21-year-old Alexandra.

Reeve broke his neck when he fell from his horse and landed on his head during a cross-country race nine years ago. A desperate medical effort saved his life but doctors told him he would never walk again. He became a campaigner for spinal cord research.

In a statement today Mrs Reeve said: "On behalf of my entire family, I want to thank Northern Westchester Hospital for the excellent care they provided to my husband."

Reeve was being treated at the hospital for a pressure wound, a common complication for people living with paralysis.

In the past week the wound had caused a serious systemic infection. His heart failure is understood to have been a direct result of the infection.

Before his riding accident, Reeve played the piano to professional standard, had done many of his own film stunts, was an expert sailor and skier and had twice flown solo across the Atlantic. After the accident he considered suicide but instead emerged determined to prove the medical experts wrong.

Reeve threw himself into fundraising to highlight the need for more medical research. In 1996 he made an emotional appeal during an appearance at the Oscars.

He returned to films as a director and in 1998 made a comeback to acting as a wheelchair-bound man in a remake of the Hitchcock film Rear Window.

In 2000, Reeve revealed that he had been able to move his index finger.

He told how he had been lying in bed with his wife when he suddenly realised he could feel her touch.

By 2002, Reeve's doctors said he was able to move some of his fingers and toes. The star could also feel a pin prick over most of his body.

At the time, doctors said the progress indicated that he might one day be able to walk again. In an interview at the time, Reeve said the greatest thing was being able to feel the hugs of his wife and three children. Reeve also headed the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation which offered annual grants of £10million to scientists.

Professor Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council, said: "Christopher Reeve was known to all of us for his campaigning and for his courage. He was a remarkable man.

"It is absolutely wrong to raise false expectations about the speed with which medical research progresses, but it takes people like Reeve, with their commitment and their certainty that they will be cured, to carry it forward.

"He always said that he was working for himself and was convinced that there would be a cure, but I think probably deep in his mind he knew his efforts would be far more likely to pay off for others than for him."

Film critic Derek Malcolm said: " He was undoubtedly a world star, because he did four Superman films, not just one and they were extremely successful. He was an extremely well educated man. He really wanted to do something for others and he wanted to do something for himself, too."