FILE - In this July 8, 1977 file photo, Christopher Reeve, left, and Margot Kidder appear during the filming of "Superman" in New York's Lower East Side. Kidder, who starred as Lois Lane in the “Superman” film franchise of the late 1970s and early 1980s, has died. Franzen-Davis Funeral Home in Livingston, Montana posted a notice on its website saying Kidder died Sunday, May 13, 2918, at her home there. She was 69. (AP Photo, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Margot Kidder, who starred as Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve in the "Superman" film franchise of the 1970s and 1980s, has died.
Kidder died Sunday at her home in Livingston, Montana, according to a notice on the website of Franzen-Davis Funeral Home. She was 69.
Kidder's manager Camilla Fluxman Pines said she died peacefully in her sleep.
No cause or other details were given.
Here's a look at how friends, colleagues and fans reacted on social media:
The only Lois Lane I acknowledge #RIPMargotKidder pic.twitter.com/lrglXJr8co
— Eric Haywood (@EricHaywood) May 14, 2018
People are also reading…
My Lois Lane has passed away. RIP Margot Kidder. Thank you for my favourite movie ever. pic.twitter.com/dUmxwOUjyi
— Mark Millar (@mrmarkmillar) May 14, 2018
On-screen she was magic.Off-screen she was one of the kindest, sweetest, most caring woman I've ever known.I'll miss you #MargoKidder.Your legacy will live on forever. pic.twitter.com/UBlbszEIhb
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) May 14, 2018
Farewell #MargotKidder - as Lois Lane in the Superman movies you were the heart of a great franchise and a fine actress. RIP pic.twitter.com/gpKUa19GpR
— JONATHAN SOTHCOTT (@sothcott) May 14, 2018
Margot Kidder should be remembered as much for courageously, candidly discussing her battles with mental illness as for any screen role.There are no Supermen— or women. It is not a character deficiency to acknowledge such struggles and get the help and treatment you need!RIP pic.twitter.com/ZD6RB3cfzU
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) May 14, 2018
RIP Margot Kidder. A lovely, distinctive actress who had a rough time of it. Her Lois Lane brought wit to the genre before that was a given.
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) May 14, 2018
RIP Margot Kidder. One of my favorite movies of hers is the original Black Christmas. It introduced some elements that are now genre tropes and she’s fantastic in it.
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) May 14, 2018
I saw SUPERMAN in the theater when I was six, and I had an instant crush on Lois Lane. I remember thinking how lucky Superman was to hang out with her. Margot Kidder was the coolest. Rest in Peace. pic.twitter.com/piQ11a0PBm
— Brian Lynch (@BrianLynch) May 14, 2018
I don't think Margot Kidder ever really got credit for the skill of what she's doing in the SUPERMAN movies: adding just the right dose of '70s cynicism and saltiness to make them contemporary, without throwing off the gee-whiz sunniness of the enterprise. God, she was good.
— Jason Bailey (@jasondashbailey) May 14, 2018
RIP Margot Kidder. An actor who imbued all her roles with grit, strength and smarts. I admired her very much and she’s gone way too soon. I chatted with her a couple of times at conventions. Happy I told her what she meant to us
— Barbara Crampton (@barbaracrampton) May 14, 2018
RIP Margot Kidder. She will always be THE Lois Lane to me. pic.twitter.com/wWJivXFKvZ
— Ed Boon (@noobde) May 14, 2018
Taking a moment to think of and say farewell to Margot Kidder, the original film series Lois Lane. Thanks for bringing Lois to life. #Superman pic.twitter.com/AUDVluxZkS
— Wizard World (@WizardWorld) May 14, 2018
"Superman," directed by Richard Donner, was a superhero blockbuster two decades before comic book movies became the norm at the top of the box office, and is cited as an essential inspiration by makers of today's Marvel and D.C. films.
Both Kidder and Reeve, who played Superman, were relative unknowns when they got their leading parts in 1978's "Superman." The filmmakers saved the star power for other roles — Gene Hackman as villain Lex Luthor and Marlon Brando as Reeve's father Jor-El.
Kidder had many of the film's most memorable lines, including "You've got me?! Who's got you?!" when she first encountered the costumed hero as she and a helicopter plunged from the top of a Metropolis building.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige called the moment "the best cinematic superhero save in the history of film" at an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences event honoring Donner last year.
Kidder and Reeve went on to star in three more "Superman" movies, the last being "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace," in 1987.
Both would remain known almost entirely for their "Superman" roles, and struggled to find other major parts. Reeve, who was paralyzed from the neck down in a horseback riding accident in 1995, died in 2004.
Kidder also had a small part in "The Great Waldo Pepper" with Robert Redford in 1975, and a leading role in "The Amityville Horror" alongside James Brolin in 1979.
Kidder had a debilitating car accident in 1990 that left her in a wheelchair for most of two years and made it difficult to work.
She told ABC's Barbara Walters in a 1996 interview that she had struggled for decades with mental illness, a fight that became public when she was found dazed and filthy in a yard not far from the studio where she once played Lane.
The Canadian-born Kidder had been living in Montana in recent decades and spent much of her time on political activism.
___
Follow Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton.
