Dana Reeve

Dana Charles Reeve (née Morosini; March 17, 1961 – March 6, 2006) was an American actress, singer, and activist for disability causes. She was the wife of actor Christopher Reeve.

Dana Reeve
Reeve in 1989
Born
Dana Charles Morosini

(1961-03-17)March 17, 1961
Teaneck, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedMarch 6, 2006(2006-03-06) (aged 44)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
EducationMiddlebury College (1984)
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
California Institute of the Arts
OccupationActress, author, singer, activist
Years active1990–2006
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1992; died 2004)​
Children1
Websitewww.christopherreeve.org

Early life and family

Reeve was born in Teaneck, New Jersey, to Charles Morosini (died on April 24, 2018[1]), a cardiologist, and Helen Simpson Morosini, who died in February 2005.[2] She is of Italian descent.[3]

She grew up in the town of Greenburgh, New York, where she graduated from Edgemont High School in 1979.[4]

She graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in English Literature from Middlebury College in Vermont in 1984. In 2004 she and husband, Christopher Reeve, received honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters from Middlebury. [5]

She spent the junior year of her studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In 1984, she pursued additional graduate studies in acting at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California.

She married actor Christopher Reeve in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on April 11, 1992,[6] and they had a son, William Elliot "Will" Reeve, born on June 7, 1992. [7] Will now reports for ABC News.[8]

Reeve loved to ride horses. In 2005, she told Larry King: "I rode my whole life, and after Chris had his accident, I stopped riding, primarily because he loved it so much, and I think it really would have been painful for him if I was going off riding and he wasn't able to. And it didn't mean that much to me to drop."[9]

Show business career

Her many singing and acting credits included appearances on television, where she had guest roles on Dick Wolf's Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, soap operas All My Children as Eva Stroupe and Loving, among others. She performed at theatres on Broadway, off-Broadway, and at numerous regional theatres.

In 2000, she co-hosted a live daily talk show for women on the Lifetime Network with Deborah Roberts called Lifetime Live and also wrote a brief column for the defunct AccessLife.com These articles can be found at the Christopher Reeve Homepage.[10] She sang the title song on the soundtrack of the HBO drama In the Gloaming, directed by her husband. Reeve also had another cameo in her husband's movie The Brooke Ellison Story as a teacher.

She authored the book Care Packages: Letters to Christopher Reeve from Strangers and Other Friends. In 2004, she was performing in the Broadway-bound play Brooklyn Boy at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California when she had to rush home to reach her husband's bedside after he went into cardiac arrest and a coma. In April 2005, it was also announced that she signed a seven-figure book deal[11] with Penguin Books to write about her relationship with her famous husband. It is not known how far Reeve got with writing the book before she died; the book was never published.

The children's book Dewey Doo-it Helps Owlie Fly Again: A Musical Storybook Inspired by Christopher Reeve was published in 2005 and included an audio to accompany the book with Mandy Patinkin reading the story as well as Reeve and Bernadette Peters singing.

On February 2, 2005, eight days before the death of her mother Helen, Reeve attended President George W. Bush's State of the Union address seated in the Capitol gallery in Washington, D.C. as the guest of Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI).[12]

Several months before her death, Reeve taped the PBS documentary The New Medicine focusing on the growing trend in medical care combining holistic and traditional treatment. The program premiered after her death, on March 29, 2006. She also worked on the computer-animated movie Everyone's Hero, a project with the working title Yankee Irving when her husband was the director at the time of his death. The film was released on September 15, 2006, and is dedicated to both her and Christopher Reeve.

Illness and death

In August 2005, ten months after the death of her husband, Reeve announced that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer.[13] She had never smoked.[13]

In 2005, Reeve received the "Mother of the Year Award" from the American Cancer Society for her dedication and determination in raising her son after the loss of her husband. In her final public appearances, Reeve stated that the tumor had responded to therapy and was shrinking. She appeared at Madison Square Garden on January 12, 2006, and sang the Carole King song "Now and Forever" in honor of New York Rangers hockey player Mark Messier, whose number was retired that evening. On the night that she died, instead of having a live performer sing the national anthem at Madison Square Garden prior to the Rangers' game, a recording of Reeve singing was played.

Reeve died on March 6, 2006, at the age of 44, 11 days before her 45th birthday,[14] at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Episode 16 of the fifth season of Smallville titled "Hypnotic" is dedicated to her and the film Superman Returns is dedicated to both her and Christopher. The animated film Everyone's Hero (2006) is also dedicated in memory of Christopher and Dana Reeve. Her husband predeceased her on October 10, 2004.[15]

Filmography
This film-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

References
  1. "Remembering Charles Morosini - Blog".
  2. "Paid Notice: Deaths MOROSINI, HELEN SIMPSON". New York Times (Press release). February 15, 2005.
  3. Ruffino, Elissa. "Christopher Reeve & Dana Morosini Reeve To Receive "One America Award"at Italian American Gala in Washington, DC". www.niaf.org. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  4. Aiello, Tony (March 7, 2006). "Dana Reeve's Death Hits Home In Westchester: Remembered As Ultimate Role Model For Youths". WCBS-TV New York. Archived from the original on March 21, 2006.
  5. "Christopher Reeve to co-deliver Middlebury College commencement address with wife and alumna Dana Morosini Reeve May 23". Middlebury. December 17, 2009. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  6. Brozan, Nadine (March 8, 2006). "Dana Reeve, Devoted Caretaker and Advocate, Is Dead at 44". The New York Times.
  7. "Will Reeve Christopher Reeve's Son". DailyEntertainmentNews.com. November 1, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2020. Will was born William Elliot Reeve on June 7, 1992 in Massachusetts but was raised in Connecticut. He has an older half-brother, Matthew, and half-sister, Alexandra, from his father’s previous relationship with British model Gae Exton.
  8. "Will Reeve: 5 Things To Know About 'GMA'Reporter Who Accidentally Went On AirWithout Pants". Hollywood Life. April 28, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  9. "CNN LARRY KING LIVE Interview With Christopher Reeve's Widow, Dana" (Press release). CNN.com. February 22, 2005. Archived from the original on June 19, 2006.
  10. Reeve, Dana (2000). "AccessLife.com Column". Christopher Reeve Homepage.
  11. "Reeve's Widow To Write About Married Life" (Press release). My USTINET News. April 4, 2005. Archived from the original on June 30, 2006.
  12. "DANA REEVE TO ATTEND STATE OF THE UNION AS LANGEVIN'S GUEST: Langevin Invites Widow of Christopher Reeve, Staunch Advocate of Stem Cell Research, to Attend Presidential Address" (Press release). Langevin. February 1, 2005. Archived from the original on April 9, 2006.
  13. Brozan, Nadine (March 8, 2006). "Dana Reeve, Devoted Caretaker and Advocate, Is Dead at 44 (Published 2006)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  14. "CNN.com - Dana Reeve dies of lung cancer at 44 - Mar 8, 2006". www.cnn.com.
  15. "Christopher Reeve obituary". ABC News. October 11, 2004. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
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