Canadian-American actress Margot Kidder died in her sleep on Sunday at her Montana home, Varietyreported. She was 69. Kidder was best known for playing Lois Lane in the Superman films featuring Christopher Reeve.
Born in Canada in 1948, Kidder made her debut in Peter Pearson’s drama The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar (1968), where she played the eldest daughter of an itinerant bush worker. Her first major feature film was the American comedy Gaily Gaily (1969) opposite Beau Bronx.
Kidder gained recognition with Waris Hussein’s Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970), in which she played an American exchange student who falls in love with a poor Irish horse manure collector (Gene Wilder). She went on to act in such films as Brian De Palma’s Sisters (1973) and The Great Waldo Pepper (1973), opposite Robert Redford.
Kidder earned widespread fame when she played award-winning Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane in the iconic Superman (1978). A hard-nosed and witty professional, Lane is Superman’s love interest. Superman went on to become producer Warner Bros’ highest earner at that point and spawned three sequels: Superman II (1980), Superman III (1983), and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Kidder reprised her role in all the sequels. Between the Superman films, she also worked on The Amityville Horror (1979).
Kidder continued to work in films through the 1980s and ’90s, appearing in productions like Heartaches (1981), The Glitter Dome (1984), and Showtime’s adaptation of Pygmalion (1983). Her career began to decline in 1990s and she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after a much-publicised nervous breakdown in 1996. She went on to play smaller roles in television serials such as Smallville, Brothers and Sisters, and The L Word in the 2000s and also appeared in the off-Broadway production of The Vagina Monologues (2002). She won an Emmy award in 2015 for Outstanding Performer in Children’s Programming for RL Stine’s The Haunting Hour: The Series
Kidder married thrice. She had her only child, Maggie, in 1976 with novelist Thomas McGuane, whom she divorced in 1977. Kidder later married John Heard in 1979 for six days and French director Philippe de Broca in 1983. She divorced Broca a year later. Kidder has two grandchildren.
Several film industry members paid their tributes to the actress on Twitter.
On-screen she was magic.
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) May 14, 2018
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
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
Thank you for being the Lois Lane so many of us grew up with. RIP, Margot Kidder. pic.twitter.com/IhY73TB52P
— DC (@DCComics) May 14, 2018
So sorry for the passing of @MargotKidder the star of 4 #Superman movies who will always be #LoisLane. Gone at the age of 69, she was very open about her battle with #bipolar disease pic.twitter.com/s8eax89i8n
— Al Roker (@alroker) May 14, 2018
RIP Margot Kidder https://t.co/aK2orqGkm9
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 14, 2018
oh no, Margot Kidder.
— Elijah Wood (@elijahwood) May 14, 2018
Margot Kidder played my mom in a movie and we spent months in Winnipeg together. She had the nicest, biggest dog named Pierre Trudeau and taught me to love crossword puzzles. She was very fun and talented and skilled. ❤️
— Noah Segan (@kidblue) May 15, 2018
#MargotKidder was incredible in the Superman movies. The Lois Lane she created had so much strength, humor and vulnerability that she became as much a part of what made the movie work as the wonderful Chris Reeve, Gene Hackman and others. #ripmargotkidder
— Clark Gregg (@clarkgregg) May 14, 2018