Margot Kidder Dies

Margot Kidder has died at the age of 69. Kidder earned fan adulation for her role as Lois Lane in 1978’s original Superman. She continued to appear opposite Christopher Reeve as an ambitious reporter and his love interest in the subsequent iterations of the franchise.

Kidder also starred in several other films, notably the classic screamer The Amityville Horror. A cause of death was not given.

• Kidder was born on October 17^th, 1948 in Yellowknife, Canada and got her start in 1960s TV shows like McQueen and The Mod Squad. She got her big break starring opposite Gene Wilder in Quackster Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970).
• She battled her share of demons in her personal life, publicly struggling with mental illness in her later years. While she worked steadily for decades, in 1990 a car crash left her in a wheelchair and she couldn’t work for two years. She eventually found some success again as a voiceover artist.
• But then in 1996, a virus infected her computer and caused her to lose three years worth of work she’d been doing for an autobiography. She eventually became suffering from delusions and reportedly became convinced that the government and her then-husband, novelist Thomas McGuane, were out to kill her.
• She was reported missing in April of 1996, and turned up in L.A. dirty and without a purse. She reportedly met a homeless man who said he’d look after her, and survived a rape attempt and attack perpetrated by another homeless man. Glendale police eventually found her and got her help at the UCLA Medical Center.
• In recent years, Kidder has been hailed for her candid discussions about her own battles with mental health, and has helped advocate for others suffering from mental health issues.
• Her most recent appearance was in the 2017 indie The Neighborhood. She is survived by her daughter, Maggie McGuane.