Is there a Superman curse? A number of "news" stories currently moving about the wires are asking if actors are now shunning the role because of what it's done to those who've accepted it. And I guess it's a good story — but even if one believes in curses, this one doesn't measure up too well. Yes, George Reeves died a shocking, unexpected death…but Mr. Reeves was (a) drinking heavily to ease the pains from an auto accident and (b) fooling around with a mobster's lady. Either or both can make you pretty dead pretty fast, as has been proven by a number of folks who never flew around in a cape. Yes, Christopher Reeve suffered a paralyzing accident but — and I don't mean to make light of it — these things do happen among other folks who jump horses.
The first film Superman, Kirk Alyn, also died — though 49 years after he last put on the Superman suit. Kind of a slow-acting curse. Bud Collyer, who voiced the character on radio and cartoons also died a few decades after he stopped portraying the Man of Steel. (Actually, he had returned to the role after a 20 year absence and voiced a few more cartoons. I guess one could stretch and say he got cocky, defied the curse…and it finally got him. But that's a bit of a reach.)
Some have suggested that it isn't that The Superman Curse takes your life; it's that it does something equally-awful to those in show business: It destroys your career. There might be something to this but if so, it probably has more to do with the fact that portraying a cartoon character — wearing a garish costume on screen that overshadows its wearer — has never been a major boost for anyone's career. It may not hurt but it sure doesn't help. Years after The Wizard of Oz, Bert Lahr reportedly said, "Everyone told me it was one of the greatest performances in the history of film, but it was kind of like, 'We'll call you the next time we need a guy in a lion suit!'"
Thus, Kirk Alyn's post-Superman career was pretty much the same as dozens of other actors his age who'd starred in cheap serials and B-Movies. Kirk was a charming gent who was a fixture at comic conventions until his death in 1999. But I'm afraid I don't recall anyone suggesting that a great actor had been stifled. Bud Collyer was enormously successful as a game show host. George Reeves, despite urban legends to the contrary, had offers of work as both a writer and a director at the time of his death. Christopher Reeve certainly had a lot more success as a film actor after Superman than before. And as for the more recent wearers of the costume, it's too early to tell.
What I'm getting at (and what I was trying to say when quoted in this article over at E!Online) is that all these careers pretty much went as might have been expected without playing the guy from Krypton. If any, the role helped — though not much. And if a lot of actors are turning it down now, as has been reported, it's probably not because they think it'll kill them or their careers. It's that the stardom of leading men these days gets judged from movie to movie, and playing that part can seem like a lose-lose situation. If the film's a flop, everyone will say the star has no following and that he isn't hot anymore. But if it's a hit, the star won't get much credit. Everyone will say it's because people love Superman.