Margot Kidder, original Lois Lane from Christopher Reeve's Superman franchise, passes away aged 69

Margot Kidder, who starred as Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve in the Superman film franchise of the late 1970s and early 1980s, has died. [caption id=“attachment_4470003” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Margot Kidder. YouTube[/caption] Franzen-Davis Funeral Home in Livingston, Montana, posted a notice on its website saying Kidder died Sunday at her home there. She was 69. No further details were given and messages left with Kidder’s representatives were not immediately returned. Superman was a superhero blockbuster two decades before comic book movies became the norm at the top of the box office. Both Kidder and Reeve, who played Superman, were relative unknowns when they got their leading parts, and neither saw many major roles afterward. Reeve died in 2004. The Canadian-born Kidder also appeared in 1975’s The Great Waldo Pepper with Robert Redford and 1978’s The Amityville Horror. Kidder starred in the Superman trilogy released between 1978 and 1983 as hotshot reporter Lane, who was also the love interest of Clark Kent, played by Reeve. She also made a cameo appearance in the 1987 film about the DC Comics superhero titled Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. The actress died on Sunday in her home in the northern US state of Montana, according to the Franzen-Davis Funeral Home & Crematory, which did not specify a cause.

  Born Margaret Ruth Kidder on 17 October, 1948 in Canada’s Northwest Territories, she grew up in a small town without a movie theater. But on a trip to New York, she caught the acting bug, and after school, she moved to Los Angeles in order to try her luck. Her career crested in the ’70s and ’80s as she worked with film stars including Redford and Richard Pryor. She continued to act in her later years but her popularity waned after she suffered a highly publicised mental breakdown in 1996. Despite that setback, Kidder continued to act on both the silver and small screens, and occasionally on stage. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, the actress became an activist for mental health issues as well as a champion of left-wing causes. She became a US citizen in 2005. (With inputs from agencies)