Lee Quigley, who played Superman as a baby in the 1978 film, died in 1991 at age 14 from inhalant abuse. Alyn had Alzheimer's disease later in his life and died in 1999 at the age of 88. He later appeared as Lois Lane's father in the 1978 Superman film. As a result, he was relegated to voiceovers, commercials, and uncredited screen roles. Kirk Alyn played Superman in two low-budget 1940s serials, but failed to find work afterward because he was too closely identified with the role. The following actors who played Superman have sometimes been cited as victims of the 'Superman curse'. Ī more prosaic explanation for the alleged 'curse' is that given the high number of people involved in the many adaptations and treatments of the Superman story over the years, a number of significant misfortunes would inevitably occur, as they would do in any substantial sampling of random individuals. The curse is often invoked whenever misfortune is experienced by actors and other personnel who work on Superman adaptations, so much so that some talent agents cite the curse as the reason for the difficulty in casting actors in the role in live-action feature films.

The 'curse' is frequently associated with George Reeves, who starred in Adventures of Superman on television from 1952 to 1958, and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 45 and Christopher Reeve, the portrayer of the superhero in four theatrical films from 1978 to 1987, who was paralyzed in a 1995 horseback riding accident, and died nine years later at age 52 from heart failure. The Superman curse refers to a series of supposedly related misfortunes that have plagued creative people involved in adaptations of the DC Comics character Superman in various media, particularly actors who have played the role of Superman on film and television.

Jerry siegel superman