I was the director of Dixie Trek, a science fiction convention held in Atlanta, GA for 15 years. Christopher Reeve and Noel Neil were my guests in 1994, just one year before Reeve's injury. We spoke at great length to and from the airport as well as at the convention.

I asked Ron for his thoughts on Mr Reeve's personality and he elaborates on the convention day - "He is as nice in person as you would expect him to be, I came to the conclusion that he did not act like Superman in the films but rather Superman acted like Christopher Reeve. He would not sit on the riser we set up for him, for security reasons, he insisted on sitting at ground level to meet with the convention attendees one on one. He continued to talk and sign autographs well beyond his contracted time so that no one would leave without meeting him. we cut it close at the airport, so much so that he left his coat in my car. I saw it moments later in the back seat and pulled over in front of the airport and raced back on foot with his coat in tow. Ahead I could see his 6'4'' frame bobbing up and down in the crowd. He reached me and I could see the thanks in his eyes".

At of the time of the convention Chris had never seen "Superman: IV". He was unaware of it's final content, or lack there of, but he was not amazed to find out that one quarter of the film was left on the cutting room floor. He told me that he was not thrilled with the production of the movie and what they did with the story idea and script. Case in point, the scene where Superman finds Jeremy with Jimmy in Metropolis and they proceed to the U.N. building. It was originally scheduled to be shot in New York with thousands of extras walking with them through the streets across the island right up to the real U. N. building! To save money they went to an industrial park outside London and they had to bring their own pigeons.

Reeve and Neil at the convention  

Reeve and Jim Bowers at the convention

Content by Ron Nastrom
Photos by Jim Bowers