MARGOT KIDDER

(17 October 1948 - 13 May 2018)

The Canadian actress Margot Kidder, who has died at the age of 69, suffered mental health problems for most of her life. She always wanted to be a film star and, in moving to Los Angeles in 1969, made her debut in Norman Jewison’s Chicago, Chicago (aka Gaily, Gaily). This was followed, in between TV series, by Waris Hussein’s Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx, a dual role in Brian De Palma’s Sisters, The Gravy Train, Black Christmas, The Great Waldo Pepper and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud. In 1978, Superman really put her on the map, in which she played Lois Lane and appeared in its three sequels. Other films included The Amityville Horror, Willie & Phil, Some Kind of Hero, The Pornographer and many long-forgotten titles, as well as a lot more television. Although she worked extensively, Margot Kidder never repeated her early promise or the success of her signature appearances in the Superman franchise. She was married briefly three times, first to Thomas McGuane, who directed her in 92 in the Shade and who gave her a daughter, Maggie, to the actor John Heard (for six days) and to the French director Philippe de Broca.

MICHAEL DARVELL