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Just about everyone lamenting the passing of Margot Kidder, ten days before, thought of her, first and foremost, as Lois Lane. I am of the "Superman" TV generation, so, for me, Noel Neill will always be Lois. Besides, I preferred Margot's more florid work, like the demented un-conjoined Siamese twin in 1973's "Sisters," which, girls, you have to see to believe, and then her turn as incestuous mother to Chad Lowe, Jason Mayberry, in the 2005 'SVU' episode, "Pique." Who can forget the scene where the squad finds them in bed, covered in blood, he having made love to, then killed, his mother? And Margot, as this Upper Montclair matriarch!!!!!!!!! Named Grace, no less!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Such was the stuff Kidder was made of, and sadly, but ironically, it might have figured in her decline. She was so skilled at these types of roles because she hovered so near the brink of their actuality, considering how things turn out.
I shall remember Kidder's work fondly. I also hopes she find the peace she never found in life.
Fame is not the answer, dolls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2 comments:
This passing really got to me, for several reasons. She was young-ish at 69, had already been thru the mill and survived, so I figured she'd be with us til at least 80. Then, the mysterious unexplained circumstances: it seems she was alone in the middle of Absolutely Nowhere, Montana, population herself. Sounds like a lonely passing, tho apparently someone reported her missing within 48 hours of last seeing her so who knows. We'll have to wait the usual infuriating two months for the coroners report. BTW, why the hell is it ALWAYS two months? How backed up could the office be in Montana? How difficult can it be to discover her cause of death? It was near certainly a sudden heart issue. I don't get the official obfuscation every time someone the least bit famous passes: it keeps their fans from having proper closure.
Like you, my first exposure to Margot Kidder was her role in "Sisters" which I would faithfully watch every time it popped up on the CBS Late Show throughout the '70s. Probably not the smartest thing for an impressionable kid to watch at 2am before going to school, but Margot and Jebnnifer Salt are great in it, and the intoxicating Bernard Herrmann score was irresistable.
For me, however, she is eternally Lois Lane in "Superman: The Movie". Her chemistry with Christopher Reeve was such an astonishing mix of sweet, snarky, modern, yet straight from the comic book. The scene where Superman finally decides to cut thru her tough-girl armor, and seduce her by flying her around NYC at night, made a deep imprint on my adolescent mind and nascent sexuality. Ever since, I've wanted that to (metaphorically) happen to me. It never did, and never will, but the thought of it has sustained me thru some very tough moments in life.
I must have paid to see "Superman" a dozen times in 1978, I enjoyed it so much. One factor that made it such a treat has been totally forgotten and never mentioned: it stood in isolation for over a decade after, allowing viewers to nurse fond memories of it without an avalanche of knockoffs streaming non-stop from Hollywood. "Superman" at the time was so hideously expensive to make, was done completely outside Hollywood by foreigners, and widely expected to eclipse "Cleopatra" as the biggest flop in film history. It defied those odds to become a massive hit, in no small part because the foreign producers who made it had a fondness and appreciation for American culture more finely tuned than Americans themselves: this imbued "Superman" with real heart and genuine affection for the ideals (under all the snark). Its success so completely flummoxed Hollywood that they made no immediate attempt to rip it off: amazingly, it did NOT kick off an endless cycle of superhero movies. It stood unmolested for 11 years, until 1989's "Batman" did begin the tiresome endless cycle of comic book drivel that has continued thru today (with ever diminishing returns).
Anyway. R.I.P., dear Margot: give Christopher a hug for us when you see him.
Yes, Margot and Christopher are
at peace, and no pain. She
was strong to endure what she did,
and I wish she had been with us
longer, and done more.
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