Margot Kidder

The Glendale Garden and the End of Innocence

Margot Kidder was found in a backyard in California with her hair shorn and a vacant stare in April 1996. She had been missing for three days, and her physical condition was the result of a manic episode that the press of the time devoured with a fascinating cruelty. That image of a broken woman in someone else's garden was the lowest point for an actress who, years earlier, had flown over Metropolis.

She was born in the Northwest Territories of Canada and grew up in an environment where movies were something that happened to other people. But her ambition took her to Toronto and then to New York to make a living in an industry that was beginning to change its skin. In 1973 she shot Sisters under the direction of Brian De Palma, proving that her gift for psychological horror was immense.

That film put her on the map of directors who wanted something more than a pretty face. Kidder had a jittery energy and a raspy voice that set her apart from Hollywood's angelic blonde archetype. Her gaze projected a dangerous intelligence that didn't always sit well with producers from the old guard.

Fame was a slow poison.

In 1978, she landed the role of Lois Lane in Superman. The chemistry with Christopher Reeve was so real that audiences forgot the flying was done with painted backdrops and steel cables. And she didn't play a damsel in distress but an ambitious reporter who smoked too much and couldn't spell simple words.

The Price of Flying Over Metropolis

Despite the massive success of the franchise, Kidder never felt at home in the studio system. In 1980, she publicly clashed with producers after director Richard Donner was fired during the filming of the sequel. It cost her dearly. Her role in the third installment of the saga was cut down to just a few minutes of screen time as punishment for her defiance.

But she did not stay silent. She kept working on smaller projects and in theater while her mental health began to show signs of exhaustion. Bipolar disorder was not a topic of conversation in the 1980s, and Kidder had to cope with her crises in complete professional isolation.

Nobody expected that comeback.

Many considered her career over after the breakdown of 1996. But Kidder turned her own fall into a fierce activism for mental health and against the wars in the Middle East. In 2011 she was arrested in front of the White House during an environmental protest, and her police booking photo showed a woman proud of her wrinkles and her battles.

A Retreat in the Mountains of Montana

She settled in Livingston, a small town in Montana where she found the peace that Los Angeles denied her. There she lived surrounded by dogs and took part in community life like any other neighbor. In 2004 she appeared in the series Smallville to close the circle with the Superman myth, and in 2015 she won an Emmy for her work on the children's series R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour.

Even so, she never stopped working despite the ups and downs of her own mind. Her career includes more than 130 credits across film and television, but she always preferred to talk about politics or civil rights rather than her past shoots with top-tier stars.

Genre films became her last refuge. In 2017 she shot the horror film The Neighborhood, and in 2018 she finished her role in the drama The Red Maple Leaf. She was not seeking critical acclaim but simply staying active in a profession that had loved and rejected her in equal measure.

She died on May 13, 2018 at her home in Livingston. The coroner's report confirmed months later that the cause was a self-inflicted overdose of drugs and alcohol. She was 69 years old.