Margot Kidder, who portrayed Lois Lane in 1978 film "Superman," dies

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Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Margot Kidder, who portrayed Lois Lane in 1978 film "Superman," dies
Margot Kidder, the actress who portrayed Lois Lane in the 1978 film "Superman," has died. She was 69.

Margot Kidder, the actress who portrayed Lois Lane in the 1978 film "Superman," has died. She was 69.

Kidder died Sunday at her home in Montana, according to the funeral home.

Kidder, who starred opposite Christopher Reeve in "Superman," became a champion for mental health after battling bipolar disorder.

Margot Kidder, the actress who portrayed Lois Lane in the 1978 film "Superman," has died at the age of 69.

She was born Margaret Ruth Kidder in Yellowknife, Canada, on Oct. 17, 1948. After she graduated high school, she moved to Los Angeles to start her movie career.

She got her first movie role in the 1969 movie "Gaily," which led to a starring role opposite Gene Wilder in "Quackser Fortune Has A Cousin in the Bronx" in 1970.

Kidder got the role of Lois Lane for the 1978 "Superman" movie and also filmed its sequel, "Superman II," simultaneously.

Both Kidder and co-star Christopher Reeve, who played Superman, were relative unknowns when they got their leading parts, and neither saw many major roles afterward. Reeve died in 2004.

The Canadian-born Kidder also appeared in 1975's "The Great Waldo Pepper" with Robert Redford and 1978's "The Amityville Horror."

WLS-TV and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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In this Feb. 10, 2012 file photo, actor Max von Sydow poses at the International Film Festival Berlinale, in Berlin.
AP Photo/Gero Breloer, File