Reeve Helps Washington

12/15/1998 at 12:00 AM EST

Christopher Reeve says he's making progress in overcoming the 1995 spinal-cord injury that has caused his paralysis. He tells New York's Daily News that he's able to accompany his dog alone to the edge of the driveway at the Reeve residence in suburban New York and that he can now be off a ventilator for as long as 45 minutes, instead of just three minutes four years ago. The"Superman" star last week attended the New York premiere of the "The Bone Collector," starring Denzel Washington, who plays a superstar forensics cop who just happens to be quadriplegic. "I'm happy that there's a disabled character who carries a movie," says Reeve, who played the wheelchair-bound James Stewart role in the recent ABC remake of "Rear Window." Before "Bone" started shooting, Washington and Queen Latifah, who plays his nurse, visited Reeve at his Westchester home. Said Reeve: "I hope I was a help."