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Just last summer he was down in New Orleans in 100°F heat to direct The Brooke Ellison Story, a fact-based A&E film about a woman paralyzed by a spinal-cord injury. Even with a rotating staff of nurses, he put in full days. "He was right on top of every little detail," says Lacey Chabert, who stars in the film. "There were obvious physical limitations, but there were no creative limitations."
Two days before Reeve died, his name even surfaced as a surprise litmus test in the second presidential debate, when Sen. John Kerry cited Reeve while discussing stem-cell research. Reeve, says the senator, left him a voice-mail message. "He was very excited," says Kerry, who first met Reeve in the early ’90s. (To read PEOPLE's exclusive interview with Kerry, click here.) Kerry has since spoken with Reeve’s widow, "and she sounded wonderfully courageous. Some laughter and some good feelings about just what a special guy he was."
Even Reeve’s political opponents sent condolences; President and Mrs. Bush issued a statement: "Mr. Reeve was an example of personal courage, optimism, and self-determination."
