Mr. Reeve broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Va.
Enduring months of therapy to allow him to breathe for longer and longer periods without a respirator, Mr. Reeve emerged to lobby Congress for better insurance protection against catastrophic injury.
He moved an Academy Award audience to tears with a call for more films about social issues.
He started directing and even returned to acting in a 1998 production of ''Rear Window," a modern update of the Hitchcock thriller about a man in a wheelchair who becomes convinced a neighbor has been murdered. Mr. Reeve won a Screen Actors Guild award for best actor in a television movie or miniseries.
''I was worried that only acting with my voice and my face, I might not be able to communicate effectively enough to tell the story," Mr. Reeve said. ''But I was surprised to find that if I really concentrated, and just let the thoughts happen, that they would read on my face. With so many close-ups, I knew that my every thought would count."
''Hollywood needs to do more," he said in the March 1996 Oscar awards appearance. ''Let's continue to take risks. Let's tackle the issues. In many ways our film community can do it better than anyone else. There is no challenge, artistic or otherwise, that we can't meet."
In his own recovery, Mr. Reeve took many risks and faced immense challenges in his battle to regain function of parts of his body. In 2000, months of therapy allowed him to move his index finger; a specialized workout regimen made his legs and arms stronger. He also regained sensation in other parts of his body.
Mr. Reeve's support of stem cell research helped it emerge as a major campaign issue between President Bush and John Kerry. His name was even mentioned by Kerry earlier this month during the second presidential debate.
As for the strain of traveling to Hollywood, Mr. Reeve said: ''I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I live my life. I don't mean to be reckless, but setting a goal that seems a bit daunting actually is very helpful toward recovery."
