CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-10-11

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Dan Rather. Welcome to the

[0:02] CBS Evening News online edition. Just

[0:05] ahead, remembering actor Christopher

[0:07] Reev. We examine his career and the

[0:10] challenges he faced. Also, stem cell

[0:13] research. Christopher Reev devoted

[0:15] himself to it, the impact he made. Is

[0:17] tonight's inside story. And a London

[0:20] institution faces extinction, and some

[0:23] are blaming America. It's all starting

[0:26] now on the CBS Evening News online

[0:29] edition.

[0:31] Family, friends, and fans are mourning

[0:33] Christopher Reev, the actor and medical

[0:35] research activist. Reev died yesterday

[0:38] of complications from an infection at a

[0:40] hospital north of New York City. He was

[0:42] 52. Confined to a wheelchair for the

[0:45] last 9 years of his life. He first flew

[0:48] to movie stardom in 1978.

[0:57] As an actor, Christopher Reeve was best

[0:59] known for his role in the four Superman

[1:01] movies.

[1:02] >> I'm here to fight for truth and justice

[1:03] in the American way.

[1:04] >> As a man, he was known for his courage.

[1:08] >> You have to say, I deny these

[1:09] limitations. There are no limitations.

[1:12] >> He appeared in 38 movies both before and

[1:15] after the devastating horseback accident

[1:18] in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the

[1:21] neck down. Reeves wife, Dana, has been

[1:24] by his side ever since.

[1:27] >> Hey, you see that blonde down there?

[1:29] >> Yeah, I'm on.

[1:30] >> Wait back to her for me.

[1:32] >> In 1998, Ree produced and starred in a

[1:35] new version of Rear Window, for which he

[1:37] won a Screen Actor's Guild Award for

[1:40] best actor.

[1:41] >> Hello, Clark.

[1:44] I've been expecting you. Last year, he

[1:47] returned to his Superman roots,

[1:48] appearing in a television series about

[1:50] the young Clark Kent. But his true

[1:53] legacy won't be what he did on screen.

[1:55] He'll be best remembered as a tireless

[1:58] advocate for stem cell research.

[2:00] >> I'm going to fight for the cure. I'm

[2:02] going to fight for funding. I'm going to

[2:03] fight for change.

[2:04] >> And so he did. Christopher Reev leaves

[2:07] his wife and three children and many,

[2:10] many fans.

[2:15] With his death, Christopher Reev is

[2:16] remembered not just for playing the man

[2:19] of steel, but for his steely resolve to

[2:22] push the limits of research on spinal

[2:24] cord injuries. He did more than talk the

[2:27] talk, to help find a new way to walk. A

[2:30] CBS News medical correspondent report

[2:32] from Elizabeth Kaledan gives you the

[2:34] inside story.

[2:37] Christopher Reeves paralyzing injuries

[2:39] cast him in a new role. And he was a

[2:42] natural. As a passionate spokesman for

[2:44] people with spinal cord injuries, he

[2:47] urged politicians, the United Nations,

[2:49] even Hollywood's elite to do more for

[2:51] the disabled. He pushed research into

[2:54] spinal cord injuries to the forefront,

[2:56] starting a foundation that trained

[2:58] doctors like Keith Tanzy.

[3:00] >> He really raised the bar and asked

[3:02] people to perform more faster. Reev was

[3:05] always seeking out the cutting edge in

[3:07] medicine. Dr. John McDonald worked with

[3:09] him for 5 years at Washington

[3:11] University's spinal cord injury program.

[3:14] >> One of the unique uh qualities that that

[3:17] Chris possessed is this incredible

[3:19] drive. I mean, he was the one of the

[3:20] most focused individuals that I'd ever

[3:22] seen.

[3:22] >> Reeve and McDonald were convinced that a

[3:25] brand new activity-based approach to

[3:27] reversing paralysis could work. Reeves

[3:30] spent hours in physical therapy

[3:32] repeating simple motions and he

[3:34] eventually saw unprecedented results

[3:37] when he could move his limbs in water.

[3:39] >> Not only did he extend his life well

[3:42] beyond what what any average individual

[3:45] would have, but he demonstrated that

[3:47] substantial recovery was a function was

[3:49] possible.

[3:50] >> When he wasn't pushing himself to the

[3:52] outer limits, Reev was trying to

[3:53] convince others to go there. He lobbied

[3:56] members of Congress to allow federal

[3:58] funding of embryionic stem cell

[3:59] research, one of the key issues in the

[4:02] current campaign.

[4:03] >> Chris Reeve is a friend of mine.

[4:05] >> John K's nod to him during last week's

[4:07] presidential debate shows just how

[4:09] central a figure Reeve had become in the

[4:12] future of stem cell research.

[4:14] >> Without leaving his wheelchair,

[4:17] he was able to make great strides

[4:19] towards a cure.

[4:20] >> Christopher Reev always set his sights

[4:22] high. His goal was nothing short of

[4:25] being able to walk again. And he gave

[4:27] millions the same hope. The heroic

[4:29] leading man on film an even greater

[4:32] inspiration in life. Elizabeth Kaledan,

[4:35] CBS News, New York.

[4:37] >> Finally, tonight, a long-standing London

[4:39] tradition is about to disappear, and it

[4:42] means Londoners and tourists alike will

[4:44] have to get used to a new way of getting

[4:46] around town. Whose fault is that? CBS's

[4:50] Mark Phillips has our report.

[4:53] London's muchloved old hop- on hop off

[4:56] route master buses are being retired and

[4:58] now traditionalists have found someone

[5:00] new to blame. Americans for 50 years

[5:04] people have been hopping on and off the

[5:05] buses with abandon sometimes too much

[5:08] abandoned onto moving buses off into

[5:11] lanes of traffic and it's taken its

[5:13] toll.

[5:14] >> On average we probably about

[5:15] unfortunately probably one person a year

[5:17] dies as a result of falling off the back

[5:18] of a root master bus. One person too

[5:21] many and the wrong kind of person if a

[5:24] widely reported story here is to be

[5:26] believed. The story is that a man a

[5:28] little shaky on his feet one night fell

[5:30] off the back of one of these. What's

[5:32] worse, he was a lawyer. What's even

[5:34] worse, he was an American lawyer. He

[5:37] sued for about $5 million.

[5:40] The American litigation culture had

[5:42] arrived and the bus's days were

[5:44] numbered. I think it's a growing trend

[5:46] throughout British society to seek

[5:48] compensation.

[5:50] >> It's also a growing trend to complain

[5:52] about too much government protection in

[5:54] a so-called nanny state.

[5:56] >> If you come on these buses, you it's up

[5:59] to you to take the responsibility of

[6:02] looking after yourself.

[6:04] >> The new replacement buses are modern,

[6:07] safe, accessible to the disabled, and

[6:09] critics say boring. If you start

[6:12] eroding, take away the the red phone

[6:14] boxes, the black cabs, the red bus or

[6:16] the these particular buses. Um, I mean,

[6:19] you might as well start building flats

[6:20] in Buckingham Palace.

[6:22] >> But there will be no new apartments

[6:24] built anytime soon in Buckingham Palace.

[6:26] And pretty soon, there'll be no more

[6:28] Rootmaster buses except for a token few

[6:31] on so-called heritage routes. And

[6:33] presumably, there will be fewer

[6:35] frightened tourists. What do you think

[6:37] these buses are?

[6:38] >> What?

[6:39] >> Scary.

[6:41] Mark Phillips, CBS News, London.

[6:44] >> More stories are just a click away, but

[6:46] don't forget to join me on television

[6:47] for the on air edition of the CBS

[6:50] Evening News. On Tuesday's broadcast,

[6:52] the so-called death tax, the inheritance

[6:55] tax. It's a political hot potato. Where

[6:58] the candidates stand on it in CBS's

[7:00] election series, What does it mean to

[7:02] you? For cbsnews.com,

[7:06] I'm Dan Rather.