Celebrating Margot Kidder

Canada has lost one of its most iconic actresses. Margot Kidder, best known for her portrayal of Lois Lane in the “Superman” movies, died at her home in Montana, Monday. She was 69. Born into a large mining family in Yellowknife, her family moved around a lot when she was young. But, according to her sister, once she visited New York City, she wanted to be a star.

Kidder gained global fame as hard-nosed journalist Lois Lane — the first two “Superman” movies were great, the last two stunk — but, many forget her string of good Canadian films prior to becoming a household name. She twice won the Canadian Screen Award (later renamed the Genie) for best actress.

She hosted “Saturday Night Live,” appeared with Christopher Reeve at the Oscars, and had a friendship with a Canadian prime minister.

Marlon Brando, Gene Wilder, Robert Redford, Rod Steiger and Gene Hackman were among her leading men who she shared the screen with.

Then came her highly-publicized battle with mental illness, which landed her on the cover of unsympathetic tabloid magazines. They were extremely cruel. Rather than throw in the towel, Kidder kept fighting and became an outspoken advocate for mental health and a critic of the pharmaceutical industry. She became active in U.S. politics and campaigned for Barack Obama in the 2008 election.

Her primary focus in later life was on social causes, and not acting.

Those in the Okanagan, who were around at the time of the 2011 federal election, may have bumped into her. She campaigned for her brother, John Kidder, a farmer from Ashcroft, who was running in Okanagan Coquihalla for the Liberal party.

Margot attended John’s rallies, never presenting herself as a once-icon actress, but instead someone keenly interested in social causes, who was simply there to help her brother.

Margot Kidder’s later movies were mostly of the horror genre, small independent films, or something with an indirect link to “Superman,” but she proved her versatility as an actress by winning a Daytime Emmy Award in 2015... as a children’s performer.

Canadians do a poor job of celebrating their own.

Margot Kidder is one of Canada’s greats.