<P> The curse has been mentioned regarding the death of actress Dana Reeve (the widow of actor Christopher Reeve), who, despite being a non-smoker, died of lung cancer in 2006 at the age of 44 . </P> <P> Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the writer and artist who co-created Superman, sold the rights to their creation to DC Comics for a relatively small amount of money, in contrast to the amount of money the character has generated over the decades . Despite the repeated efforts over the course of the rest of their lives to recover legal ownership of Superman, and a share in the immense profits that the character brought for DC Comics, DC's copyright on the character was renewed . By the 1950s, Shuster's worsening eyesight prevented him from drawing, and he worked as a deliveryman in order to earn a living . Jerry Robinson claimed Shuster had delivered a package to the DC building, embarrassing the employees . He was summoned to the CEO, given one hundred dollars, and told to buy a new coat and find another job . By 1976, Shuster was almost blind and living in a California nursing home . In 1975, Siegel launched a publicity campaign, in which Shuster participated, protesting DC Comics's treatment of him and Shuster . In the face of a great deal of negative publicity over their handling of the affair (and with the Superman movie coming soon), DC's parent company Warner Communications reinstated the byline dropped more than thirty years earlier and granted the pair a lifetime pension of $20,000 a year plus health benefits . The first issue with the restored credit was Superman #302 (August 1976). Siegel died in 1996 and Shuster in 1992 . </P> <P> Brothers Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer of Fleischer Studios, who produced the Paramount Superman cartoons began to quarrel with one another and their studio suffered financial disaster . After selling off Paramount Studios, the new owners fired the two brothers . One of them died in poverty . </P> <P> Kate Bosworth played Lois Lane in Superman Returns . Although she did not suffer any physical attacks, accidents or illnesses, her romantic relationship with Orlando Bloom ended in 2006, which she blamed on the Superman Curse . </P>

Who was the first actor to play superman