You see that messy, dark hair and those eyes that looked like they were constantly chasing a deadline? That’s the Margot Kidder everyone remembers. When you look at photos of Margot Kidder, you aren't just seeing a Hollywood starlet from a bygone era; you’re seeing the blueprint for every modern, fast-talking female lead we love today.
Most people just think of her as Lois Lane. Sure, the 1978 Superman posters are legendary, but there’s so much more to the visual history of Kidder than just a reporter in a purple suit. Honestly, the real magic is in the candid shots—the ones where she’s smoking a cigarette behind a typewriter or laughing with Christopher Reeve between takes. Those photos tell the story of a woman who was way too big for the "damsel" box Hollywood tried to shove her into.
The Superman Era: Beyond the Cape and Tights
If you search for photos of Margot Kidder, the first things that pop up are inevitably from the Daily News set. It was 1977 in New York. The city was gritty, and so was her version of Lois. There’s this one famous publicity still where she’s sitting at her desk, looking absolutely exhausted but determined. It’s iconic because she wasn't playing Lois as a prize to be won; she played her as a woman who had a job to do.
Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder had this chemistry that you just can't fake for the camera. You've probably seen the behind-the-scenes shots of them at the 51st Academy Awards in 1979. They look like the king and queen of the world. But look closer at the photos of them on the Superman II set in 1980. There's a level of comfort there—a genuine friendship that made the "flying sequence" feel real even when they were just hanging from wires in front of a blue screen.
- The 1978 Premiere: Margot at the Kennedy Center, looking every bit the A-lister in a gown that would still be chic today.
- The Saturday Night Live Stills: March 17, 1979. Margot hosted, and the photos of her as Lois Lane in a skit alongside Bill Murray’s Superman are comedy gold.
- The Daily News Building: On-set photography showing the chaos of filming in Manhattan.
Why 1970s Horror Defined Her Look
Long before she met the Man of Steel, Margot was the queen of Canadian tax-shelter cinema and cult horror. If you haven't seen the photos of Margot Kidder from the set of Brian De Palma’s Sisters (1973), you’re missing out. She played twins. One was sweet, one was... well, not. The promotional stills of her with that 70s-style split-screen effect are haunting.
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Then there’s Black Christmas (1974). Basically the mother of all slasher movies. The photos of her character, Barb, are a far cry from Lois Lane. She’s drinking, she’s cynical, and she’s arguably the best part of the movie. These images capture a specific kind of raw, unpolished energy that defined the "New Hollywood" movement of that decade. She wasn't polished. She was real.
The Truth Behind the 1996 "Breakdown" Photos
We have to talk about the 1996 photos. You know the ones. They were everywhere—the tabloids had a field day with shots of Margot looking disheveled after her highly publicized manic episode in Los Angeles.
At the time, the world was cruel. People saw a "fallen star." But looking back at those photos now, through a 2026 lens, they represent something entirely different. They represent the reality of Bipolar Disorder before we really had a vocabulary for it. Margot later called it her "big, public flipout," and she refused to be ashamed of it.
She had been working on a memoir when a computer virus wiped out three years of work. That was the trigger. The photos from that period, while difficult to look at, eventually became the catalyst for her second act: as a fierce mental health advocate. She didn't hide. She did an interview with People magazine shortly after, appearing on the cover with her daughter, Maggie. Those "recovery" photos are arguably more important than any movie poster because they showed a woman reclaiming her narrative.
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Activism and the Montana Years
In her later life, the photos of Margot Kidder changed again. She traded the red carpets for the freezing cold of North Dakota and the streets of D.C.
You’ll find powerful images of her being arrested outside the White House in 2011. She was protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. She’s 62 years old in those photos, wearing a functional winter coat, her face lined with age and conviction. She didn't look like a movie star; she looked like a warrior.
She moved to Livingston, Montana, to live in what she called a "culture-free zone." The photography from this era usually shows her at local political rallies or standing with the Standing Rock protesters. There’s a grit in those eyes that never went away, from Yellowknife to Hollywood to the mountains of Montana.
How to Tell a Real Vintage Print from a Reprint
If you’re a collector looking for original photos of Margot Kidder, you’ve got to be careful. The market is flooded with 8x10 reproductions.
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Real "press photos" or "wire photos" from the 70s and 80s usually have a few tell-tale signs:
- The Reverse Side: Look for "slugs" (typed captions glued to the back) or date stamps from newspapers.
- The Paper: Vintage silver gelatin prints have a specific weight and smell that modern inkjet prints can't mimic.
- The "Wire" Texture: Some old photos have a slight horizontal banding because they were sent via telegraphic wire.
Many of the signed photos you see on eBay or at conventions are "Celebrity Authentics" certified, but the most valuable ones remain the candid, unstaged shots from her early career in Canada.
The Legacy of a "Fearless" Woman
Margot Kidder passed away in 2018, but her visual footprint is permanent. Whether she was posing for a high-fashion portrait in 1985 or being photographed by police during a protest, she never seemed to be "performing" for the camera in the way modern influencers do. Everything was authentic. Sorta messy. Totally human.
She once told an interviewer that we are all just a "breath away" from the things we look down on, like homelessness or mental illness. When you look at her photos now, you see the full spectrum of that human experience.
Next Steps for Fans and Collectors:
If you want to find the highest-quality, historically accurate photos of Margot Kidder, start by searching the digital archives of the National Film Board of Canada or the Daily News photo collection. For those interested in her mental health advocacy, her 1996 interview with People remains the definitive record of her turning point. If you are looking to purchase, always verify the provenance of "original" press stills to ensure they aren't just modern laser prints.