This was from Mothers day...
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060514/NEWS08/605140314/1010
Superman owes it all to Mom
Few things can test a mother’s love and patience like a child’s dream to be a big-time Hollywood actor.
Brandon Routh was an 18-year-old college kid when he came home with a dream: He wanted to become a model, a move that would blossom into a desire to act.
But he would have to start in New York. Then move to Hollywood. That would take money.
“I’m a teacher, and Ron worked maintenance,” said Katie Routh, Brandon’s mother. “We’re a modest family of modest means. But we didn’t want money to be in the way of our kids’ dreams.”
So the Norwalk family began to make sacrifices. They started with $7,000 in seed money. Then Katie Routh sold her camper, ran up her credit cards and held off on buying a new car and fixing up the house.
Brandon needed walking lessons for modeling. He needed airline tickets to New York and Los Angeles. He needed cash, once he decided to move to L.A. to pursue a career. “She has made a lot of sacrifices,” said Ron, her husband.
The sacrifices paid off. After about seven years of work, Brandon will hit the big screen this summer in “Superman Returns.”
He’ll play Clark Kent and Superman, a blockbuster role that could turn him into an overnight star.
His success started small. A commercial here, a spot on MTV there. A year’s stint on “One Life To Live,” and then the long process of auditioning for roles and then waiting months to hear whether he’d gotten the part.
At each step, his mother was there, encouraging him, telling him he could do it.
“It was sporadic, his work,” Katie said with a laugh. “We were still footing the bill.”
Then, suddenly: Success.
Brandon would be Superman. And it wouldn’t have happened without his mother. “We knew this was his dream, that it’s what he wanted, and we wanted to help him get it,” she said.
But she has one thing money can’t buy. A son living his dream.
“Our kids come first.”