Christopher Reeve Superman / Clark Kent Margot Kidder Lois Lane Gene Hackman Lex Luthor Jackie Cooper Perry White Marc McClure Jimmy Olsen Jon Cryer Lenny Sam Wanamaker David Warfield Mariel Hemingway Lacy Warfield William Hootkins Harry Howler Jim Broadbent Jean Pierre Dubois Stanley Lebor General Romoff Don Fellows Levon Hornsby Robert Beatty U.S. President Bradley Lavelle Tall Marshall Mac McDonald Marshall #2 Steve Plytas Russian General #2 Czeslaw Grocholski Russian General 1 John Hollis Russian General 3 (Kremlin) Eiji Kusuhara U.N. Guard - Japanese Yuri Borienko Russian General - Red Square Boris Isarov Cosmonaut Captain Dorota Zięciowska Cosmonaut Jayne Brook Teacher - JFK High School Susannah York Lara (voice) Indira Joshi Secretary General U.N. Jiří Stanislav Cosmonaut Ted Maynard Army Chief Mark Caven Priest - Boystown Nicholas Colicos Paul - Metro Sports Club Esmond Knight Second Elder Eugene Lipinski Cosmonaut - Space Walker Kerry Shale MBC Newscaster Tina Simmons Commuter (uncredited) Kenneth Coombs Reporter (uncredited)