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Ted Hall recalls dark day he tried to help Margot Kidder but couldn't

Actress Margot Kidder, who died Sunday at age 69, was famous for her roles in such films as "Superman" and "The Amityville Horror." But she was also well known for her struggles with bipolar disorder and as a public voice who helped demystify the condition as she advocated for awareness.

Actress Margot Kidder poses for a portrait in 1985 in Los Angeles, Calif. Kidder, who starred as Lois Lane in the “Superman” film franchise of the late 1970s and early 1980s, has died. Franzen-Davis Funeral Home in Livingston, Montana posted a notice on its website saying Kidder died Sunday, May 13, 2918, at her home there. She was 69.

Before she got adequate medical treatment for her disorder, Kidder hit a pivotal low in 1996 that included a chance encounter with a Knoxville news crew at Los Angeles International Airport in the wee hours of April 21 of that year.

According to reports from numerous media including the Washington Post, New York Daily News and People, Kidder, who was 47 at the time, approached a news team from Knoxville station WBIR-TV, which had just arrived in Los Angeles on a flight from Atlanta as the crew was making its way to cover the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Kidder approached the WBIR team and asked if they were with the media. After anchorman Ted Hall confirmed they were, the actress identified herself and launched into a conversation that became increasingly strange. Hall said Kidder was wearing dirty clothes, she said her ex-husband was trying to kill her, and she asked the team if they would help her disguise herself and ditch her jacket, which she was convinced "was bugged."

She scribbled notes to Hall at times to avoid speaking. At one point she asked Hall and his cameraman Scott Liston for money, and Hall gave her $20. She bought a soft drink and gave Hall back all the change.

Margot Kidder, left with "Superman" co-star Christopher Reeve, has died at age 69. This photo is from 1979.

Eventually, Kidder, Hall and Liston made their way via airport shuttle bus to Hertz rental cars, where Kidder reportedly made a scene. A cab was called for the actress, and before she parted ways with Hall, at about 4:30 a.m., she handed him one last note that said, "I am dead."

More:Margot Kidder and bipolar disorder: What is it and how is it treated?

Also:Photos: Margot Kidder through the years

Previously:Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane in 'Superman,' dies at age 69

Kidder's life took darker turns for the next few days. She told People that when it became clear she didn't have enough money for a cab, she tried to use an ATM machine but then became fearful it was about to explode. "I took off running," she said. "I slept in yards and on porches in a state of fear." She said she stayed with a homeless man in a makeshift cardboard shack (later fleeing for her safety), cut her hair very short to avoid being recognized and finally identified herself to a homeowner on April 23 when she was caught seeking refuge in the back yard of a Glendale home.

For the next week she received medical treatment and eventually convinced a court that she was no longer a danger to herself before she was released. Kidder then retreated to an island home in her native Canada and learned to "accept the diagnosis" that she had been denying since she first started seeing psychiatrists when she was 21.

Ted Hall

Soon after Kidder was found in Glendale and the extent of her days-long episode was revealed, Hall said, "I was really disappointed at first that we couldn't help her."

He regretted not giving her the "$20 jean jacket," for example, but he felt in the moment that it would have been an inappropriate exchange for the designer coat she was trying to get rid of.

After speaking with experts on her condition, Hall realized, "I understood that we couldn't help her."

Looking back on that 1996 encounter on Wednesday, Hall said that he remembered Kidder grabbing his arm and not letting go as he and Liston tried to help her out of her predicament, which only further agitated her. "We were solving the problem that she didn't want to be solved," he said.

Hall, who left WBIR in 2005 to take an anchor position in Atlanta and then returned to Knoxville in 2014 for an anchor position at WVLT, said his experience with Kidder "made me have an actual tangible understanding" of what those who suffer from her condition experience.

"She wasn't doing something wrong. She wasn't being a bad person. She was going through something we couldn't control."

Hall said that after the encounter, "I did reach out to her a few times, just to make sure she was OK," but Kidder didn't respond. He said he didn't want to aggressively pursue her because, "I didn't want to intrude and remind her of what might have been a bad time in her life."

"I was really sad the day I found out she died," Hall said, "I was depressed the whole day."