Carl Benton Reid
Encyclopedia
Carl Benton Reid was an American
actor. He achieved fame on the Broadway
stage in 1939 as Oscar Hubbard, one of Regina Giddens's (Tallulah Bankhead
) greedy, devious brothers in the play The Little Foxes
, and made his film debut reprising his role opposite Bette Davis
in the 1941 film version
. He also appeared in several Shakespeare plays on Broadway, and in the original production of Eugene O'Neill
's The Iceman Cometh
, as Harry Slade.
His stern, cold demeanor quickly stereotyped him in villainous, and/or unpleasant characters, although he could play a sympathetic role, as he did occasionally in such films as the 1957 TV-movie version of The Pied Piper of Hamelin
. Here he played the Mayor of Hamelout, who unsuccessfully requests help from the Mayor of Hamelin (Claude Rains
), when Hamelout is the victim of a flood. The flood leads to the famous plague of rats which invade Hamelin, and set the main plot in motion. He played the American Admiral, who is leading the peace talks between the Americans and Chinese during the Korean War in MGM
's Pork Chop Hill
.
His last two roles came in 1966; as the judge in the film version of Madame X
and as Claude Townsend in the TV series The F.B.I..
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor. He achieved fame on the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
stage in 1939 as Oscar Hubbard, one of Regina Giddens's (Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...
) greedy, devious brothers in the play The Little Foxes
The Little Foxes
The Little Foxes is a 1939 play by Lillian Hellman. Its title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15 in the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Set in a small town in Alabama in...
, and made his film debut reprising his role opposite Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
in the 1941 film version
The Little Foxes (film)
The Little Foxes is a 1941 American drama film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Lillian Hellman is based on her 1939 play of the same name...
. He also appeared in several Shakespeare plays on Broadway, and in the original production of Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
's The Iceman Cometh
The Iceman Cometh
The Iceman Cometh is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1940 the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on 9 October 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling where it ran for 136 performances to close on 15 March 1947.-Characters:* Night Hawk-...
, as Harry Slade.
His stern, cold demeanor quickly stereotyped him in villainous, and/or unpleasant characters, although he could play a sympathetic role, as he did occasionally in such films as the 1957 TV-movie version of The Pied Piper of Hamelin
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
The Pied Piper of Hamelin is the subject of a legend concerning the departure or death of a great many children from the town of Hamelin , Lower Saxony, Germany, in the Middle Ages. The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in pied clothing, leading the children away from the town never...
. Here he played the Mayor of Hamelout, who unsuccessfully requests help from the Mayor of Hamelin (Claude Rains
Claude Rains
Claude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr...
), when Hamelout is the victim of a flood. The flood leads to the famous plague of rats which invade Hamelin, and set the main plot in motion. He played the American Admiral, who is leading the peace talks between the Americans and Chinese during the Korean War in MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
's Pork Chop Hill
Pork Chop Hill
Pork Chop Hill , directed by Lewis Milestone, is a Korean War war film based upon the eponymous book by military historian S. L. A. Marshall, depicting the bitterly fierce first Battle of Pork Chop Hill between the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division, and Chinese and Korean Communist forces at the...
.
His last two roles came in 1966; as the judge in the film version of Madame X
Madame X (1966 film)
Madame X is a 1966 drama film directed by David Lowell Rich and starring Lana Turner.-Plot:A lower class woman, Holly Parker , marries into the rich Anderson family. Her husband's mother looks down on her and keeps a watchful eye on her activities...
and as Claude Townsend in the TV series The F.B.I..
Selected filmography
- The Little FoxesThe Little Foxes (film)The Little Foxes is a 1941 American drama film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Lillian Hellman is based on her 1939 play of the same name...
(1941) - Tennessee JohnsonTennessee JohnsonTennessee Johnson is a 1942 American film about Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States. It was directed by William Dieterle and written by Milton Gunzburg, Alvin Meyers, John Balderston, and Wells Root. It starred Van Heflin as Johnson, Lionel Barrymore as his nemesis Thaddeus...
(1942) - The North StarThe North Star (1943 film)The North Star is a 1943 war film produced and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. It was directed by Lewis Milestone and written by Lillian Hellman. The film starred Anne Baxter, Dana Andrews, Walter Huston, Walter Brennan and Erich von Stroheim...
(1943) - In a Lonely PlaceIn a Lonely PlaceIn a Lonely Place is a film noir directed by Nicholas Ray, and starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, produced for Bogart's Santana Productions. The script was adapted by Edmund North from the 1947 novel In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes.Bogart stars in the film as Dixon Steele, a...
(1950) - Convicted (1950)
- The Fuller Brush GirlThe Fuller Brush GirlThe Fuller Brush Girl is a 1950 slapstick comedy starring Lucille Ball and directed by Lloyd Bacon. Animator Frank Tashlin wrote the script. Ball plays a quirky door-to-door cosmetics salesperson for the Fuller Brush Company...
(1950) - The Killer That Stalked New YorkThe Killer That Stalked New YorkThe Killer That Stalked New York is a 1950 film noir starring Evelyn Keyes. The film, shot on location and in a semi-documentary style, is about diamond smugglers who unknowingly start a smallpox outbreak in the New York City of 1947. It is based on the real threat of a smallpox epidemic in the...
(1950) - The Great CarusoThe Great CarusoThe Great Caruso is a 1951 biographical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Joe Pasternak with Jesse L. Lasky as associate producer from a screenplay by Sonya Levien and William Ludwig. The original music was by Johnny Green and the cinematography by...
(1951) - Indian UprisingIndian Uprising (film)Induian Uprising is a 1952 Western film directed by Ray Nazarro and starring George Montgomery.-Plot synopsis:Arizona 1885 - Cavalry Captain Case McCloud tries to maintain the treaty between the Apache led by Geronimo and the government that keeps white prospectors off Apache...
(1952) - Boots MaloneBoots MaloneBoots Malone is a 1952 drama film starring William Holden as a down-on-his-luck sports agent and Johnny Stewart as a rich runaway who wants to become a jockey.-Plot:...
(1952) - Carbine WilliamsCarbine WilliamsCarbine Williams is a 1952 American drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring James Stewart. The film follows the life of its namesake, David Marshall Williams, who invented the operating principle for the M1 Carbine while in a North Carolina prison...
(1952) - The Story of Will RogersThe Story of Will RogersThe Story of Will Rogers is a 1952 movie biography of humorist and movie star Will Rogers, directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Will Rogers, Jr. as his father. The supporting cast features Jane Wyman, Slim Pickens, Noah Beery, Jr., Steve Brodie, and Eddie Cantor...
(1952) - Escape from Fort BravoEscape from Fort BravoEscape from Fort Bravo is a 1953 western film set during the American Civil War. It stars William Holden, Eleanor Parker, and John Forsythe.-Plot:...
(1953) - Broken LanceBroken LanceBroken Lance is a 1954 Western film made by Twentieth Century-Fox, directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Sol C. Siegel. The movie stars Spencer Tracy and features Katy Jurado, Richard Widmark, Robert Wagner, Jean Peters, Eduard Franz, Hugh O'Brian and Earl Holliman.Shot in color and...
(1954) - The EgyptianThe Egyptian (film)The Egyptian is an American 1954 epic film made in CinemaScope by 20th Century Fox, directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on Mika Waltari's novel and the screenplay was adapted by Philip Dunne and Casey Robinson...
(1954) - AthenaAthena (film)Athena is a romantic musical comedy, starring Jane Powell, Edmund Purdom, Debbie Reynolds, Vic Damone, Louis Calhern, and Norma Varden, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer....
(1954) - Wichita (1955)
- The Left Hand of GodThe Left Hand of GodThe Left Hand of God is a 1955 drama film made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Buddy Adler, from a screenplay by Alfred Hayes, based on the novel The Left Hand of God by William Edmund Barrett. It stars Humphrey Bogart and Gene Tierney, with a supporting cast...
(1955) - The SpoilersThe Spoilers (1955 film)The Spoilers is a 1955 film directed by Jesse Hibbs, adapted to sceen by Oscar Brodney and Charles Hoffman from the novel and play by Rex Beach. The movie is set in Nome, Alaska during the 1898 Gold Rush, with Anne Baxter as Cherry Malotte, Jeff Chandler as Roy Glennister, and Rory Calhoun as...
(1955) - The Last Wagon (1956)
- Battle HymnBattle Hymn (film)Battle Hymn is a Universal Studios feature film starring Rock Hudson as Colonel Dean E. Hess, a real-life United States Air Force fighter pilot in the Korean War. Hess's autobiography of the same name was published concurrently with the release of the film. He donated his profits from the film and...
(1957) - Time LimitTime Limit (film)Time Limit is a 1957 legal drama film directed by Karl Malden, his only directing credit. In his autobiography, Malden stated that "he preferred being a good actor to being a fairly good director."-Plot:...
(1957) - Tarzan's Fight for LifeTarzan's Fight for LifeTarzan's Fight for Life is an action adventure film featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous jungle hero Tarzan It stars Gordon Scott, Eve Brent, Rickie Sorensen, Jil Jarmyn, and Cheeta the chimpanzee. The movie was directed by H. Bruce Humberstone...
(1958) - The TrapThe Trap (1959 film)The Trap is a 1959 color film noir directed by Norman Panama and released through 20th-Century Fox. It stars Richard Widmark, Lee J. Cobb, Tina Louise, Earl Holliman, and Lorne Greene -Plot:...
(1959) - Pork Chop HillPork Chop HillPork Chop Hill , directed by Lewis Milestone, is a Korean War war film based upon the eponymous book by military historian S. L. A. Marshall, depicting the bitterly fierce first Battle of Pork Chop Hill between the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division, and Chinese and Korean Communist forces at the...
(1959) - The Bramble BushThe Bramble BushThe Bramble Bush is a 1960 American drama film directed by Daniel Petrie and starring Richard Burton, Angie Dickinson and Jack Carson....
(1960) - The Gallant HoursThe Gallant HoursThe Gallant Hours is a 1960 American biopic docu-drama about Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey and his efforts in fighting against Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and the forces of Imperial Japan in the Guadalcanal campaign in World War II....
(1960) - Pressure PointPressure Point (film)Pressure Point is a 1962 drama film about a black prison psychiatrist who is called upon to treat a Nazi sympathizer during World War II. It stars Sidney Poitier and Bobby Darin. The film was based on the short story "Destiny's Tot" by Robert Lindner....
(1962) - The Ugly AmericanThe Ugly AmericanThe Ugly American is the title of a 1958 political novel by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer. The novel became a bestseller, was influential at the time, and is still in print...
(1963) - Madame XMadame X (1966 film)Madame X is a 1966 drama film directed by David Lowell Rich and starring Lana Turner.-Plot:A lower class woman, Holly Parker , marries into the rich Anderson family. Her husband's mother looks down on her and keeps a watchful eye on her activities...
(1966)