Wallace Reid
Encyclopedia
Wallace Reid was an actor in silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover".

Early life

Born William Wallace Reid in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 into a show business family, his mother Bertha Westbrook(1868-1939) was an actress and his father,James Halleck aka Hal Reid (actor) (1862–1920), worked successfully in a variety of theatrical jobs, travelling the country. As a boy, Wallace Reid was performing on stage at an early age but acting was put on hold while he obtained an education at Freehold Military School in Freehold Township, New Jersey
Freehold Township, New Jersey
Freehold Township is a Township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 36,184. Freehold Township was first formed on October 31, 1693, and was incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21,...

. Reid actually graduated from Perkiomen Seminary in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania
Pennsburg, Pennsylvania
Pennsburg is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,843 at the 2010 census.It is part of the Upper Perkiomen School District....

 in 1909. A gifted all-around athlete, Reid participated in a number of sports while also following an interest in music, learning to play the piano, banjo, drums, and the violin. As a teenager, he spent time in Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

 where he learned to be an outdoorsman.

Career

Reid was drawn to the burgeoning motion picture industry by his father, who would shift from the theatre to acting, writing, and directing films. In 1910, Reid appeared in his first film, The Phoenix, an adaptation of a Milton Nobles play filmed at Selig Polyscope Studios in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. Reid used the script from a play his father had written and approached the very successful Vitagraph Studios
Vitagraph Studios
American Vitagraph was a United States movie studio, founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York. By 1907 it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros...

 hoping to be given the opportunity to direct. Instead, Vitagraph executives capitalized on his sex appeal and in addition to having him direct, they cast him in a major role. Although Reid's good looks and powerful physique made him the perfect "matinee idol," he was equally happy with roles behind the scenes and often worked as a writer, cameraman, and director.

Wallace Reid appeared in several films with his father and, as his career in film flourished, he was soon acting and directing with and for early film mogul Allan Dwan
Allan Dwan
Allan Dwan was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:...

. In 1913, while at Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

, Reid met and married actress Dorothy Davenport
Dorothy Davenport
Dorothy Davenport was an American actress, screenwriter, film director, and producer who appeared in silent film for Biograph Studios under the direction of D.W. Griffith.-Early career:...

 (1895–1977). He was featured in both Birth of a Nation (1915
1915 in film
The year 1915 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 8 : D.W Griffith's The Birth of a Nation premieres at Clune's Auditorium Los Angeles and breaks box office and film length records, running at a total length of 3 hrs 10 minutes.* June 18 : The Motion Picture Directors...

) and Intolerance
Intolerance (film)
Intolerance is a 1916 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and is considered one of the great masterpieces of the Silent Era. The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines each separated by several centuries: A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; a...

(1916
1916 in film
The year 1916 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 17 - release of A Daughter of the Gods, the first US production with a million dollar budget, with the first nude scene by a major star....

) both directed by D.W. Griffith, and starred opposite leading ladies such as Florence Turner
Florence Turner
Florence Turner was an American actress, who became known as the "Vitagraph Girl" in early silent films.Born in New York City, she was pushed into appearing on the stage at age three by her ambitious mother...

, Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...

, Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....

, Elsie Ferguson
Elsie Ferguson
Elsie Louise Ferguson was an American stage and film actress.-Early life:Born in New York City, Elsie Ferguson was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Hiram Benson Ferguson, a successful attorney...

, and Geraldine Farrar
Geraldine Farrar
Geraldine Farrar was an American soprano opera singer and film actress, noted for her beauty, acting ability, and "the intimate timbre of her voice." She had a large following among young women, who were nicknamed "Gerry-flappers".- Early life and opera career :Farrar was born in Melrose,...

 en route to becoming one of Hollywood's major heartthrobs.

Already involved with the creation of more than 100 motion picture shorts, Reid was signed by producer Jesse L. Lasky
Jesse L. Lasky
Jesse Louis Lasky, Sr. was a pioneer Hollywood film producer. He was a key founder of Paramount Pictures with Adolph Zukor, and father of screenwriter Jesse L...

 and would star in another sixty plus films for Lasky's Famous Players
Famous Players-Lasky
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company created on July 19, 1916 from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company -- originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays -- and Jesse L...

 film company, later Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

. Frequently paired with actress Ann Little
Ann Little
Ann Little was an American film actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the early 1910s through the early 1920s.-Life and career:...

, his action hero role as the dashing race car driver drew young girls and older women alike to theaters to see his daredevil auto thrillers such as The Roaring Road (1919), Double Speed (1920), Excuse My Dust (1920), and Too Much Speed (1921). One of his auto racing films, Across the Continent
Across the Continent
Across the Continent is a silent film released by Paramount Pictures in June 1922. It was one of star Wallace Reid's last films before his death on 18 January 1923...

(1922), was chosen as the opening night film for San Francisco's Castro Theatre
Castro Theatre
The Castro Theatre is a popular San Francisco movie palace which became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street, in the Castro district, it was built in 1922 with a Spanish Colonial Baroque façade that pays homage—in its great arched central window...

, which opened 22 June 1922.

Death

While on location in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

 filming The Valley of the Giants
The Valley of the Giants (1919 film)
Valley of the Giants is a silent drama film, produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. It is based on Peter B. Kyne's popular . James Cruze was the director and Wallace Reid the star.-Production background:...

(1919), Reid was injured in a train wreck
Train wreck
A train wreck or train crash is a type of disaster involving one or more trains. Train wrecks often occur as a result of miscommunication, as when a moving train meets another train on the same track; or an accident, such as when a train wheel jumps off a track in a derailment; or when a boiler...

 and, in order to keep on filming he was prescribed morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...

 for his pain. Reid soon became addicted, but kept on working at a frantic pace in films that were growing more physically demanding and changing from 15–20 minutes in duration to as much as an hour. Reid's morphine addiction worsened at a time when drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...

 programs were non-existent, and he died in a sanitarium while attempting recovery.

Wallace Reid was interred in the Holly Terrace portion of the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...

.

Aftermath

His widow, Dorothy Davenport (billed as Mrs. Wallace Reid), co-produced and appeared in Human Wreckage
Human Wreckage
Human Wreckage was an independent silent film production by Dorothy Davenport, widow of actor Wallace Reid, who died on 18 January 1923 from complications of morphine addiction.-Production background:...

(1923), making a national tour with the film to publicize the dangers of drug addiction. She and Reid had two children: a son, Wallace Reid, Jr., born in 1917; and a daughter, Betty Mummert, whom they adopted in 1922 at age three. Reid's widow never remarried.

Wallace Reid's contribution to the motion-picture industry has been recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

.

Selected filmography

  • The Deer Slayer

(1911)
  • Indian Romeo and Juliet (1912)
  • Jean Intervenes (1912)
  • His Only Son
    His Only Son
    His Only Son is a 1912 short Western film directed by Jack Conway and Milton J. Fahrney.-Cast:* Wallace Reid* Dorothy Davenport* Jack Conway* Victoria Forde* Hoot Gibson...

    (1912)
  • The Ways of Fate
    The Ways of Fate
    The Ways of Fate is a 1913 silent romance film directed by Wallace Reid and featuring Lon Chaney, Sr. in his second onscreen role. The film is now considered to be lost.-Cast:* Wallace Reid - Jim Conway* Vivian Rich* Pauline Bush* Lon Chaney, Sr....

    (1913)
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray (1913)
  • The Deerslayer
    The Deerslayer
    The Deerslayer, or The First Warpath was the last of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking tales to be written. Its 1740-1745 time period makes it the first installment chronologically and in the lifetime of the hero of the Leatherstocking tales, Natty Bumppo...

    (1913)
  • Carmen
    Carmen (1915 Cecil B. DeMille film)
    Carmen is a 1915 silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. It is based on the novella by Prosper Mérimée. The existing versions of this film appear to be from the 1918, re-edited release.-Plot:...

    (1915)(Extant)
  • Old Heidelberg (1915)(Extant)
  • Enoch Arden
    Enoch Arden (1915 film)
    Enoch Arden is a 1915 short drama film directed by Christy Cabanne. It is based on the poem of the same name by Tennyson.-Cast:* Alfred Paget - Enoch Arden* Lillian Gish - Annie Lee* Wallace Reid - Walter Fenn* D. W. Griffith - Mr. Ray...

    (1915)
  • The Lost House
    The Lost House
    The Lost House is a 1915 short drama film directed by Christy Cabanne.-Cast:* Lillian Gish - Dosia Dale* Wallace Reid - Ford* F. A. Turner - Dosia's uncle* Elmer Clifton - Cuthbert* Allan Sears - Dr. Protheroe...

    (1915)
  • The Birth of a Nation
    The Birth of a Nation
    The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith also co-wrote the screenplay , and co-produced the film . It was released on February 8, 1915...

    (1915)(Extant)
  • The Golden Chance
    The Golden Chance
    The Golden Chance is a 1915 drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. A print of the film survives at George Eastman House. DeMille remade the film in 1921 as Forbidden Fruit.-Cast:* Cleo Ridgely - Mary Denby* Wallace Reid - Roger Manning...

    (1915)(Extant)
  • To Have and to Hold
    To Have and to Hold (1916 film)
    To Have and to Hold is a 1916 silent film historical drama directed by George Melford and starring Mae Murray and Wallace Reid. Murray's film debut. This film is now lost...

    (1916)(Lost)
  • Maria Rosa
    Maria Rosa
    Maria Rosa is a 1916 silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. It was based on a 1914 Broadway stage play Maria Rosa by Angel Guimera...

    (1916)(Extant)
  • Intolerance (1916)(Extant)
  • Joan the Woman
    Joan the Woman
    Joan the Woman is a 1916 silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Geraldine Farrar as Joan of Arc.It was the first film to use the Handschiegl Color Process for certain scenes...

    (1917)(Extant)
  • The Prison Without Walls(1917; short film)
  • The World Apart (1917) (Lost)
  • Big Timber  (1917) (Lost)
  • The Squaw Man's Son (1917)(Lost)
  • The Hostage (1917) (Lost)
  • The Woman God Forgot
    The Woman God Forgot
    -Cast:* Wallace Reid - Alvarado* Raymond Hatton - Montezuma* Hobart Bosworth - Cortez* Theodore Kosloff - Guatemoco* Walter Long - Taloc * Julia Faye - Tecza's handmaiden* Olga Grey - Aztec woman* Geraldine Farrar - Tecza...

    (1917)(Extant)
  • Nan of Music Mountain
    Nan of Music Mountain
    Nan of Music Mountain is a 1917 short drama film directed by George Melford and Cecil B. DeMille. A lost film. -Cast:* Wallace Reid - Henry de Spain* Ann Little - Nan Morgan * Theodore Roberts - Duke Morgan* James Cruze - Gale Morgan...

    (1917)(Lost)
  • The Devil-Stone
    The Devil-Stone
    The Devil-Stone is a 1917 romance film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The film had sequences filmed in the Handschiegl Color Process ....

    (1917)(incomplete)
  • Rimrock Jones (1918)(Lost)
  • The Thing We Love
    The Thing We Love
    The Thing We Love is a 1918 silent film drama produced by Jesse Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Lou Tellegen and starred Wallace Reid, Kathlyn Williams and Tully Marshall. It marked Tellegen's second foray into directing as he usually was a leading man in front of...

    (1918)(*directed by Lou Tellegen
    Lou Tellegen
    Lou Tellegen was a Dutch-born silent film and stage actor, director and screenwriter. -Early life:...

    )
  • The House of Silence (1918)(Lost)
  • Believe Me, Xantippe
    Believe Me, Xantippe
    Believe Me, Xantippe was a 1918 silent film comedy film produced by Jesse Lasky for release through Paramount Pictures. It was directed by actor/director Donald Crisp and starred Wallace Reid and Ann Little. The film is based on a 1913 William A. Brady produced play by John Frederick Ballard,...

    (1918)(Lost)
  • The Firefly of France (1918)(Lost)
  • Less Than Kin (1918)(Lost)
  • The Source (1918 film) (1918)(Lost)
  • The Man from Funeral Range (1918)(Lost)
  • Too Many Millions (1918)(Lost)
  • The Dub (1919)(Lost)
  • Alias Mike Moran (1919)(Lost)
  • The Roaring Road
    The Roaring Road
    The Roaring Road is a 1919 silent film action romance produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is taken from the short stories by Byron Morgan; Junkpile Sweepstakes, Undertaker's Handicap and Roaring Road. A successful film, so much so that it spawned a sequel,...

    (1919)(Extant)
  • You're Fired
    You're Fired (1919 film)
    You're Fired is a silent film comedy, produced and distributed by Famous Players-Lasky and Paramount Pictures respectively. James Cruze directed and Wallace Reid starred.-Preservation status:...

    (1919)(Extant)
  • The Love Burglar (1919)(Lost)
  • The Valley of the Giants
    The Valley of the Giants (1919 film)
    Valley of the Giants is a silent drama film, produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. It is based on Peter B. Kyne's popular . James Cruze was the director and Wallace Reid the star.-Production background:...

    (1919) (Extant)
  • The Lottery Man (1919)(Lost)
  • Hawthorne of the U.S.A.
    Hawthorne of the U.S.A.
    Hawthorne of the U.S.A. is a 1919 silent film comedy/adventure produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. James Cruze directed and Wallace Reid starred in a story based on a 1912 Broadway play Hawthorne of the U.S.A. that starred Douglas Fairbanks and Irene Fenwick. The...

    (1919)(Extant; Library of Congress)
  • The Crucifix of Destiny (1920)(Lost)
  • Double Speed (1920)??(Lost)
  • Excuse My Dust
    Excuse My Dust
    Excuse My Dust is a 1920 silent film action comedy produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is taken from a Saturday Evening Post short story The Bear Trap by Byron Morgan, who penned stories for the previous year's The Roaring Road. Sam Wood directed Wallace Reid...

    (1920)(Extant)
  • The Dancin' Fool (1920)(Extant)
  • Sick Abed
    Sick Abed
    Sick Abed is a 1920 silent comedy film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures/ Artcraft, an affiliate of Paramount. It was directed by Sam Wood and stars matinee idol Wallace Reid. It is based on a 1918 Broadway stage play Sick-a-bed by Ethel Watts Mumford starring...

    (1920)(Extant; Library of Congress)
  • What's Your Hurry? (1920) (Extant; Gosfilmofond)
  • Always Audacious (1920) (Lost)
  • The Charm School
    The Charm School (1921 film)
    The Charm School is a 1921 silent film comedy starring Wallace Reid. Produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures this James Cruze directed film was based on a 1920 Broadway stage play and novel by Alice Duer Miller that starred veteran actress Minnie Dupree. It is...

    (1921)(Lost)
  • The Love Special (1921)(Incomplete; Library of Congress)
  • Too Much Speed (1921)(Lost)
  • The Hell Diggers (1921)(Lost)
  • The Affairs of Anatol
    The Affairs of Anatol
    The Affairs of Anatol is a 1921 silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille.-Cast:* Wallace Reid as Anatol DeWitt Spencer* Gloria Swanson as Vivian Spencer * Wanda Hawley as Emilie Dixon* Theodore Roberts as Gordon Bronson...

    (1921)(Extant)
  • Forever
    Forever (film)
    Forever is a silent film, also known as Peter Ibbetson; written by Ouida Bergère, and directed by George Fitzmaurice. Adapted from 1891's George Du Maurier's novel, Peter Ibbetson, made into a play by John N...

    (1921)(Lost)
  • Don't Tell Everything
    Don't Tell Everything
    Don't Tell Everything is a 1921 silent drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gloria Swanson. Wood apparently used much cutting room floor footage from Cecil DeMille's The Affairs of Anatol. This film is lost.-Cast:* Wallace Reid - Cullen Dale...

    (1921)
  • Rent Free
    Rent Free
    Rent Free is a 1922 silent film feature comedy produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. The film starred Wallace Reid and his current regular co-star Lila Lee. It was directed by Howard Higgin and adapted by Elmer Rice from a story written directly for the screen...

    (1922) (Lost)
  • The World's Champion
    The World's Champion
    The World's Champion is a 1922 silent film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The movie is based on a play The Champion by Thomas Louden and A.E. Matthews, produced on Broadway in 1921. The film was directed by Phil Rosen and starred Wallace Reid...

    (1922)(incomplete ; Library of Congress)
  • Across the Continent
    Across the Continent
    Across the Continent is a silent film released by Paramount Pictures in June 1922. It was one of star Wallace Reid's last films before his death on 18 January 1923...

    (1922)(Lost)
  • The Dictator
    The Dictator (1922 film)
    The Dictator is a 1922 silent film comedy drama produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. James Cruze was the director and the star Wallace Reid. The basic story of this film had been filmed in 1915 with John Barrymore who had played a supporting part in the 1904...

    (1922)(Lost)
  • Nice People
    Nice People (1922 film)
    Nice People is a 1922 silent drama directed by William C. deMille and starring Wallace Reid and Bebe Daniels. The movie is based on the 1921 Broadway play of the same name by Rachel Crothers that had starred Tallulah Bankhead, Francine Larrimore and Katharine Cornell. Vincent Coleman played Reid's...

    (1922)(Lost)
  • The Ghost Breaker
    The Ghost Breaker (1922 film)
    The Ghost Breaker is a 1922 American silent film comedy based around haunted houses and ghosts. It was produced Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Alfred E. Green and starred popular Wallace Reid in one of his last screen portrayals. The story, based...

    (1922)(Lost)
  • Clarence
    Clarence (1922 film)
    Clarence is a silent comedy drama, based on a play by Booth Tarkington, produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. It was directed by William C. deMille and starred Wallace Reid in his penultimate screen appearance. The play starred Alfred Lunt, in Reid's part,...

    (1922)(Lost)
  • Thirty Days
    Thirty Days (1922 film)
    Thirty Days is a 1922 silent farce produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is based on a play by Thirty Days by A.E. Thomas and Clayton Hamilton which apparently didn't see Broadway. The film was directed by James Cruze and stars idol Wallace Reid in his last...

    (1922)(Lost)

External links

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