Hal Reid (actor)
American actor and dramatist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Halleck Reid[1] (April 14, 1863 – May 22, 1920) was an American playwright and stage and screen actor. Reid also directed over a dozen films.
April 14, 1863
Hal Reid | |
|---|---|
From a 1922 magazine | |
| Born | James Halleck Reid April 14, 1863 Saint Omer, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | May 22, 1920 (aged 57) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupations | Playwright, Actor |
| Years active | 1880s–1920 |
| Spouses | Marylee Withers Cole
(m. 1879)Bertha Belle Westbrook
(m. 1889)Marcella Frances Russell Timer
(m. 1916) |
| Children | Wallace Reid |
Early life and career
Born in 1863,[1] in Saint Omer, Indiana,[2][3] and raised in Cedarville, Ohio,[4] Reid was the son of dentist Hugh McMillan Reid and America Elizabeth Truitt.[5][6][3]
Reid entered the film business in 1910 as an actor, director, and writer, bringing along his teen son Wallace Reid, who had aspirations to be a director or cameraman.[citation needed] Many of his plays saw Broadway openings.[7]
In 1912, Reid was appointed Censor to the Universal Film Corporation.[8]
Reid was at one time said to be actually Harry Preston and that he had served a prison sentence for an unspecified crime.[9] In 1915 Reid visited Georgia convicted murderer Leo Frank in prison for source material of a film he was making Thou Shall Not Kill. Frank was convicted, then pardoned for the 1913 murder of Mary Phagan in a famous Georgia murder case.[10]
Reid married Bertha Westbrook, who collaborated with him on some of his writing. Film actor Wallace Reid was their son.[11]
Selected plays
- At Cripple Creek
- A Mother's Love
- A Child Wife
- Custer's Last Fight (1905)
- For Love of a Woman
- Human Hearts (original title Logan's Luck, 1895)[12][13]
- In Convict Stripes
- Knobs o'Tennessee (1899)
- A Working Girl's Wrong
- A Wife for a Day
- A Wife's Secret (1903)
- For a Human Life (1906)
- A Millionaire's Revenge (1906)
- The Prince of the World
- The Avenger (1907)
- The Gypsy Girl (1905)
- The Shoemaker (1907)
- Sweet Molly O! (1907)
- The Cow Puncher (1906)
- Roanoak
- The Peddler (1902)
- The German Immigrants
- The Heart of Virginia
- The Singing Girl from Killarney (1907)
- The Pride of Newspaper Row
- From Broadway to Bowery (1907)
Filmography
- The Girl from Arizona (1910), short
- Becket (1910), short
- Human Hearts (1910), short
- Wig Wag (1911), short
- One Touch of Nature (1911), short
- The Path of True Love (1912), short
- Jean Intervenes (1912), short
- Indian Romeo and Juliet (1912), short
- The Hobo's Redemption (1912), short
- Cardinal Wolsey (1912), short
- Father Beauclaire (1912), short
- Virginius (1912), short
- A Nation's Peril (1912), short
- Rip Van Winkle (1912), short
- Every Inch a Man (1912), short
- The Deerslayer (1913), short
- Dan (1914)
- Time Lock No. 776 (1915)
- Mothers of Men (1917)
- Little Miss Hoover (1918)
- The Two Brides (1919)
Film Director
- The Victoria Cross (1912) *short
- Old Love Letters (1912)*short
- Love in the Ghetto (1912)*short
- Father Beauclaire (1912)*short
- Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight (1912)*short
- Kaintuck(1912)*short
- Virginius (1912)*short
- Votes for Women (1912)*short
- A Man's Duty (1912)*short
- At Cripple Creek (1912)*short
- Thou Shalt Not Kill (1913)*short
- The Deerslayer (1913)*short
- Time Lock No. 776 (1915)*feature
- Prohibition (1915)*feature
- Thou Shalt Not Kill (1915)*feature; based on the Leo Frank case
