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Hal Reid (actor)

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Hal Reid
From a 1922 magazine
Born
James Halleck Reid

(1863-04-14)April 14, 1863
Saint Omer, Indiana, U.S.
DiedMay 22, 1920(1920-05-22) (aged 57)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)Playwright, Actor
Years active1880s–1920
Spouses
Marylee Withers Cole
​
​
(m. 1879)​
Bertha Belle Westbrook
​
​
(m. 1889)​
Marcella Frances Russell Timer
​
​
(m. 1916)​
ChildrenWallace Reid

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.

Early life and career

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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

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  • 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

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  • 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

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  • 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

References

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  1. ^ a b Fisher, James; Londré, Felicia Hardison (2018). Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Modernism. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 556. ISBN 9781538107850.
  2. ^ Vazzana, Eugene Michael (1995). Silent Film Necrology: Births and Deaths of Over 9000 Performers, Directors, Producers, and Other Filmmakers of the Silent Era, Through 1993. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 275. ISBN 9780786401321.
  3. ^ a b "New York, Marriages, 1686-1980", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HWJV-393Z : 21 January 2020), James Hallock Reid, 1916.
  4. ^ "United States, Census, 1870", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M624-4MC : Sat Jan 11 03:01:56 UTC 2025), Entry for Hugh M Reed and America E Reed, 1870.
  5. ^ Higgins, Ray (December 14, 1968). "CRACKER BARREL: Whitelaw Reid Eclipsed Other Reids Of This Area". The Xenia Daily Gazette. p. 4. Retrieved May 2, 2025. "Hal Reid's father, the Cedarville dentist, was named Hugh McMillan Reid, a parental tribute to the celebrated Covenanter preacher and educator."
  6. ^ "Indiana, Marriages, 1811-2019", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XXFL-PZB : Sat Mar 09 20:11:38 UTC 2024), Entry for Hugh M Reed and America E Truett, 28 Nov 1857.
  7. ^ "James Halleck Reid". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on July 31, 2016. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  8. ^ Who Was Who in the Theatre: 1912–76 volume 4 Q-Z page 2,008 compiled from editions originally published annually by John Parker; this 1976 and final version by Gale Research Company
  9. ^ The Oxford Companion to the American Theatre, 2nd edition p.570 by Gerald Bordman c.1992
  10. ^ The Unburied Past: Resurrecting the Leo Frank Case A Conversation with Steve Oney (Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience; Youtube)
  11. ^ "Mrs. Bertha W. Reid dies in Newark, N. J." The Springfield Daily Republican. Associated Press. July 29, 1939. p. 9. Retrieved April 30, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Logan's Luck". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
  13. ^ Dramatic Compositions Copyrighted in the United States, 1870 to 1916. Library of Congress. 1918. p. 1299.
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