Hal Reid (actor)

Hal Reid
From a 1922 magazine
Born
James Halleck Reid

(1863-04-14)April 14, 1863
Cedarville, Ohio, 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
RelativesWallace Reid Jr. (grandson)

James Halleck Reid (April 14, 1863 – May 22, 1920) was an American playwright and stage and screen actor. Reid also directed over a dozen films.

Biography

Born in 1863, 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. Many of his plays saw Broadway openings.[1] In 1912, Reid was appointed Censor to the Universal Film Corporation.[2]

Reid was at one time said to be actually Harry Preston and that he had served a prison sentence for an unspecified crime.[3] 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.[4]

His son Wallace Reid became an actor who starred in many films of Hollywood's silent era.[citation needed]

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)[5][6]
  • 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

References

  1. ^ Hal Reid(as James Halleck Reid) at Internet Broadway Database (IBDb.com)
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ The Oxford Companion to the American Theatre, 2nd edition p.570 by Gerald Bordman c.1992
  4. ^ The Unburied Past: Resurrecting the Leo Frank Case A Conversation with Steve Oney (Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience; Youtube)
  5. ^ "Logan's Luck". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
  6. ^ Dramatic Compositions Copyrighted in the United States, 1870 to 1916. Library of Congress. 1918. p. 1299.
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