Wallace Reid

William Wallace Halleck Reid (April 15, 1891 – January 18, 1923) was an American actor in silent film, referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover". He also had a brief career as a racing driver.

Reid was a favorite of movie-goers. The original caption of this image from Picture-Play Magazine reads, "The only reason why they don’t let Wally play in dress-suit roles all the time is that the casualties among the ladies would soon empty the picture houses. In fact, we feel that we’re toying with the fan hearts even to print this picture." 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. In 1913, while at Universal Pictures, Reid met and married actress Dorothy Davenport. He was featured as Jeff, the blacksmith, in The Birth of a Nation (1915), and he had an uncredited role in Intolerance (1916), both directed by D. W. Griffith; he worked with leading ladies such as Florence Turner, Gloria Swanson, Lillian Gish, Elsie Ferguson, and Geraldine Farrar, 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 and starred in over 60 films for Lasky's Famous Players film company, which later became Paramount Pictures. Frequently paired with actress Ann Little, his action-hero role as the dashing race-car driver drew fans 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). Across the Continent (1922), one of his auto-racing films, was chosen as the opening night film for San Francisco's Castro Theatre, which opened on 22 June 1922.

Reid loved racing so much that he even entered a vehicle into the 1922 Indianapolis 500; he eventually withdrew before qualifying.

Death While en route to a location in California during filming of The Valley of the Giants (1919), Reid was injured in a train wreck near Arcata, California, and he needed six stitches to close a scalp wound. To continue filming, he was prescribed morphine for relief of his pain, and Reid soon became addicted. He continued working at a frantic pace in films that were growing more physically demanding, while the length of the films increased from short 15–20 minute productions to features lasting up to an hour. Reid's morphine addiction worsened at a time when rehabilitation programs were non-existent.

Reid was interred in the Azalea Terrace of the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Aftermath His widow, Dorothy Davenport (billed as Mrs. Wallace Reid), co-produced and appeared in Human Wreckage (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 as a three-year-old.

Wallace Reid's contribution to the movie industry has been recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Popular culture In the biopic Valentino (1977), Reid is portrayed as a bicycle-riding, childish movie star.

The 1980 documentary Hollywood episode "Single Beds and Double Standards" presented Reid's addiction as recalled by people who worked with him: Karl Brown, Henry Hathaway, Gloria Swanson, and stuntman Bob Rose. Later in 2011, this would later be summarised further in the second episode of Paul Merton's Birth of Hollywood.

A biography appeared in 2007, the first work on Reid's life since his mother's personal recollections were published shortly after the actor's death.

A section of the book Hollywood Babylon that gave a biographical sketch of Reid was criticized in 2018 on the You Must Remember This podcast hosted by Karina Longworth.

Filmography

Footnotes