Hal Reid (actor)

Hal Reid (born James Halleck Reid; April 14, 1863 – May 22, 1920) was an American playwright and stage and screen actor.

Hal Reid
From a 1922 magazine
Born
James Halleck Reid

(1863-04-14)April 14, 1863
Cedarville, Ohio
DiedMay 22, 1920(1920-05-22) (aged 57)
New York City, New York
Resting placeAll Saints Memorial Church Cemetery, Monmouth County, Navesink, New Jersey
OccupationPlaywright, Actor
Years active1880s–1920
Spouse(s)Marylee Withers Cole(m.1879)
Bertha Belle Westbrook(m.1889)
Marcella Frances Russell Timer(m.1916)
ChildrenWallace Reid

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, Hal 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]

His parents were Hugh McMillan Reid (1836–1911) and America Elizabeth Reid (1840–1903). Hal was married three times with each woman bearing him a child. His first wife was Marylee Withers (1866–1943), m. 1879, who at 16 produced a daughter, Hazel Withers Reid in 1882. Hazel died in 1921 a year after her father. Wife two was Bertha Westbrook (1867–1939), m. 1889, who produced son Wallace in 1891 or '92. Wife three was the much younger Marcella (1899–1993), m. 1916, who also produced a son, James Hillock Reid (1918–1969).[4]

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

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 Gipsy 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

as actor only

  • 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)

References
  1. Hal 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. Hal Reid at findagrave.com
  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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