Wallace Reid
Known for: Acting
Wallace Reid was an American actor in silent film referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover". 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 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 en route to 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 young girls and older women alike 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). While en route to a location in Oregon during filming of The Valley of the Giants (1919), Reid was injured in a train wreck near Arcata, California and needed six stitches to close a 3-inch (8 cm) scalp wound. To keep on filming, he was prescribed morphine for relief of his pain and Reid soon became addicted, but kept on working at a frantic pace in films that were growing more physically demanding, and changing from 15–20 minutes in duration to as much as an hour. Reid's morphine addiction worsened at a time when drug rehabilitation programs were non-existent. He died in a sanatorium while attempting to recover.
Filmography
Film
The Birth of a Nation
Jeff, the Blacksmith
1915
Film
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Boy Killed in Battle (uncredited)
1916
Their Masterpiece
Jack Sanders
1913
The Kiss
Ralph Walters
1913
Film
The Affairs of Anatol
Anatol Spencer
1921
Film
The Victoria Cross
Lt. Cholmodeley
1912
The Animal
The Animal
1913
Brothers
1912
Film
The World Apart
Bob Fulton
1917
Film
Thirty Days
John Floyd
1922
The Mountaineer
Jim - the Mountaineer
1914
Film
The Heart of the Hills
Dave - the Woodsman
1914
Film
Joan the Woman
Eric Trent 1431 / Eric Trent 1917
1916
Hunted Down
John Dayton
1912
Film
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
Self (archive footage)
1961
The Gamblers
Arthur Ingraham
1912
Film
Carmen
Don Jose
1915
Film
The Woman God Forgot
Alvarado
1917
Film
Playmates
Party Guest at Piano (uncredited)
1912
The Intruder
The Woodsman
1914
Film
The Charm School
Austin Bevans
1921
Regeneration
The Artist
1914
Film
Old Heidelberg
Prince Karl Heinrich
1915
War
Midas
1911
Cross Purposes
Wally
1913
The Quack
Wallace Rosslyn
1914
Film
The Movie Album
(archive footage)
1932
A Flash in the Dark
A Miner
1914
Film
Rimrock Jones
Rimrock Jones
1918
Film
Believe Me, Xantippe
George MacFarland
1918
The Lightning Bolt
Reid
1913
Film
Nan of Music Mountain
Henry de Spain
1917
Film
A Trip to Paramountown
Self
1922
Film
The House That Shadows Built
(archive footage)
1931
Film
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
Self (archive footage)
1942
Retribution
Reid
1913
The Hieroglyphic
1912
Film
Chumps
George - the Denouement
1912
The Skeleton
Jack - the Young Husband
1914
Women and War
The Boy
1913
Sierra Jim's Reformation
Tim - the Pony Express Rider
1914
Film
The Valley of the Giants
Bryce Cardigan
1919
The Test
The Poor Man
1914
Film
Too Many Millions
Walsingham Van Doren
1918
Film
Hawthorne of the U.S.A.
Anthony Hamilton Hawthorne
1919
Film
Women and Roses
Wallace
1914
The Second Mrs. Roebuck
Samuel Roebuck
1914
Film
The Hell Diggers
Teddy Darman
1921
Pirate Gold
1913
Making Good
Billy Burns
1912
Film
The Lottery Man
Jack Wright
1919
Film
The Firefly of France
Devereux Bayne
1918
Film
The World's Champion
William Burroughs
1922
An Even Exchange
Joe
1913
Film
The Dictator
Brooke Travers
1922
Film
The Chorus Lady
Danny Mallory
1915
At Scrogginses' Corner
1912
Film
The Ghost Breaker
Walter Jarvis, a Ghost Breaker
1922
Film
Less Than Kin
Hobart Lee / Lewis Vickers
1918
The Squaw Man's Son
Lord Effington, aka Hal
1917
Film
Nice People
Captain Billy Wade
1922
Her Innocent Marriage
Will Wayne
1913
Film
Alias Mike Moran
Larry Young
1919
The Fires of Fate
Wally - the Doctor
1913
Film
You're Fired
Billy Deering
1919
Film
The Prison Without Walls
Huntington Babbs
1917
Film
Enoch Arden
Walter Fenn
1915
Film
The Avenging Conscience
The Doctor (uncredited)
1914
Film
Excuse My Dust
'Toodles' Walden
1920
The Affairs of Anatol - Promo Reel
As himself
1921
Over the Ledge
Bob
1914
The Wall of Flame
Wallace - the Fire Inspector
1916
The Gratitude of Wanda
Wally
1913
Film
The Illumination
Giuseppe's Father
1912
Film
Across the Continent
Jimmy Dent
1922
Film
Diamond Cut Diamond
Clerk
1912
Film
Night Life in Hollywood
Self
1922
The Harvest of Flame
The Inspector
1913
Film
To Have and to Hold
Captain Ralph Percy
1916
Song Bird of the North
Fowle - a Mission Worker
1913
Fortunes of a Composer
Opera Attendee (uncredited)
1912
Film
The House of Silence
Marcel Levington
1918
Film
The Spider and Her Web
1914
Love and the Law
Sheriff John Allen
1913
The Tell-Tale Arm
1917
The Voice of the Viola
Wallace
1914
Film
The Love Special
Jim Glover
1921
The Brothers
Robert Gregory
1913
Film
The Man from Funeral Range
Harry Webb
1918
Film
The Hostage
Lieutenant Kemper
1917
Film
Rent Free
Buell Arnister Jr
1922
Film
The Devil Stone
Guy Sterling
1917
Film
The Golden Chance
Roger Manning
1915
The Picket Guard
Sentry
1913
The Spark of Manhood
Humphrey Van Weyden
1913
Passing of the Beast
Jacques - the Woodsman
1914
Moonshine Molly
Lawson Keene
1914
The Man Who Saved the Day
John King
1917
A Daughter of the Redskins
Captain Stark, U.S.A.
1912
Film
The Deerslayer
Chingachgook
1913
Her Doggy
The Doctor (unconfirmed)
1914
Film
Maria Rosa
Andreas
1916
Fires of Conscience
Ray - the Prospector
1914
The Countess Betty's Mine
Wallace
1914
Film
The Golden Fetter
James Roger Ralston
1917
Film
Sick Abed
Reginald Jay
1920
A Hopi Legend
1913
Film
Near To Earth
1913
Film
The Source
Van Twiller Yard
1918
A Gypsy Romance
Jose - King of the Gypsies
1914
A Wife on a Wager
Wally Bristow
1914
Film
The Dancin' Fool
Sylvester Tibble
1920
The Odalisque
Curtiss
1914
The Phoenix
Young Reporter
1910
Film
Always Audacious
Perry Dayton / 'Slim' Attucks
1920
Film
Too Much Speed
'Dusty' Rhoades
1921
The Greater Devotion
'Devotion'
1914
The Guerilla Menace
Captain Bruce Douglas
1913
The Leading Lady
1911
Film
The Little Country Mouse
Lieutenant Hawkhurst
1914
The Fruit of Evil
1914
Film
His Only Son
Bob Madden
1912
Hearts and Horses
Bill Walters
1913
Film
The Lost House
Ford
1915
The Hidden Treasure
Bill Binks
1912
The Tattooed Arm
Ben Hart
1913
The Niggard
Elmer Kent
1914
On the Border
Bill Reeves - the Cowboy
1913
Breed o' the Mountains
Joe Mayfield
1914
Film
The Mother of the Ranch
The Mother's Friend Back East
1911
A Mother's Influence
Wallace Burton - the Son
1914
Baby's Ride
Father
1914
Whoso Diggeth a Pit
Wally
1914
An Indian Outcast
Wally, a Cowboy
1912
Film
Double Speed
'Speed' Carr
1920
Film
The Love Mask
Dan Derring
1916
Love's Western Flight
Wally - the Ranch Owner
1914
Man's Duty
Bill, the Selfish One
1913
Film
What's Your Hurry?
Dusty Rhoades
1920
Film
The Dub
John Craig (The 'Dub')
1919
The Seepore Rebellion
Extra
1912
Film
The Thing We Love
Rodney Sheridan
1918
The Tribal Law
Tall Pine aka Jose Seville - Apache Brave
1912
The Exposure
The Reporter
1914
Film
The Three Brothers
Jean Gaudet / Will
1915
Film
The Seventh Son
One of the Beecham Brothers
1912
Film
The Love Burglar
David Strong
1919
Film
The Roaring Road
Walter Thomas 'Toodles' Walden
1919
Film
At Dawn
The Lieutenant
1914
Youth and Jealousy
Ben
1913
The Eye of a God
Frank Hammond
1913
Film
Don't Tell Everything
Cullen Dale
1921
The Joke on Yellentown
1914
The Cowboy Guardians
1912
Film
'Cross the Mexican Line
Lt. Wallace
1914
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Dorian Gray
1913
Calamity Anne Takes a Trip
Policeman
1913
Down the Hill to Creditville
Marcus Down
1914
The Cracksman's Reformation
Gentleman Crook
1913
Film
The Selfish Woman
Tom Morley
1916
Film
Indian Romeo and Juliet
Oniatore / Romeo
1912
The Wheel of Life
The Prospector
1914
Film
The Yellow Pawn
James Weldon
1916
When Jim Returned
Jim
1913
The Indian Raiders
Tom
1912
The Man Within
The Outlaw
1914
The City Beautiful
The Country Boy
1914
The Craven
Bud Walton
1915
Early Days in the West
Dan, a Young Pioneer
1912
The Path of True Love
The Country Boy
1912
The Telephone Girl
Jack Watson
1912
For Her Father's Sins
Frank Bell
1914
Another Chance
Detective Flynn
1914
Film
Clarence
Clarence Smith
1922
Before the White Man Came
Wathuma - the Leopard
1912
A Rose of Old Mexico
Paul Hapgood
1913
Film
Big Timber
Jack Fife
1917
Film
At Cripple Creek
Joe Mayfield
1912
The Reporter
Cohn, Jones' Assistant
1911
Her Awakening
Bob Turner
1914
A Man's Duty
Dick Wilson - Union Soldier
1912
A Cracksman Santa Claus
Gentleman Crook
1913
A Foreign Spy
1913
Jean Intervenes
Billy Hallock
1912
A Yankee from the West
Billy Milford aka Hell-in-the Mud
1915
Film
Forever
Peter Ibbetson
1921
A Modern Snare
Ralph - the New Sheriff
1913
The Wall of Money
Wallace - McQuarrie's Son
1913
The Ways of Fate
Jim Conway
1913
The Daughter of a Crook
Neal
1914
The Heart of a Cracksman
Gentleman Crook
1913
Film
The House with the Golden Windows
Tom Wells
1916
Film
Arms and the Gringo
Sullivan
1914
Kaintuck
The Artist
1912
When Luck Changes
Cal Jim
1913
Mental Suicide
Reid - a Contractor
1913
A Red Cross Martyr; or, on the Firing Lines of Tripoli
1912
Via Cabaret
Harry Reeder
1913
Pride of Lonesome
Edward Daton
1913
Cupid Incognito
Jack Falkner
1914
His Mother's Son
1913
Film
Station Content
Jim Manning
1915
The Mystery of Yellow Aster Mine
Reid - Rosson's Brother
1913
Film
The Spirit of the Flag
Dr. Reid
1913
Down by the Sounding Sea
John Ward - the Man from the Sea
1914
Film
Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight
Basil Underwood
1912
In Love and War
David - the Journalist
1913
Film
The Den of Thieves
Wallace
1914
The High Grader
Dick Raleigh
1914
Virginius
Icilius
1912
The Secret Service Man
The Secret Service Man
1912
The Wrong Heart
1916
The Siren
Dane Northrop
1914
Film
The Powder Flash of Death
Captain Bruce Douglas
1913
Every Inch a Man
Robert Chapman - the Son
1912
The Way of a Woman
Pierre
1914
His Extra Bit
The Husband
1918