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.
Early life and career Born in 1863,Fisher, James; Londré, Felicia Hardison (2018). Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Modernism. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 556. . in Saint Omer, Indiana,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. ."New York, Marriages, 1686-1980", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HWJV-393Z : 21 January 2020), James Hallock Reid, 1916. and raised in Cedarville, Ohio,"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. Reid was the son of dentist Hugh McMillan Reid and America Elizabeth Truitt.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.""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.
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.
In 1912, Reid was appointed Censor to the Universal Film Corporation.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
Reid was at one time said to be actually Harry Preston and that he had served a prison sentence for an unspecified crime.The Oxford Companion to the American Theatre, 2nd edition p.570 by Gerald Bordman c.1992 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.The Unburied Past: Resurrecting the Leo Frank Case A Conversation with Steve Oney (Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience; Youtube)
Reid married Bertha Westbrook, who collaborated with him on some of his writing. Film actor Wallace Reid was their son.
Selected plays
At Cripple Creek A Mother's Love (1903) A Child Wife Custer's Last Fight (1905) For Love of a Woman Human Hearts (original title Logan's Luck, 1895) In Convict Stripes Knobs o'Tennessee (1899) A Working Girl's Wrong (1903) 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
External links
James Halleck Reid; North American Theatre Online trade advert. announcing Reid working as a director for Reliance Pictures