Hal Reid (actor)

James Halleck Reid^[1] (April 14, 1863 – May 22, 1920) was an American playwright and stage and screen actor. Reid also directed over a dozen films.

Hal Reid
From a 1922 magazine
Born	James Halleck Reid (1863-04-14)April 14, 1863 Saint Omer, Indiana, U.S.
Died	May 22, 1920(1920-05-22) (aged 57) New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Playwright, Actor
Years active	1880s–1920
Spouses	Marylee Withers Cole ​ ​ (m. 1879)​ Bertha Belle Westbrook ​ ​ (m. 1889)​ Marcella Frances Russell Timer ​ ​ (m. 1916)​
Children	Wallace Reid

Early life and career

Born in 1863,^[1] in Saint Omer, Indiana,^[2][3] and raised in Cedarville, Ohio,^[4] Reid was the son of dentist Hugh McMillan Reid and America Elizabeth Truitt.^[5][6][3]

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.^{[citation needed]} Many of his plays saw Broadway openings.^[7]

In 1912, Reid was appointed Censor to the Universal Film Corporation.^[8]

Reid was at one time said to be actually Harry Preston and that he had served a prison sentence for an unspecified crime.^[9] 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.^[10]

Reid married Bertha Westbrook, who collaborated with him on some of his writing. Film actor Wallace Reid was their son.^[11]

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)^[12][13]
• 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