Wallace Reid

Biography

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.

Known For

Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages

The Birth of a Nation

The Legend of Rudolph Valentino

Rent Free

The World's Champion

The Woman God Forgot

The Ghost Breaker

The Avenging Conscience

All Movies (217)

• The Legend of Rudolph Valentino1961 · as Self (archive footage)
• Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)1942 · as Self (archive footage)
• The Movie Album1932 · as (archive footage)
• The House That Shadows Built1931 · as (archive footage)
• Thirty Days1922 · as John Floyd
• Night Life in Hollywood1922 · as Self
• Clarence1922 · as Clarence Smith
• The Ghost Breaker1922 · as Walter Jarvis, a Ghost Breaker
• Nice People1922 · as Captain Billy Wade
• A Trip to Paramountown1922 · as Self
• The Dictator1922 · as Brooke Travers
• Across the Continent1922 · as Jimmy Dent
• The World's Champion1922 · as William Burroughs
• Rent Free1922 · as Buell Arnister Jr
• Don't Tell Everything1921 · as Cullen Dale
• Forever1921 · as Peter Ibbetson
• The Affairs of Anatol1921 · as Anatol Spencer
• The Hell Diggers1921 · as Teddy Darman
• Too Much Speed1921 · as 'Dusty' Rhoades
• The Love Special1921 · as Jim Glover
• The Charm School1921 · as Austin Bevans
• The Affairs of Anatol - Promo Reel1921 · as As himself
• Always Audacious1920 · as Perry Dayton / 'Slim' Attucks
• What's Your Hurry?1920 · as Dusty Rhoades
• Sick Abed1920 · as Reginald Jay
• The Dancin' Fool1920 · as Sylvester Tibble
• Excuse My Dust1920 · as 'Toodles' Walden
• Double Speed1920 · as 'Speed' Carr
• Hawthorne of the U.S.A.1919 · as Anthony Hamilton Hawthorne
• The Lottery Man1919 · as Jack Wright
• The Valley of the Giants1919 · as Bryce Cardigan
• The Love Burglar1919 · as David Strong
• You're Fired1919 · as Billy Deering
• The Roaring Road1919 · as Walter Thomas 'Toodles' Walden
• Alias Mike Moran1919 · as Larry Young
• The Dub1919 · as John Craig (The 'Dub')
• Too Many Millions1918 · as Walsingham Van Doren
• The Man from Funeral Range1918 · as Harry Webb
• His Extra Bit1918 · as The Husband
• The Source1918 · as Van Twiller Yard
• Less Than Kin1918 · as Hobart Lee / Lewis Vickers
• The Firefly of France1918 · as Devereux Bayne
• Believe Me, Xantippe1918 · as George MacFarland
• The House of Silence1918 · as Marcel Levington
• The Thing We Love1918 · as Rodney Sheridan
• Rimrock Jones1918 · as Rimrock Jones
• The Devil Stone1917 · as Guy Sterling
• Nan of Music Mountain1917 · as Henry de Spain
• The Woman God Forgot1917 · as Alvarado
• The Hostage1917 · as Lieutenant Kemper
• The Squaw Man's Son1917 · as Lord Effington, aka Hal
• Big Timber1917 · as Jack Fife
• The World Apart1917 · as Bob Fulton
• The Tell-Tale Arm1917
• The Prison Without Walls1917 · as Huntington Babbs
• The Man Who Saved the Day1917 · as John King
• The Golden Fetter1917 · as James Roger Ralston
• Joan the Woman1916 · as Eric Trent 1431 / Eric Trent 1917
• The Wrong Heart1916
• The Wall of Flame1916 · as Wallace - the Fire Inspector
• The Yellow Pawn1916 · as James Weldon
• Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages1916 · as Boy Killed in Battle (uncredited)
• The House with the Golden Windows1916 · as Tom Wells
• The Selfish Woman1916 · as Tom Morley
• Maria Rosa1916 · as Andreas
• The Love Mask1916 · as Dan Derring
• To Have and to Hold1916 · as Captain Ralph Percy
• The Golden Chance1915 · as Roger Manning
• Old Heidelberg1915 · as Prince Karl Heinrich
• Carmen1915 · as Don Jose
• The Chorus Lady1915 · as Danny Mallory
• A Yankee from the West1915 · as Billy Milford aka Hell-in-the Mud
• Station Content1915 · as Jim Manning
• Enoch Arden1915 · as Walter Fenn
• The Lost House1915 · as Ford
• The Birth of a Nation1915 · as Jeff, the Blacksmith
• The Craven1915 · as Bud Walton
• The Three Brothers1915 · as Jean Gaudet / Will
• Baby's Ride1914 · as Father
• The Exposure1914 · as The Reporter
• The Joke on Yellentown1914
• At Dawn1914 · as The Lieutenant
• Over the Ledge1914 · as Bob
• Another Chance1914 · as Detective Flynn
• The Little Country Mouse1914 · as Lieutenant Hawkhurst
• The Odalisque1914 · as Curtiss
• The Niggard1914 · as Elmer Kent
• A Mother's Influence1914 · as Wallace Burton - the Son
• For Her Father's Sins1914 · as Frank Bell
• Her Doggy1914 · as The Doctor (unconfirmed)
• Her Awakening1914 · as Bob Turner
• Down the Hill to Creditville1914 · as Marcus Down
• The High Grader1914 · as Dick Raleigh
• Sierra Jim's Reformation1914 · as Tim - the Pony Express Rider
• The Second Mrs. Roebuck1914 · as Samuel Roebuck
• Moonshine Molly1914 · as Lawson Keene
• The Avenging Conscience1914 · as The Doctor (uncredited)
• Down by the Sounding Sea1914 · as John Ward - the Man from the Sea
• The City Beautiful1914 · as The Country Boy
• Arms and the Gringo1914 · as Sullivan
• The Den of Thieves1914 · as Wallace
• 'Cross the Mexican Line1914 · as Lt. Wallace
• A Wife on a Wager1914 · as Wally Bristow
• Love's Western Flight1914 · as Wally - the Ranch Owner
• Passing of the Beast1914 · as Jacques - the Woodsman
• The Man Within1914 · as The Outlaw
• The Siren1914 · as Dane Northrop
• The Quack1914 · as Wallace Rosslyn
• Women and Roses1914 · as Wallace
• The Daughter of a Crook1914 · as Neal
• The Fruit of Evil1914
• The Skeleton1914 · as Jack - the Young Husband
• The Test1914 · as The Poor Man
• A Gypsy Romance1914 · as Jose - King of the Gypsies
• Cupid Incognito1914 · as Jack Falkner
• The Spider and Her Web1914
• The Way of a Woman1914 · as Pierre
• The Mountaineer1914 · as Jim - the Mountaineer
• The Heart of the Hills1914 · as Dave - the Woodsman
• The Voice of the Viola1914 · as Wallace
• Regeneration1914 · as The Artist
• Breed o' the Mountains1914 · as Joe Mayfield
• A Flash in the Dark1914 · as A Miner
• The Greater Devotion1914 · as 'Devotion'
• Fires of Conscience1914 · as Ray - the Prospector
• The Wheel of Life1914 · as The Prospector
• The Countess Betty's Mine1914 · as Wallace
• The Intruder1914 · as The Woodsman
• Whoso Diggeth a Pit1914 · as Wally
• A Hopi Legend1913
• The Lightning Bolt1913 · as Reid
• A Cracksman Santa Claus1913 · as Gentleman Crook
• Retribution1913 · as Reid
• Cross Purposes1913 · as Wally
• The Fires of Fate1913 · as Wally - the Doctor
• The Cracksman's Reformation1913 · as Gentleman Crook
• The Heart of a Cracksman1913 · as Gentleman Crook
• The Wall of Money1913 · as Wallace - McQuarrie's Son
• The Gratitude of Wanda1913 · as Wally
• The Mystery of Yellow Aster Mine1913 · as Reid - Rosson's Brother
• The Spark of Manhood1913 · as Humphrey Van Weyden
• The Harvest of Flame1913 · as The Inspector
• The Animal1913 · as The Animal
• An Even Exchange1913 · as Joe
• Man's Duty1913 · as Bill, the Selfish One
• Mental Suicide1913 · as Reid - a Contractor
• The Picket Guard1913 · as Sentry
• A Foreign Spy1913
• The Powder Flash of Death1913 · as Captain Bruce Douglas
• Pride of Lonesome1913 · as Edward Daton
• Song Bird of the North1913 · as Fowle - a Mission Worker
• Calamity Anne Takes a Trip1913 · as Policeman
• The Guerilla Menace1913 · as Captain Bruce Douglas
• Women and War1913 · as The Boy
• In Love and War1913 · as David - the Journalist
• Hearts and Horses1913 · as Bill Walters
• Via Cabaret1913 · as Harry Reeder
• The Spirit of the Flag1913 · as Dr. Reid
• When Luck Changes1913 · as Cal Jim
• His Mother's Son1913
• On the Border1913 · as Bill Reeves - the Cowboy
• Her Innocent Marriage1913 · as Will Wayne
• A Modern Snare1913 · as Ralph - the New Sheriff
• The Kiss1913 · as Ralph Walters
• Youth and Jealousy1913 · as Ben
• The Deerslayer1913 · as Chingachgook
• The Brothers1913 · as Robert Gregory
• The Tattooed Arm1913 · as Ben Hart
• When Jim Returned1913 · as Jim
• The Ways of Fate1913 · as Jim Conway
• The Eye of a God1913 · as Frank Hammond
• Near To Earth1913
• A Rose of Old Mexico1913 · as Paul Hapgood
• Pirate Gold1913
• Their Masterpiece1913 · as Jack Sanders
• Love and the Law1913 · as Sheriff John Allen
• The Picture of Dorian Gray1913 · as Dorian Gray
• The Hidden Treasure1912 · as Bill Binks
• An Indian Outcast1912 · as Wally, a Cowboy
• The Tribal Law1912 · as Tall Pine aka Jose Seville - Apache Brave
• The Cowboy Guardians1912
• A Daughter of the Redskins1912 · as Captain Stark, U.S.A.
• Hunted Down1912 · as John Dayton
• Early Days in the West1912 · as Dan, a Young Pioneer
• Every Inch a Man1912 · as Robert Chapman - the Son
• His Only Son1912 · as Bob Madden
• The Indian Raiders1912 · as Tom
• The Secret Service Man1912 · as The Secret Service Man
• Making Good1912 · as Billy Burns
• At Cripple Creek1912 · as Joe Mayfield
• A Man's Duty1912 · as Dick Wilson - Union Soldier
• Before the White Man Came1912 · as Wathuma - the Leopard
• The Gamblers1912 · as Arthur Ingraham
• Virginius1912 · as Icilius
• Kaintuck1912 · as The Artist
• Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight1912 · as Basil Underwood
• Diamond Cut Diamond1912 · as Clerk
• Fortunes of a Composer1912 · as Opera Attendee (uncredited)
• The Hieroglyphic1912
• The Victoria Cross1912 · as Lt. Cholmodeley
• Brothers1912
• At Scrogginses' Corner1912
• The Illumination1912 · as Giuseppe's Father
• The Seventh Son1912 · as One of the Beecham Brothers
• The Telephone Girl1912 · as Jack Watson
• Playmates1912 · as Party Guest at Piano (uncredited)
• Indian Romeo and Juliet1912 · as Oniatore / Romeo
• Jean Intervenes1912 · as Billy Hallock
• Chumps1912 · as George - the Denouement
• The Path of True Love1912 · as The Country Boy
• A Red Cross Martyr; or, on the Firing Lines of Tripoli1912
• The Seepore Rebellion1912 · as Extra
• War1911 · as Midas
• The Mother of the Ranch1911 · as The Mother's Friend Back East
• The Reporter1911 · as Cohn, Jones' Assistant
• The Leading Lady1911
• The Phoenix1910 · as Young Reporter