Wallace Reid

Wallace Reid
Reid in a publicity portrait from the Famous Players-Lasky Studio (1920)
Born	William Wallace Halleck Reid (1891-04-15)April 15, 1891 St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Died	January 18, 1923(1923-01-18) (aged 31) Los Angeles, California, United States
Cause of death	Morphine addiction
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1910–1922
Spouse(s)	Dorothy Davenport (m. 1913–1923; his death)
Children	Wallace Reid, Jr. (1917–1990) Betty Mummert (1919-1967)

Wallace Reid (April 15, 1891 – January 18, 1923) was an American actor in silent film referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover".

Reid was born William Wallace Halleck Reid in St. Louis, Missouri, into a show business family. His mother, Bertha Westbrook (1868–1939), was an actress and his father, James Halleck "Hal" Reid (1862–1920), worked successfully in a variety of theatrical jobs, mainly as playwright and actor, traveling the country. As a boy, Wallace Reid was performing on stage at an early age, but acting was put on hold while he obtained an education at Freehold Military School in Freehold Township, New Jersey. Reid graduated from Perkiomen Seminary in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1909. A gifted all-around athlete, Reid participated in a number of sports while also following an interest in music, learning to play the piano, banjo, drums, and violin. As a teenager, he spent time in Wyoming, where he learned to be an outdoorsman.

Reid was drawn to the burgeoning motion picture industry by his father, who shifted from the theatre to acting, writing, and directing films. In 1910, Reid appeared in his first film, The Phoenix, an adaptation of a Milton Nobles play filmed at Selig Polyscope Studios in Chicago. Reid used the script from a play his father had written and approached the very successful Vitagraph Studios, hoping to be given the opportunity to direct. Instead, Vitagraph executives capitalized on his sex appeal, and in addition to having him direct, cast him in a major role. Although Reid's good looks and powerful physique made him the perfect "matinée idol", he was equally happy with roles behind the scenes and often worked as a writer, cameraman, and director.

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 (1895–1977). He was featured in Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916), both directed by D.W. Griffith, and starred opposite 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.