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,"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 Cedarville is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in Greene County, Ohio, Greene County, Ohio, United States. The village is within the Dayton, Ohio, Dayton Greater Dayton, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,257 at the 2020 U ...

,"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." Reid entered the film business in 1910 as an actor, director, and writer, bringing along his teen son

Wallace Reid William Wallace Halleck Reid (April 15, 1891 – January 18, 1923) was an American actor in silent film, referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover". He also had a brief career as a racing driver. Early life Reid was born in St. Lou ...

, 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. Reid was at one time said to be actually Harry Preston and that he had served a prison sentence for an unspecified crime. 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. 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'' *''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'' *''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 Thomas Wolsey ( ; – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic cardinal. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling f ...

'' (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 Thou shalt not kill ( LXX, KJV; ), You shall not murder ( NIV, ) or Do not murder ( CSB), is a moral imperative included as one of the Ten Commandments in the Torah. The imperative not to kill is in the context of ''unlawful'' killing resulti ...

'' (1913)*short *''The Deerslayer'' (1913)*short *''Time Lock No. 776'' (1915)*feature *''Prohibition'' (1915)*feature *''

'' (1915)*feature; based on the Leo Frank case

References

External links

* *
James Halleck Reid; North American Theatre Onlinetrade advert. announcing Reid working as a director for Reliance Pictures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Hal 1863 births 1920 deaths Male actors from Ohio 19th-century American male actors 20th-century American male actors American male stage actors American male film actors 19th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights People from Cedarville, Ohio Writers from Ohio American male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century American male writers 20th-century American male writers Film directors from Ohio