The son of actor/playwright Hal Reid and actress Bertha Westbrook, Wallace Reid made his stage debut at age four, playing a little girl in Reid Sr.'s Slaves of Gold. After attending prep school in Pennsylvania and military school in New Jersey, the younger Reid worked as a Wyoming ranch hand and cub newspaper reporter. In 1910 he landed a job with the Selig Polyscope Film Company, hoping to eventually become a cameraman. Over the next three years he worked as a gopher, production assistant, and screenwriter, but it was as a leading man that he found lasting success. While starring in two-reelers at Mutual, he took a pay cut for the privilege of working under director D.W. Griffith, appearing in the brief but telling role as Jeff the Blacksmith in The Birth of a Nation (1915). It didn't take long before he was firmly established as Paramount Pictures' top male screen personality, starring in one breezy vehicle after another, usually playing an all-American go-getter. He did some of his best work in the films of Cecil B. DeMille, appearing with such luminaries as Geraldine Farrar and Gloria Swanson. While filming Valley of the Giants on location in 1919, he was seriously injured in an on-set mishap. To ease his pain, the studio doctor pumped the young actor full of morphine. Within a few months after this incident he was inextricably addicted to morphine, drinking heavily to counteract the drug's after-effects. Upon the completion of his eight-picture contract in 1922, Reid went public with the story of his addiction, entering a Los Angeles sanitarium in hopes of being cured. But it was too late; by early 1923 Wallace Reid was dead at the age of 31. He was survived by his wife, actress Dorothy Davenport, and his son Wallace Reid Jr.
| Title | Year | Editors' Rating | User Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Across the Continent
Actor |
1922 | |||
|
Clarence
Actor |
1922 | |||
|
Nice People
Actor |
1922 | |||
|
Rent Free
Actor |
1922 | |||
|
The Dictator
Actor |
1922 | |||
|
The Ghost Breaker
Actor |
1922 | |||
|
The World's Champion
Actor |
1922 | |||
|
Thirty Days
Actor |
1922 | |||
|
Trip To Paramountown
Actor |
1922 | |||
|
Don't Tell Everything
Actor |
1921 | |||
|
Forever
Actor |
1921 | |||
|
Hell Diggers
Actor |
1921 | |||
|
Love Special
Actor |
1921 | |||
|
Peter Ibbetson
Actor |
1921 | |||
|
The Affairs of Anatol
Actor |
1921 | |||
|
The Charm School
Actor |
1921 | |||
|
Too Much Speed
Actor |
1921 | |||
|
Always Audacious
Actor |
1920 | |||
|
Dancin' Fool
Actor |
1920 | |||
|
Double Speed
Actor |
1920 | |||
|
Excuse My Dust
Actor |
1920 | |||
|
Sick Abed
Actor |
1920 | |||
|
What's Your Hurry?
Actor |
1920 | |||
|
Alias Mike Moran
Actor |
1919 | |||
|
Hawthorne of the USA
Actor |
1919 | |||
|
Lottery Man
Actor |
1919 | |||
|
Love Burglar
Actor |
1919 | |||
|
The Dub
Actor |
1919 | |||
|
The Roaring Road
Actor |
1919 | |||
|
Valley of the Giants
Actor |
1919 | |||
|
You're Fired
Actor |
1919 | |||
|
Believe Me, Xantippe
Actor |
1918 | |||
|
Firefly of France
Actor |
1918 | |||
|
House of Silence
Actor |
1918 | |||
|
Less Than Kin
Actor |
1918 | |||
|
Man from Funeral Range
Actor |
1918 | |||
|
Rimrock Jones
Actor |
1918 | |||
|
Source
Actor |
1918 | |||
|
Things We Love
Actor |
1918 | |||
|
Too Many Millions
Actor |
1918 | |||
|
Big Timber
Actor |
1917 | |||
|
Girl and the Crisis
Actor |
1917 | |||
|
Golden Fetter
Actor |
1917 | |||
|
Hostage
Actor |
1917 | |||
|
Nan of Music Mountain
Actor |
1917 | |||
|
Prison without Walls
Actor |
1917 | |||
|
Scarlet Crystal
Actor |
1917 | |||
|
Squaw Man's Son
Actor |
1917 | |||
|
The Devil Stone
Actor |
1917 | |||
|
The Woman God Forgot
Actor |
1917 | |||
|
Treason
Actor |
1917 | |||
|
World Apart
Actor |
1917 | |||
|
Black Friday
Actor |
1916 | |||
|
Heart of the Hills
Actor, Director, Screenwriter |
1916 | |||
| 1916 | ||||
|
Intolerance
Actor |
1916 | |||
|
Joan the Woman
Actor |
1916 | |||
|
Love Mask
Actor |
1916 | |||
|
Maria Rosa
Actor |
1916 | |||
|
Selfish Woman
Actor |
1916 | |||
|
The Way of the World
Actor |
1916 | |||
|
To Have and to Hold
Actor |
1916 | |||
|
Unattainable
Actor |
1916 | |||
|
Yellow Pawn
Actor |
1916 | |||
|
Yoke of Gold
Actor |
1916 | |||
|
Carmen
Actor |
1915 | |||
|
Craven
Actor |
1915 | |||
|
Enoch Arden
Actor |
1915 | |||
|
Lost House
Actor |
1915 | |||
|
Old Heidelberg
Actor |
1915 | |||
|
Sheriff for an Hour
Actor |
1915 | |||
|
Station Content
Actor |
1915 | |||
|
The Birth of a Nation
Actor |
1915 | |||
|
The Chorus Lady
Actor |
1915 | |||
|
The Golden Chance
Actor |
1915 | |||
|
Yankee from the West
Actor |
1915 | |||
|
'cross the Mexican Line
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
A Flash in the Dark
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
A Gypsy Romance
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
A Mother's Influence
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
A Wife on a Wager
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
Another Chance
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
Arms and the Gringo
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
At Dawn
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
Baby's Ride
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
Cupid Incognito
Actor, Director, Screenwriter |
1914 | |||
|
Down by the Sounding Sea
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
Fires of Conscience
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
For Her Father's Sins
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
For Those Unborn
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
Her Awakening
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
Moonshine Molly
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
Over the Ledge
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
Passing of the Beast
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
Quack
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
Regeneration
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
Sierra Jim's Reformation
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
Siren
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
Test
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
The City Beautiful
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
The Countess Betty's Mine
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
The Den of Thieves
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
The Exposure
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
The Fruit of Evil
Actor, Director, Screenwriter |
1914 | |||
|
The Greater Devotion
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
The Intruder
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
The Little Country Mouse
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
The Man Within
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
The Mountaineer
Actor, Director, Screenwriter |
1914 | |||
|
The Niggard
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
The Odalisque
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
The Second Mrs. Roebuck
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
The Skeleton
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
The Spark of Manhood
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
The Spider and Her Web
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
The Voice of the Viola
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
The Way of a Woman
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
The Wheel of Life
Actor, Director |
1914 | |||
|
Who So Diggeth a Pit
Actor |
1914 | |||
|
Women and Roses
Actor, Director, Screenwriter |
1914 | |||
|
A Foreign Spy
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
A Hopi Legend
Actor, Director, Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
A Rose of Old Mexico
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
Animal
Actor |
1913 | |||
|
Cross Purposes
Actor |
1913 | |||
|
Dead Man's Shoes
Actor, Director, Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
Hearts and Horses
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
Her Innocent Marriage
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
His Mother's Son
Actor |
1913 | |||
|
In Love and War
Actor |
1913 | |||
|
Love and the Law
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
Man's Duty
Actor |
1913 | |||
|
Menace
Actor |
1913 | |||
|
Mental Suicide
Actor, Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
Modern Snare
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
Near to Earth
Actor |
1913 | |||
|
Pirate Gold
Actor |
1913 | |||
|
Pride of Lonesome
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
Retribution
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
The Cracksman's Reformation
Actor, Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
The Deerslayer
Actor |
1913 | |||
|
The Fires of Fate
Actor |
1913 | |||
|
The Gratitude of Wanda
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
The Harvest of Flame
Actor, Director, Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
The Heart of a Cracksman
Actor, Director, Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
The Lightning Bolt
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
The Picket Guard
Actor |
1913 | |||
| 1913 | ||||
| 1913 | ||||
|
The Spirit of the Flag
Actor, Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
The Tattooed Arm
Actor, Director, Screenwriter |
1913 | |||
|
The Wall of Money
Actor |
1913 | |||
|
The Ways of Fate
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
Via Cabaret
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
When Jim Returned
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
When Luck Changes
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
Youth and Jealousy
Actor, Director |
1913 | |||
|
A Brave Little Woman
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
A Man's Duty
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
A Matinee Mix-Up
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
A Pair of Baby Shoes
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
An Unseen Enemy
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
At Cripple Creek
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
At Scrogginse's Corner
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
Before the White Man Came
Actor, Screenwriter |
1912 | |||
|
Brothers
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
Chumps
Actor |
1912 | |||
| 1912 | ||||
|
Diamond Cut Diamond
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
Every Inch a Man
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
Inbad, the Count
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
Indian Romeo and Juliet
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
Jean Intervenes
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
Kaintuck
Actor, Screenwriter |
1912 | |||
|
Making Good
Actor |
1912 | |||
| 1912 | ||||
|
The Feudal Debt
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
The Gamblers
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
The Hieroglyphic
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
The Illumination
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
The Lost Address
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
The Secret Service Man
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
The Seventh Son
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
The Telephone Girl
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
The Torn Letter
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
The Tribal Law
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
The Victoria Cross
Actor |
1912 | |||
|
The Leading Lady
Actor |
1911 | |||
|
The Reporter
Actor |
1911 | |||
|
A Mohawk's Way
Actor |
1910 | |||
|
Fugitive
Actor |
1910 | |||
|
The Phoenix
Actor |
1910 |