author
Hal Reid
1862–1920
A prolific playwright of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he moved from the stage into silent films as a writer, actor, and director. Many of his melodramas reached Broadway, and he is also remembered as the father of screen star Wallace Reid.
1 Audiobook
The shoemaker : A powerful picture of nature, adapted from Hal Reid's famous drama of the same name
by Olive Harper, Hal Reid
About the author
Born James Halleck Reid, Hal Reid was an American playwright, stage actor, and early film figure active from the 1880s into the silent era. Reliable sources agree that he died in 1920, though some references differ on whether he was born in 1862 or 1863, so that detail is best treated with caution.
Reid built his reputation in the theater, writing numerous melodramas and seeing several of his plays produced on Broadway. Later, he entered the motion picture business, where he worked not just as a writer but also as an actor and director during the formative years of American film.
He is often noted today both for his own wide-ranging career and for his connection to his son, Wallace Reid, one of silent cinema's best-known actors. That family link helped keep Hal Reid's name in film history, but his own career shows how closely early American theater and early Hollywood were connected.